Junior School News
- From the Head of the Junior School
- Junior School Sport
- Robotics Club Resumes for Year 6 in Week 2
- Junior Resource Centre News
From the Head of the Junior School
PRAYER TO BEGIN A NEW SEMESTER
Lord, as we prepare for the coming of a new semester, make us ready, attentive and available to hear you. Thank you for the gift of being able to rise each day with the assurance that you walk through it with us. Thank you for the gifts of creativity and uniqueness, and the energy to put them to good use. May all that we are today, all that we try to do today, may all our encounters, reflections, even the frustrations and failings all be place in your hands. May the work we do and the way we do it, bring new hope, new life, and courage to all we come in contact with this semester. We thank you, Lord. Amen ---
Xavier University website.
COMMENCING TERM 3
Thank you to all the parents who attended the Parent/Student/Teacher Interviews on Monday. It is very important that you take a positive interest in your son’s education. Your son probably has some goals or areas that he needs to work on for the coming semester. If you could occasionally ask your son how he is going with these goals or areas that would be great. Working together with the school is the most effective way for your son to improve. It was good to see all the boys back and now we need to ensure they have a positive mind set and are ready for the term ahead.
I have been to all the Year 5 classes this week and had a chat about showing respect, treating others the way you want to be treated and about taking responsibility for your actions. I spoke about respectful relationships and being a good friend, how to get on well at school and how to get over a problem. They were told that swearing doesn’t make them sound tough, just less intelligent. It is important that they realise that everybody is different and that is a good thing and that they don’t know what is happening in another person’s life so some acceptance is a good thing. Semester Two is a fresh start and I want it to be a good one. I also briefly spoke about the fact that not all stress is bad as it can actually motivate you to get stuff done but at their age they shouldn’t be too stressed and just do their best and let God do the rest! I also mentioned that sleep is their friend and that screen time an hour before bed is detrimental to their chance for sleeping. As I said before, working together is the most effective way for your son to improve. As the old adage says, it takes a village to raise a child.
ACADEMIC AWARDS
Congratulations to the following boys who, at the conclusion of last term, received the Semester 1 Blue FIDE Academic Awards for ‘Significant Effort Leading to Improvement.’
5 Blue
Darcy Horstead,
Logan van Katwyk
Charles O’Donnell
5 Red
Madden Balverde
Charles Li
Oliver Wilkowski.
5 Gold
Marco Akdagcik
Brandon Setiawan Gow
Bradley Newman
6 Blue
Jack Manning-O’Donnell
Regan Yun
Jack McGirr
6 Green
Aiden Lindsay
Sam Millar
Darcy Carlson
6 Red
Thomas Zammit
Sean O'Donnell
Marcus Kruger
6 Gold
Christopher Schuller
James Kane
Joshua Borg
THIS WEEK
Sport on Thursday will be back to normal where all the boys will come to the College for Periods 1 and 2 but we leave on five buses for Oxford Falls at 10.45 am and have both our recess and lunch at Oxford Falls. The boys will need both their recess and lunch, a water bottle and a full change of winter training gear.
Sport this Saturday is on but please be aware that if you are playing at Oxford Falls, we will be following the ISA guidelines which means there are NO spectators for this week. You will be able to drive into the car park and drop off your son but then you will have to drive out again. Forest Way shops aren’t far away so a morning coffee might be on the cards or maybe a good book or the newspaper. The boys will finish their game and then leave Oxford Falls so you may wish to suggest a good pick up spot. You may also choose to drive back in to the car park to collect your son. Toilets will be open but the change rooms won’t be open so the boys need to come ready to play.
For our Away games, the COVID-19 Regulations affecting Rugby Mod 7s has the restriction of one parent/carer per student playing. Please exit the facility without delay once fixtures are completed.
For Barker College, there is also one parent allowed. Please review the attached information for instructions to register on entry. You will need a mobile device on hand for the QR code. There is also a map included to show the entry points. Please arrive half an hour before commencement of your game.
YEAR 6 EMAIL
An email has been sent to the Year 6 parent and carers. It is letter outlining our Personal Development Program for Year 6 this term. Please ensure you read it.
BIRTHDAYS
Congratulations to the following boys who celebrate or celebrated their birthdays in July:
Anton Boulos, Michael Chung, Archer Ferguson, Sebastian Gadaleta, Daniel Gorken-Spyrou, Graham Halgreen, Oliver Hartry, Niki Hurrell, Liam Kelly, Nicholas Kwan, James Lineen, Riley Meares, Andrew Montano, Bradley Newman, Joshua Paul, Sebastian Raphael, Christopher Schuller, Isaac Sharpe, Alessandro Siclari, David Smith, Troy Tachjian, Benji Tan and James Thomson.
Enjoy!
