Pastoral Care 

• RUOK? Day
• Old Boys' Dinner
• House Cup Competition and Farewell to our Sports Colour House Captains 
• Year 9 Mercy Pius Respectful Relationship Day and Ugandan Refugee Talk
• Upcoming Parent Webinar

RUOK? Day

St Pius X College will celebrate RUOK? Day this Friday 15 September with our Student Wellbeing Leaders and Student Empowerment Team Members looking forward to stimulating conversations which raise awareness about ways in which we can improve our mental fitness for these times.

On the back of our recent health and wellbeing initiatives which include:

• Our Student Empowerment Teams
• Student Wellbeing Portfolio of our Student Leadership Team
• Safetalk suicide prevention training for Year 10 students and all staff
• GPs in schools program to Year 10
• Mission Australia Youth Surveys in Year 10 - 12 

Friday's events will include: 

• a meet and greet and goodies distribution in the College Foyer from 7:30 am from our Student Empowerment Team, Wellbeing Prefects and student leaders. 
• Assembly address by our student leaders
• Zooper Doopers for each class distributed by our student leaders before recess for Year 5 – 8 and lunch for Year 9 – 12.
• Well Wishing Cards from our Year 5 students organised by our Ms Boyle for our Year 12 HSC students. 
• Exhibition of our Year 11 Visual Arts projects aligned with this topic.

St Pius X College Old Boys' Annual Dinner

It was pleasing to see our Year 13 students lead by College Captain 2022 Will Staber and Vice Captains Ronan Crispe and Ben Cullen celebrating around their College Candle and motto 'Growth and Opportunity - Aspire to Inspire' at the Old Boys' Annual Dinner last Friday night. Also present were the trophies of our first College Leaving Certificate College Captain Dr James Biggs AM. Dr Biggs passed away in April.

The rousing school song and war cry lead by our most recent school leavers was a tribute to the storyline of the College and the dedicated lives led by our forebears in the form of Dr Biggs and so many others.

Next Wednesday at Graduation all our Year 12 students will receive their Old Boys Association Commemorative Tie, Tie Pin, and a certificate of Life Membership of the St Pius X College Old Boys' Association, provided they have met ATSIC requirements by providing their permissions, a non-school email address, contact number and address, on the form to be delivered by Mr Brannan at Form Meeting this Thursday. The Old Boys Tie maybe worn to HSC Examinations and of course to the Old Annual Boys' Dinner to be held on the 2nd Friday in September and to which all Year 13 students are subsidised each year.

Earlier this week we passed on the gratitude of our College community to Mr Bill James, Old Boy Class of 1967 and founder of Top Deck Travel UK, The Flight Centre, and author of The Field Guide to The Kokoda Track. Bill’s generous donation of the James Fellowship gift to the College allowed for our staff to use the interest from the gift to travel overseas to develop their teaching acumen and expertise. Over the Winter holiday break in June – July 2023 Teaching Staff of the College variously attended:

1. Harvard University Project Zero Professional Development of Dr Ron Ritchhart’s 'Cultures of Thinking' (2 staff: Visual Arts Coordinator: Ms Frances Doyle and Science Teacher: Ms Denise Ramsay) 
2. Western Front History Tour to France and Belgium including Polygon Wood where the local 5th Div, 56th Bn fought in WWI  (History Coordinator: Mr Pat Rodgers)
3. Larapinta Walking and Cultural Trail, Alice Springs NT (Year 12 Coordinator and Chemistry Teacher: Mr Paul Ticli).

These professional development opportunities were provided through the James Fellowship and we passed on the genuine thanks of a grateful staff and community for the profoundly positive difference and boost to teaching efficacy and morale that these opportunities bring. I suspect our students may not know it yet, however the difference and benefit they will receive from this intervention will be lasting and positive.

Bill is an amateur historian of the Kokoda Trek and his sons Andrew and Richard through On Track Expeditions lead our Kokoda Expedition aligned with our connection to Isaac Lovei the Headman of Abuari village and Callan Services Disability Education Immersion in Papua New Guinea.

Bill and his son Andrew who is a veteran and author of 'Kokoda Wallaby' will come and speak with our history students later in the year as we prepare our Year 5 students for Remembrance Day and their Kokoda Memorial Walkway Excursion.

House Cup Competition and Farewell to our Sports Colour House Captains 

Friday's Assembly will also feature the presentation of the 2023 House Cup and farewell to our 2023 House Captains:

Year 9 Mercy Pius Respectful Relationship Day and Ugandan Refugee Talk

Our Year 9 students have been working on the outcomes from our Respectful Relationships Workshop lats wee. At the Year 9 joint Pius-Mercy respectful relationships day, the year groups split into 20 groups of 25-30 people each where they discussed ideas about what a respectful relationship is. They questioned what it means to be in a respectful relationship and what traits characterise it. These ideas were later collated by a writing group of Mercy and St Pius X Year 9 students into the following 9-point Action Plan: 

• All relationships should be based on positive communication and honesty. 
• People in relationships should be able to trust each other and feel like they belong. 
• Boundaries should always be respected. 
• All people in relationships should support each other. 
• Everyone should always be treated with kindness and feel comfortable with each other and to be themselves. 
• People in the relationship should be loyal to each other. 
• Independence should be a key part of the relationship. 
• Connections between Mercy and Pius should be strengthened through more opportunities to collaborate and practice our respectful relationships. 
• Listen to each other  

'On behalf of Mercy and St Pius X College students Year 9 2023, Year 12 2026. Next Thursday 21 September our Year 9 students (after lunch) and our Year 7 students (before lunch) will be joined by their Mercy counterparts in our school Gym and host a presentation from Teddi and Morris Mukasa who are Catholic Social Justice educators who had to flee Uganda. It is important for our students to look out of the window in respect and see what is happening in our world so that we can action our Liberating Education for good!'

Year 9 Student Michael Cheah 

Upcoming Parent Webinar

Parents Prepared: An informative webinar on drug and alcohol use and young people

When:  11 October

Time:  4:30 pm - 6:00 pm

Where:  online via Zoom

Cost:  $10 per ticket

Fide et Labore

Mr Sean Brannan - Assistant Principal, Pastoral Care