Junior School News
- From the Head of the Junior School
- Junior School Sport
- From the Junior Resource Centre
- Junior School Rehearsal Schedule
From the Head of the Junior School
MS O’HORA | 5 BLUE
It was lovely to see the smiles on the students’ faces in 5 Blue when I was able to introduce them to their new teacher on Tuesday afternoon. Whilst they have been so resilient and patient, it was clear that they were longing for a teacher of their own and they were thrilled with the news that Ms O’Hora, whom they already knew, was going to be teaching them for the remainder of 2024.
Ms O’Hora brings a wealth of knowledge, enthusiasm and warmth to the Junior School and we have been delighted to see these in practice over the last week as she has filled in for Ms Shaba in 6 Red.
In the coming weeks, Ms O’Hora will provide you with an opportunity for your “Get to Know You” meetings (via Teams) so that she can learn more from you about your son as a learner and how he has settled into life at the College. For those families who met with me, I have passed your insights on to Ms O’Hora, but you should still feel welcome to meet with her, if you wish.
We thank you for your patience and understanding as we have taken the time to appoint the best person to lead your sons through their important first year at the college.
To facilitate a smooth transition, we encourage you to reach out with any questions or concerns you may have either to Ms O’Hora lohora@stpiusx.nsw.edu.au or myself jgreenwood@stpiusx.nsw.edu.au.
YEAR 6 CANBERRA TOUR | 6 – 8 MARCH
All is in readiness for our Year 6 Canberra Tour – if you need to send in medication, please do so by this Friday so that Mrs Hawthorne and I can log it all and distribute to the supervising teachers. For safety reasons, students are not permitted to carry their own medication. I have asked Mr Morris to lead the tour in my absence as I need to travel to Queensland to farewell a close friend who passed away at the end of last week. Mr Morris and the rest of the teaching staff are experienced tour leaders and I have no doubt that your sons will have the experience of a lifetime. This year, our tour coincides with Canberra’s Enlighten Festival and the students will get to experience the city lit up on Thursday evening.
YEAR 5 FORMATION DAY
Thank you to Mr Petrie and the Year 5 teaching staff for their work in preparing the Year 5 Formation Day at Oxford Falls last Friday. As a further welcome to the St Pius X community, students engaged in activities where they learnt about the life of St Pius X, gained a better understanding of the EREA Touchstones, explored the concept “From Little Things, Big Things Grow”, and reflected on our links to the land.
EDMUND RICE EDUCATION AUSTRALIA (EREA) STUDENTS LEADERS FORUM
On Monday, our eight Class Captains spent the day at Oxford Falls with a number of other school leaders as part of the EREA Student Leaders Forum. This was a fantastic opportunity for our young student leaders to meet student leaders from schools across the state. Thank you to Mr Petrie and Mr Buda for facilitating this incredible opportunity.
STUDENT SAFETY
Students have been instructed on the safest way to walk from the college to the train station or the bus interchange. This involves crossing at the lights with a teacher and then making their way down to the mall and then walking up the mall. Many students are ignoring repeated requests to walk this way and are instead, going up Endeavour Street. This way saves no time whatsoever and means that students are forced to cross driveways and a busy pedestrian crossing. Unfortunately, a lot of students are doing this whilst running and/or looking at their mobile phones.
Can I please ask that you check what time your son’s bus or train leaves Chatswood. If it leaves before 3:10 pm, I can almost guarantee you that he is running all the way from school to get there. Often students are also trying to factor in a visit to McDonalds or KFC. This presents a danger to both your son and to other members of our community. Please reinforce the need to catch a later bus/train, the need to walk, not run, and the need to follow the safest route ie going up through the mall.
MOBILE PHONES AND CYBER SAFETY
Mobile phones and smartwatches are now a ubiquitous part of modern life – even for our youngest students. This presents a range of challenges, especially when a student does not have the social and emotional maturity to understand the impact of his actions. Many parents feel teaching their kids about online safety is important, but they don’t quite know how to go about it. The team at Dolly’s Dream have done the research for you and have pulled together the most trusted information about online safety and bullying: https://www.dollysdream.org.au/parent-hub.
STRONGER TOGETHER
Congratulations to Junior School students, Harvey McKinley and Aiden Rosario who recently volunteered with KIDS GIVING BACK. Harvey and Aiden were part of a group of 1200 young people who provided over 11,500 meals and care packages to 15 charities across Sydney. Their leadership, compassion, and civic responsibility embody the spirit of giving back.
OPEN DAY
The College OPEN DAY is on Saturday 16 March. The Chatswood campus will be open from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. The Treacy Centre at Oxford Falls will be open from 8.00 am to 12:00 pm.
