Junior School News & Sport
- Junior School News and Information
- Highlights from the Junior Resource Centre
- Junior School Sport:
- SPX Rugby Supporters' Club Golf Day at Roseville Golf Club from 1pm on Friday 29 November - SPX Rugby Supporters' Club AGM on Monday 9 December at the Sarto Centre at 7pm
Prayer/Reflection:
November is the month of devotion to Mary, our Mother in Heaven. Therefore:
Here are seven quick prayers of encouragement for mums.
THE WEEK THAT WAS:
Mrs Iwatani went with the boys who won the Willoughby Short Story competition so I will let her retell the event. From all reports the Year 6 boys had a wonderful educational excursion to Brasserie Bread which was relevant to their unit. Thank you to Mr Cummins for organising this event. I think the boys enjoyed eating the spoils of the excursion. On Tuesday due to the poor air quality arrangements were made for any boys who preferred to stay indoors for the day.
WILLOUGHBY CITY COUNCIL STORY WRITING COMPETITION – WINNERS ANNOUNCED!
BY MRS SAMANTHA IWATANI
At the end of Term 2 a member of Willoughby Council came to visit the Year 5 boys to introduce the Willoughby City Council Story Writing Competition. The boys were introduced to the Gould’s Wattled Bat, how it fits into our environment and the effects that we have on the bat. Biodiversity was the theme of the competition this year and particular interest was paid to the insect population: the bees and butterflies, the pollinators, ant and dung beetles our waste removers. These insects have a significant impact on us as well as providing food for other animals as well as being helpful to the environment – imagine how much it would cost us if they were on the payroll! Mayor Giles-Gidney reminded us to promote and preserve the bush land and over 400 students from the Willoughby area wrote stories to help make people aware of the animals in this area. The winning stories have been published in a book that will be made available in libraries, community centres and schools.
Congratulations to the winners from St Pius:
Story and Artwork (Cert of Achievement): Ethan Fajemisin, James Lineen and Daniel McCarry
Artwork (Cert of Achievement): Oliver Costain and Aiden Kiem
BRASSERIE BREAD EXCURSION YEAR 6.
Year 6 had a great experience on their visit to Brasserie Bread on Tuesday where they got to see and hear about how single origin bread is made. This bakery began 25 years ago after the owner, originally from Denmark was unable to find the bread he wanted.
The boys learnt the difference between sourdough and yeast risen bread, they got to feel, smell and even taste the sourdough starter! The baking experience was fun for everyone, covered in flour the boys had the opportunity to shape the dough into sweet scrolls and tasty pizzas. Not many of these made it home which goes to show just how yummy they actually were! Thank you to Mr Cummins for organising such an educational experience.
THIS COMING WEEK:-
Founder's Day Festival - the festival is this Friday. The boys are to attend in their sports Colour House shirt and sports uniform. I suggest they wear their generic blue sports shirt this Thursday so they have a clean Colour House shirt for Friday. Please note due to transporting the whole school we don’t want the boys to bring bags. The exception to this are the boys who are going on the Buddy walk, leaving from Oxford Falls. Food is supplied. Special dietary requirements are being catered for but I have one boy with very special requirements who is bringing his own food. They do need their hats. Sunscreen will be supplied. If boys have phones they will carry them in their pockets and have them turned off for the duration of the school day. If you are collecting your son from Oxford Falls please DO NOT drive into our carpark. We will have more than 20 buses collecting the boys. The boys will be walked up to the entrance of the C3 Church in Dreadnought Road, on the opposite side to the Treacy Centre.
To summarise: Sport uniform – House coloured sport shirt, no bag, food supplied, bring a hat, phone in pocket.
It will be a great whole school event with a social justice theme.
SPORT
This Thursday is Swimming (Yr 5) and Surf Safety (Yr 6). Please note that the pool for Year 5 is outdoors so a rash vest or sunscreen is required. We will have sunscreen at the pool. Sunscreen will also be at the beach for Year 6 and the surf program do supply a form of rash vest but sometimes boys wear their own underneath.
