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School concludes for 2019 today, Wednesday 11th December at 3:00pm
Book Collection and Book a Chat Day is Wednesday 22nd January 2020 - 8:30am-4:30pm
School commences for 2020 on Tuesday, 28th January at 8:45am
The winner of the Principal for the Day draw for 2019 is Sophia from class RD. Her brother Marcello, from Class 1G, will be her Deputy Principal. Sophia's first decision as Principal was to announce that next Monday, 9th December, will be a casual clothes day and she asks that students please bring a gold coin which will be donated to the people affected by the Yorke Peninsula bushfire.
We look forward to Sophia and Marcello enjoying their leadership roles and Mr Parker becoming a Reception student on Friday!
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
At last week’s School Board Meeting there were a couple of decisions made that I’d like to bring to your attention. Particularly, due to the fact that as our $3 million Stage 1 building works are underway, there may be concerns that parents will need to contribute more towards costs. I am very pleased to say that due to the hard work of our Bursar, Julie Parsons, the Finance Committee and the School Board, our finances are in very good shape to achieve Stage 1 and we have developed a 10 year plan indicating no need for steep increases in school fees. In fact the Board has approved the minimum recommended tuition fee increase of 1% for 2020. This amounts to about a $21 increase for a child’s fees from 2019 to 2020. I think this demonstrates our commitment to our families that we aim to maintain an affordable option for quality education here at St Pius X School.
The 2020 School Fees Schedule has been distributed to families today via the eldest child in each family and is available via this link - 2020_School_Fees_Schedule.pdf
The other good news is that from 2020 our OSHC will open at 7:00am (it currently opens at 7:15am) which will provide a great opportunity for those early drop-offs required for those parents with early work commitments. There are minimum changes in OSHC fees which remain lower than like services. Our other advantage is that our OSHC is not outsourced to an agency so that we can have control over finances and fees.
Traffic Management
A reminder that if you find yourself ‘queuing’ for kiss'n'drop in a ‘No Stopping’ zone, make use of the carpark to get off the street. You can park and collect or wait there for the queue to reduce. Turning left from the new carpark allows you to enter a 'No Parking' zone, so it is perfectly legal to ‘Stand’, (wait in your car in a queue). Also, as I have previously mentioned, when collecting older students please consider coming to kiss'n'drop from 3:10pm if this suits you. A teacher is on duty until 3:30pm and we find that there are only a few cars arriving from 3:10pm.
Finally, deep thanks for your extra patience as we negotiate the building site. We are making great progress, keep an eye to the outcome, fresh, exciting classrooms, breakout spaces and extended Nature Play areas.
Welcome to Week 8. We are almost at the finish line of what has been an exciting year. Thank you for your support throughout 2019.
This Thursday we celebrate our End of Year Mass at 11:30am in the hall. You are invited to join us as we give thanks for our year together and farewell staff and Year 6 students.
Notably, Mrs Paula Moroney retires at the end of this year. Paula is a much loved, and long serving staff member who has worked here for 31 years. When I was thinking about this, I realised that Paula commenced her work at St Pius X when I was in Year 2, but of course, I wouldn’t want to make anyone feel old! I’m sure you will join us in thanking Paula for her service and acknowledging the enormous contribution she has made to our school community. We will farewell Paula at the conclusion of Mass on Thursday.
Next Monday, the Year 6 students will celebrate their Graduation Dinner with family, friends and staff. This is the first time we have had a formal dinner for graduation, and I know that the students are very excited about this. We congratulate our Year 6’s on their graduation and thank them for being such a vibrant part of our school community.
I pray that the coming holidays bring you peace, relaxation and a chance to recharge. I wish you and your families a peaceful, safe and merry Christmas, and look forward to seeing you again in 2020.
Prayer for the end of the School Year
God of wisdom, we thank you for all the gifts you have given us throughout this school year.
We praise you for giving us life, for saving us in Christ, and for choosing us to be your people.
As we come to the end of this school year, we voice our gratitude for the good things you have done in us, and we praise you for all who have shared in the work of this school.
We ask you to bless them in your love and give them refreshment and peace.
We praise you, God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
Who lives and reigns forever and ever.
Amen
We continue to look at the issues around cybersafety and keeping our children and ourselves safe online and have again obtained extensive support by engaging Cybersafe Families to hold parent information sessions next year. The sessions will assist you in setting up safety measures, protocols and parent controls on your network at home as well as provide essential information about children and the Web.
All parents are invited to attend one of the sessions which will be held on Wednesday 5th February at 9:00am and Thursday 6th February at 6:00pm for approximately one hour each.
Our Out of School Care service will be providing a creche for those families requiring care for their children during the sessions.
Students in Years 5 and 6 next year will have access to a school owned MacBook to take home at night, weekends and during school holidays and our School Board feels that parent/guardian attendance at one of these sessions is vital and therefore the ‘take home’ option of a MacBook will only be offered to families where a parent has attended one.
Bookings for the sessions and the creche may be made by visiting -
https://www.schoolinterviews.com.au/code?code=3p756
We look forward to your participation in a Cybersafe Families Parent Information Session next February.
A big thankyou to the volunteers who have responded to our call out for garden helpers for our soon to be Cultural Vegie Garden. We will be in contact with you in the new year. Any registered volunteers are welcome to join us. Please contact Jane Buhagiar for more information via jbuhagiar@stpiusx.catholic.edu.au
If you would like your child to have instrumental, voice or speech and drama lessons next year please return the Application Form (distributed in November) to the school office by next Monday - thank you.
The 'draft' version of the Minutes of the November P&F Cmmittee Meeting are available here - Overview_of_P_F_Meeting_Minutes_12th_November_.pdf