THOUGHT TO PONDER
Stay Safe as we are all in this together
Thanking you for your support,
Mr Tim Long - Head of Junior School
Junior School Sport
Congratulations to Rice House who won the annual House Dance Competition at the end of Term 2. Judges were impressed with the crispness and synchronisation of movement. Well Done!
House Dance:
1st: Rice
2nd: Purton
3rd: Treacy
4th: Barron
To watch the dance and award presentations please click here:
Dance Presentation: https://vimeo.com/440202772/53a14fd6e1
Awards Presentation: https://vimeo.com/440203186/4818d8985c
News: Saturday Sport starts this week, please make sure you are familiar with COVID-19 Protocols at both home and away venues. Please ensure all players are at the venue 30 minutes prior to kick-off for warm-up. Good Luck!
Uniform: Football and Rugby players will need a St Pius Uniform for games on Saturday. For those needing to purchase items, the uniform shop is open on Friday this week and is also able to take orders/ payment over the phone.
AFL players will be distributed loan uniforms on Thursday during Sport time at Oxford Falls.
Thursday Sport: Training for AFL, Football and Rugby.
AFL
Athletics
This is an open invitation to all boys interested in being selected to be part of the St Pius Athletics squad to participate in the IPSHA carnival on August 24. There will also be 1 or 2 invitational carnivals in the lead up.
With no school carnival taking place this year, training sessions will be crucial in selecting our squad.
Training will take place on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons at Rotary War Memorial Athletics Track: Mowbray Rd West, Lane Cove West from 4.00 pm - 5.00 pm. Buses will transport students to and from Chatswood after school with a 5.00 pm pick-up option at the venue. Students should return to Chatswood by around 5.20 pm.
Training Dates
Monday: 27/7, 3/8, 10/8, 17/s
Wednesday: 29/7, 5/8, 12/8, 19/8
Thursday: 30/7, 6/8, 13/8, 20/8
Please email me by Friday 3.00 pm this week with an indication as to which events each boy would like to trial for.
Rugby
Please also find below the St Pius Risk Warning Notification and IPSHA Code of Behaviour which both parents and students should familiarise themselves with prior to the start of the Winter season.
Mr Benn McBrearty - Junior School Sports Master
Junior Football
Our season finally gets under way this weekend. Please be at the ground half an hour before the scheduled kick-off. Please also ensure you follow the College COVID-Safe guidelines. No spectators will be permitted for this round.
Additional Training at Beauchamp Oval 7.15 am - 8.15 am each Tuesday, starting Week 2. Open to all As and Bs players in 11s and 12s on a voluntary basis. Players can be dropped off at the Oval and will be walked to school by their Coaches.
Mr Paul Cummins - Junior Football Convenor
Robotics Club Resumes for Term 3
Robotics Club will resume in Week 2 of term.
Year 6 resumes Tuesday 28 July. Students to meet in the Junior Resource Centre (3.30 pm - 4.50 pm).
Year 5 workshops will be offered in Term 4.
Please note that any sport commitments must take priority over Robotics Club. Students may negotiate training times with their coach. Please note that it is at the coach’s discretion to allow students to attend Robotics if there is a clash. If students are not already on the Roll then they will need to see Mr de Silva for a permission note.
Mr P. de Silva - Robotics Convenor
Junior Resource Centre News
This week's Highlights:
A big welcome back to Term 3, 2020. This term we are highlighting our non-fiction collection with spotlights on the different Dewey sections in the newsletter each week. Check out some of the most borrowed books in the 000's and 100's. #SPXJRC
SO MANY NEW BOOKS!
I may have gone a bit crazy with the book purchasing for July! Here is just a collection of some of the books in the JRC. The following books are predicted to fly out the door this week! See anything that you would like to borrow? If you do, pop in and reserve it.
Exciting activities are planned for Term 3 in the JRC. Year 5 will be working on how to create a Book Snap using Canva. Year 6, will be exploring how to make a Book Trailer in their Library program. This coincides with the NSW CBCA – Collide Book Trailer competition. A creative and fun activity for readers. This competition offers students in NSW in Years 3 - 9 an opportunity to be creative, imaginative, and adventurous in showcasing a really great story in a book trailer format. And win some great book prizes.
Click on the link for more details on how to enter.
https://www.cbcansw.org.au/post/collide-book-trailer-comp
Mrs Martin's Book Trail: Dogography by Maree Coote.
Maree Coote is wowing the literary world and young readers alike with her sophisticated picture book offerings of art, information and story, skillfully and riotously smashed together in ways which are refreshingly quirky and utterly engaging. ‘Dogography' is pure letter and dog fun and I cannot wait to share this with Year 5 and Year 6. This delightful collection of Letter Art illustrations of loveable mutts is made only from the letters that spell each dog's name. Great for budding designers, spelling letter recognition and just simple dog lovin'. !#mrsmartinsbooktrail2020
Mrs Elena Martin - Teacher Librarian, Junior Resource Centre