Junior School News

• From the Head of the Junior School
• Junior Resource Centre News

It will be good to see the boys' smiling faces. When the boys come to school they are now in their Winter uniforms.  If you haven’t done so it is good to get a photo of them especially in their first year at the school in the Winter uniform as they always look impressive.

International Star Wars day was on May the 4th (be with you!)  Think about it.

Blessed Edmund Rice’s Feast Day was May 5 and we celebrated with a College Assembly on Monday May 4 .  He was an inspirational man who was a wealthy business man but saw a need for education for the poor so he did something about it. 

Mother's Day is this Sunday.  Best wishes to all the Mothers, and Grandmothers, who are mothers too.  Obviously every day is Mother’s Day but on Sunday I hope the boys make you feel even more special than usual. 

PRAYER/REFLECTION

This Sunday is such a special day for all the mothers and mother figures in our lives.  It is interesting that throughout the bible there are many references made about the importance of mothers and the comfort they provide.

Gentle, Patient God on Sunday we thank God for the gift of mothers and mothering across the world. Isaiah wrote that God is a mother to us, comforting and carrying us in her arms.

As one whom a mother comforts, so I will comfort you – Isaiah 66:13.

Isaiah also wrote that God will never forget us and that he knows each one of us just as a mother knows her own children.

Can a woman forget her baby at her breast, feel no pity for the child she has borne? Even if these were to forget, I shall not forget you. Isaiah 49:15

David wrote that in God’s presence, he was quiet and at peace, trusting his God like a child safe in its mother’s arms.

No, I hold myself in quiet and silence, like a child in its mother’s arms. Psalm 131:2

Jesus spoke of himself as a mother, longing to wrap his arms around us like a mother-hen gathering her chicks under her wings.

How often have I longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings… Matthew 23:37

PROGRESSIVE RETURN TO SCHOOL

As Mr Couani has outlined there are hygienic practices being adopted as the boys return to school.  In the Junior School all the classroom teachers have agreed to return to face to face teaching.  Three of those teachers who are in the high risk group have been offered a double classroom while we have only one Year level at the College.  We will use the internal stairs at times during the day to avoid congestion on the stairs. 

On a Thursday in Week 4 and 5, Year 6 will go down to Oxford Falls for the whole day.  We will have a teacher at Oxford Falls if you choose to drop off your son there on Thursday morning.  In the afternoon, if you wish to collect your son from Oxford Falls, we will have an arrangement in Dreadnought Street, where you stay in your car and pick up your son. Year 6 will do 2 lessons at Oxford Falls in the morning before sport commences.  Year 5 will go down to Oxford Falls after recess as per the normal Thursday timetable. 

At the end of last term I noticed a lot of parents collecting their children.  We will have social distancing markers out the front of the College and request that all parents and carers observe social distancing procedures.  If you don’t need to come into the College, please stay outside.  It might be wise to organise to meet your son at a spot a short, safe walk away from the College. 

If you decide not to send your son back to school, we will send out the work being covered via email or the Portal and the teachers will, when appropriate, have their Microsoft TEAMS open so that your son can hopefully hear the lesson but the teacher will be teaching the class of boys that are present at the College.  There will only be one mode of delivery.

WHY MUMS ARE LIKE ROCKSTARS

Here are the reasons why Mums are like Rockstars

• You spend endless hours on the road with too many people in the vehicle
• Your job is to entertain a mob of loud, writhing maniacs
• If you do your job well people ask when you'll produce more
• Your name is always shouted, never spoken
• You are up at ridiculous hours of the night
• Someone is always pulling at your clothes
• Groupies follow you to the bathroom

A THOUGHT TO PONDER

‘ People touch our lives, if only for a moment; and yet we’re not the same

from that moment on.  The time is not important:  the moment is forever.’

Fern Bork

Mr Tim Long, Head of Junior School

Junior Resource Centre News

This week's highlights:

Just a shelf of books?  Take a closer look.... An amazing message on the spines!

May the 4th be with you!

In a galaxy not too far from home the force was strong in the Junior Resource Centre.

Hot off the press! St Pius X Junior School Book Week NEW DATES

New dates for Book Week 2020 have just been announced.  October 17 - 23, 2020.  Put it in your diaries.  Something awesome to look forward to once all this craziness settles down.  #cbcabookweek2020

PRC - SPECIAL RULE AMENDMENTS FOR 2020:  Updated April 15, 2020

Great News!  Due to the current conditions the PRC is relaxing the rules to get students to continue to read, even when access to books is limited.

To help support students who are #learningathome and may not have the same access to #NSWPRC books as they would normally, the PRC have increased the number of choice books you can enter on your reading record this year!  They will need to be added to your SRR (Student Reading Record) by adding the "bonus choice book" options that have been added to the PRC booklists.  These are on the 5 - 6 challenge so that all students are able to count them towrads their books for the 2020 challenge.  Some other updates to the 2020 rules have just been announced, so head to their website for more information about this and other adjustments to the 2020 PRC.  https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/prc/home.html

Mrs Martin's Book Trail:  I have been on an Aussie Junior Fiction Reading binge and have been reading some of the titles shortlisted for the CBCA Awards.  I think the winner of the Junior Fiction category will be The Dog Runner by Bren MacDibble.  Watch this space!  #mrsmartinsbooktrail2020

Mrs Elena Martin, Teacher Librarian, Junior Resource Centre