If you are picking up your son from the pool, you do need to be there by 2.10 pm please and just a reminder that if you want your son collected by another parent we need a note.
PRESENTATION CONCERT TIMING
On 5 December we have a Presentation concert. This is the last day for the boys so we have a school Mass at 10 am. At 12noon in the Chatswood gym we start the first part of the presentation. From 12noon til 1 pm we have the Sports Awards Ceremony. If you son won a swimming or athletic award (e.g. age champion) then he will receive his trophy at this event. Rugby and Soccer have already had their presentations so this is for all the other sports. At 1pm we will have an intermission (this is so the boys can have lunch, stretch legs etc). Coffee and tea will be supplied or you can go for a short walk to a coffee shop if you prefer. At 1.30 we will commence the Academic Prize Giving which will conclude by 2.45pm. The boys will walk their chairs back up to class, collect their bags and meet their parents in the playground or be dismissed to go home for their summer holiday. It is an SPX event so assistance from parents to stack their chairs at the end of the event would be appreciated. We are still finalising who the prize winners are but we will be sending out an email approximately a week before to the parents of prize winners. We will ask that you keep it a surprise so that your son only finds out on the day. Of course that is up to you.
Summary - 5 December:
- Sports awards – 12noon till 1 pm
- Academic awards 1.30pm till 2.45 pm
- Parents of Prize winners emailed a week prior to event
PERFORMING ARTS: Twilight at Christmas – Helping Out With the Drought
Friday November 29, 5pm at Chatswood – Bring Your Family
AFTER SCHOOL STUDY PROGRAM - VENUE E1
The after-school study program runs on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons in E1 from 3:15 – 4:30pm. It is available to all students from Years 5-12.
***No After School Study on Thursday 21 November due to Whole School Staff Meeting
P & F EVENTS
A big thank you to all the organisers for all these events. A great effort!
- Founder's Day: This Friday - BBQ helpers needed!
We are putting out an urgent request for around 5 more helpers to assis
Highlights from the Junior Resource Centre
This week’s highlights are:
Year 5 have been Building a Book Buzz with Book Snaps! #booksnaps#librarylife
How to make a Book Snap
- Read, think, & be creative.
- Take a picture of the passage that you connect with in some way.
- Highlight, underline, or box the part of the text with which you are connecting.
- Create a visual representation that shares your thinking.
- Use emojis, stickers, speech bubbles, draw pictures, etc.
- Include the title and author or book cover to give credit.
Book snap by James Lineen 5 Red
Book snap by Joshua Paul 5 Gold
- Epic resources available for the students at St Pius X JRC, ebooks, audio book titles, provides plenty of choice 24/7. Audiobooks are extremely beneficial for struggling readers. They are also great for average, avid, or gifted readers and compliment print and ebooks.
Book Snap by Liam Chan 5 Gold
Book Snap by Liam Godfrey 5 Red
Year 6 are creating an Academy Award Book Trailer.
Entries Close: 29 November
The book trailer must:
- be based on any book that you have read and enjoyed
- contain the title and author of the book and an image of the book cover
- contain music or sound effects
- contain a mixture of text and images
- be between 1-1.30 minutes in length
- adhere to copyright laws.
Mrs Martin's Book Trail - SURVIVAL FOR BEGINNERS
Step by Step Guide to Camping and Outdoor Skills. The essential survival guide for intrepid young explorers – learn the skills and techniques you need for outdoor adventure, from maps and navigation to camping and first aid.
#survival#adventure#MrsMartinsbooktrail2019.
Happy Reading!
Mrs Elena Martin - Junior Librarian
Junior Sport
Thursday Sport: at Macquarie Uni Pool and Dee Why Surf Club for Yr 5 and 6 respectively.