Tour bookings are essential via the college website and can be found below:
Student volunteers are also required for Open Day. The form to volunteer is found here
LABELLING DRINK BOTTLES, RAIN JACKETS, LUNCHBOXES
I have placed numerous lost items in the Lost Property bin both at the college and at Oxford Falls over the last two weeks. None of it was labelled. If your son is missing something, please ask him to check Lost Property. Property that is labelled is returned immediately to your son.
COVERING EXERCISE BOOKS
If you haven’t had an opportunity yet, can you please ensure that you cover your son’s exercise books in plastic Contact this weekend.
JUNIOR SCHOOL SPORT
A fun day was had by all last Thursday at the annual Junior School Cross Country at Oxford Falls. Thank you to Mr Bourke and the Junior School teaching staff for their work in preparing for and supervising the Cross Country and for ensuring it was a safe and enjoyable afternoon for all.
Click here for all the photos from the day: 2024 02 22 Cross Country
Thank you also to Mr Bourke and Mr Morris for taking our top swimmers to the BPSSA Swimming Carnival at the Gartlan Swim Centre at St Ignatius, Riverview last Friday.
DATES FOR THE DIARY
Thank you for your ongoing support of the Junior School.
Mrs Jill Greenwood - Head of the Junior School
Junior School Sport
Fixtures
Co-curricular Clashes
We understand that your son may have several Co-curricular commitments he is trying to juggle. A reminder that if there is a clash with Co-curricular sessions, to prioritise all other commitments before sports training sessions. For example, if there is an Ensemble Rehearsal on a Thursday morning and there is also Basketball training, please prioritise the Ensemble Rehearsal. Missing training sessions due to other school commitments will not impact on team selection. If you could also log the clash as an absence in Clipboard it will assist with keeping track of student attendance data.
Logging and Absence
Thank you to the families that have been logging an absence via Clipboard if their son is sick or injured and is not able to participate in their scheduled fixture/training. If your son is not able to make the fixture/training for any other reason, please continue to email jbourke@stpiusx.nsw.edu.au. Informing prior to Thursday assists with ensuring all teams are balanced, with sufficient player numbers for the coming Saturday.
Wet Weather
During Round 3 we were subject to rain affected fixtures. Please ensure you are using the Clipboard App should wet weather impact fixtures, ensuring Notifications are turned on will also assist. All cancellations, as well as any up-to-date notifications will be communicated via the College App.
BPSSA Catholic Invitational Swim Carnival
St Pius X Junior School recently attended the BPSSA Catholic Invitational Carnival held at St Ignatius Riverview on Friday 23 February. The event showcased the incredible talent and sportsmanship of the swimmers, with each race filled with excitement and fierce competition. There was plenty of cheering from the stands from all schools in attendance, creating a vibrant and energetic atmosphere throughout. We had several students place across a number of the events on the day and it show good signs for the IPSHA Carnival. Overall, the carnival was a resounding success, leaving a lasting impression on all who attended. We thank St Ignatius Riverview for the invitation to attend and look forward future opportunities to participate in interschool competitions.
Congratulations to the following boys for the way they represented the College:
- Dylan Fok
- Haarlem Fallowfield
- William Aldons
- Isaiah Byak
- Brandon Abram
- Ben Costain
- Dominik Playle
- Ethan Leong
- Kye Ausling
- Ryan Volpato
IPSHA Swimming Carnival
The following boys have qualified and will represent the College at the IPSHA Swimming Carnival to be held at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre on Tuesday 5 March. We wish the boys well as they compete at this level.
SPX Junior School Cross Country
We completed the Junior School Cross Country during our Thursday Oxford Falls sports session last week. A 1km course was marked out on our grounds, with the U10 runners completing a 2km race and our U11s and U12s completing a 3km race. Despite the threat of rain, the boys enjoyed a dry course with warm running conditions. Congratulations to the following boys who finished in the top three of each age group.
Cross Country Training
Join coaches Mr Steinman and Mrs Lee for fun, varied and challenging sessions.
- When: Monday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings
- Where: Beauchamp Park, Chatswood
- Time: 7.15 am – 8.15 am
- Who: All Senior and Junior School students are welcome
Meet at the Beauchamp Oval Grandstand in comfortable running gear and with a water bottle. Bring your school uniform to change into afterwards back at the college.
The IPSHA Cross-Country Carnival will be held on Saturday 6 April at The Kings School. More information to come for those boys that will be selected to represent St Pius X College.
Basketball
Touch Football
Softball
Players remember to bring, hat, water bottle, mouth guard, shin pads and to eat breakfast. Parents remember to bring a chair as many venues do not have seating.
Mr James Bourke - Junior School Sports Coordinator
COERVER Football Camps
In preparation for the Football season, the College is offering a St Pius X student only COERVER Camps.
ST PIUS X APRIL HOLIDAY CAMPS
Monday 15 - Thursday 18 April
9:00 am - 12:00 noon each day.