Term 4 Swim Program: All students will take part in this program. It runs as per the schedule above in lieu of regular Thursday Sport. Yr 5 attend Macquarie Uni Aquatic Centre for a pool based program and Yr 6 attend Dee Why Beach for a surf skills program. All details for each program, including a detailed information letter, can be found on the College App.
Basketball:
Touch Football: The St Pius X A and B Touch Football sides were up against a very tough Waverley Gold outfit. The B side had a very close loss going down narrowly 5-3. The defensive effort was huge by James Thompson and Aiden Keim with many great runs and passes from Harry D’Emilio.
The A Side had a great start, pushing out to a 9-1 lead early on. Waverley Gold managed to make a comeback and closed the gap to 9-5. A strong defensive effort in the second half from Noah Baxter and Beau Gaughan ensured we closed out the game and got across the line. Nice work boys.
We now venture to Lindfield for the final game of the season against Newington College Lindfield.
Mr Greg Virgona - Junior School Sportsmaster
Softball:
This week were up against Grammar St Ives, Gold. Our Captain, Matthew Yee elected to field first. Joshua Floridia, our first pitcher executed a fair ball which the opposition hit and Martin Chan caught perfectly in his glove. An excellent start by the opposition, who were able to score seven runs home; St Pius scored two.
In the second innings the competition began to heat up. Christian Fiore, Sebastian Doss, Harrison Hooper, Andrew Montano, Jack Morabito, Jasper Ghannoum and Zach Brown scored the runs and brought us closer, one run difference.
Then Ben Shoudra, Kayden Foo, Matthew Sissons and Patrick Thomson were ready to field some difficult fly balls. Focussed and ready St Pius dismissed the opposition for 4 runs. They were excited! There was a victory in sight. However, Grammar dismissed us for 0 runs. So we went back in and returned the play by dismissing them for 0 runs. However, Grammar caught us again in the 4th innings and we did not score any runs.
It was such an exciting finish that it did not matter about the final score, however we had to concede a loss.
Thank you to Mr Hooper for keeping score.
Parents please remember to bring a chair as many venues do not have seating.
Mrs Jenny Williams - Convenor
NSTA Tennis
Apart from the few sprinkles of rain it was perfect weather for tennis last weekend. It is so exciting to see the improvement in the green ball players as the term goes on. Luca Cheal showed great strength returning the balls at the net. After a late start, due to a broken arm, Aiden Parsons had a smashing start to the season winning both singles and doubles 6-0! Sean Balaji, Tom Sweeney and Venedict Valerio proved to be a formidable team winning 18 games against Redlands, great rallies were seen and excellent sportsmanship shown. Thank you to our umpires for this week: Nick Tozer, Tom Fong, Lucas Wong and James Higgins.
Nick Tozer and Tom Fong backed up to play their game after umpiring in the morning session. Although they didn’t win, they continue to put in a great effort. Rory Cooper and Ryan Fong both in Year 6 are the top ranked players in the Junior School and they have played some tough opponents. Unfortunately last week, they played a set of twins from Redlands, twin power won in the end and the boys lost but not without a fight.
Please note that the finals and play-offs will be played this weekend and all boys will be involved in the games. The draw can be found below.
Please follow this link to search your weekly results, the weekly draw can also be found here, table and draw.
The weekly draw can also be found by following this link: 2019 NSTA Term 4 - This Week's Teams and Venues
NEXT WEEK’S UMPIRES/MENTORS: Luka Komadina, Ryan Yun, Anton Langreiter, Nathan Constantino
Mrs Sam Iwatani - Convenor
SPX Rugby Supporters' Club Golf Day
Roseville Golf Club - from 1pm on Friday 29 November
Please click on the document below for information and booking details.
SPX Rugby Supporters' Club AGM
The Rugby Supporters' Club AGM will be held on Monday 9 December at the Sarto Centre, commencing at 7pm.
Paul O'Neill - President SPX Rugby Supporters' Club
Tel: 0418-634750