Age : 9 - 16
Coerver Coaching holiday camps offer a fun filled soccer experience for children aged 9-16 years. Each day will include Coerver® SKILLS competitions and challenges, Ball Mastery, Coaching sessions focusing on developing effective use of skill, small sided Coerver® Games, and mini Coerver Cup Tournament to keep players active.
TECHNIQUE
The cornerstone of our curriculum is technical development. We utilize the Coerver® Method of ball mastery and graduated pressure to build technical competence and play carefully selected games to build functional success.
PLAYER CONFIDENCE
We foster creativity by providing the players technical building blocks & encouraging creative actions in developmentally appropriate games. Our games are designed to be fun, challenging and to reward success and risk-taking.
TEAMWORK
Small group tactics and principles of play are taught in attack and defence by utilizing the structure of the many small sided games, which have made the Coerver® Curriculum so unique and recognised as the world’s leading technical football program.
SPORTSMANSHIP
We value winning but not more than character and effort. We encourage paying respect to players, parents, coaches and referees. Sportsmanship is emphasized to develop the whole person and not just the player.
With 2, 3 and 4 day options available, this is the perfect pre and early season preparation for St Pius X students looking towards a successful season. It is also a huge amount of footballing fun!
Bookings can be made using the following link: Coerver course | Coerver Coaching
Mr Simon Yue - Senior Football Convenor
NSTA Tennis
Under overcast skies the 8:00 am matches got underway at Talus St. It was great to see Ethan Heng and Jeremy Gu, SPX 28 played a great doubles match beating Redlands 6 games to 2. Henry Auer and Micah Chan also played some great volleys to win against Redlands 21, 3 games to 6. It was also lovely to hear the encouraging word shared between both teams.
Thanks to Will Scaiff, Antony Autore, Aiden Siefert and Lucas Youngman who braved the rain to umpire for us this morning.
A special congratulations should also go to Boston Bannister SPX 1 who entered and won the NSTA U14 Championship last Sunday 6-4 6-3. Boston is an amazing player who always shows great sportsmanship and talent whenever he plays.
Mrs Samantha Iwatani - NSTA Convenor
From the Junior Resource Centre
Book week 2024 – Reading is Magic.
Sally Rippin is the Australian Children’s Laureate 2024 – 25
Congratulations to the talented children’s author Sally Rippin who will be the Australian Children’s Laureate for 2024 – 25. The Laureate is a national and international ambassadorial role to promote Australian children’s literature and the transforming importance of books and literature. She will travel across the country to talk about how to best engage kids with reading. She will be amazing. Looking forward to reading some of her books to the students.
Premier’s Reading Challenge 2024 26th February – 23 August 2024.
The NSW Premer’s Reading Challenge has officially kicked off! Dive into a world od adventure, imagination, and knowledge! Whether you are into thrilling mysteries, heartwarming tales, or epic adventures, read what you like to complete this challenge!
PRC login and password details will be sent to the students shortly. Check your e-mails!
Year 5 Great Read
The Legend of Spud Murphy by Eoin Colfer.
Not only is the library no fun, it's also the habitat of the legendary librarian Spud Murphy. If you put a foot wrong, it's rumoured she will use her dreaded gas-powered spud gun and you don't want that - just ask Ugly Frank how he got his nickname!Year 5 are enjoying this novel.
New books in the JRC
Calling all Swifties!
Celebrating the wonder that is Tay Tay and the Eras tour.
“Just be yourself; there is no one better.”
TAYLOR SWIFT
Mrs Martin’s Book Trail : The Lonely Lighthouse of Elston – Fright Written by Reece Carter.
I absolutely LOVED this spooky tale. It is an easy 5-star read, and it is an absolute go to recommendation for Junior-fiction readers. "Being a Lightkeeper is a very serious business. Nobody in Elston-Fright believes in magic anymore. Well, nobody except for Flip Little, his nan and a girl called Corpse, a ghost called Girl and a very large spider called Simon.” It really is an exhilarating and terrifying adventure from beginning to end. Totally recommended for the whole family and I can’t wait for book 3. #mrsmartinsbooktrail2024
Mrs Elena Martin - Teacher Librarian
Junior School Chess
Selection for the 4 chess teams will begin in Week 6 at lunch time in the JRC. At this time, students will be chosen to represent the school in the NSW Junior Chess league. When the Chess season begins, Mrs Martin will oversee the Chess training on a Tuesday morning at 7:30 am in the JRC, emartin@stpiusx.nsw.edu.au. Miss Boyle will oversee the chess competition on Friday and the organisation of drivers to the venues, rboyle@stpiusx.nsw.edu.au.
Mrs Elena Martin and Ms Raelene Boyle - Junior School Chess Convenors