Junior School News
- From the Head of the Junior School
- Junior School Sport
- From the Junior Resource Centre
- Junior School Chess
From the Head of the Junior School
YEAR 10 DRAMA PERFORMANCE
Students in the Junior School were thrilled to be invited to the Sarto Centre at lunchtime on Wednesday to watch a Year 10 Drama (assessment) performance. Little did we know that we’d be asked to participate! Thank you to Ms Lindley for inviting us and for the chance for Junior School students to see the opportunities that lie ahead for them in the senior school.
JUNIOR SCHOOL BIBLE LITURGY
On Tuesday 9 April, you are invited to join the Junior School in the St Pius X College Gymnasium (next to the Canteen) at 8:45 am to celebrate our annual Bible Liturgy. Our new Year 5 and Year 6 students will be presented with their own Holy Bible in a special liturgy prepared by Assistant Principal, Mission and Identity, Mr Petrie.
INTERIM REPORTS
On Wednesday 10 April, you will receive an interim report on how your son is progressing in relation to the St Pius X Learning Attributes. You will receive feedback on your son’s self-management skills, application, independent learning skills, homework, and cooperative behaviour. If you have any questions, please contact your son’s classroom teacher.
SUMMER SPORT PHOTOS
Summer Sport photos will take place on Thursday 11 April (Week 11). Students are to bring in – and change into - the uniform they wore during the Summer Saturday Sport season. If your son did not have a specific uniform (eg softball, tennis), he does not need to bring in anything as he will already be in his sport uniform.
RUGBY TOUR TO ARMIDALE
Mr Morris, Mr Montgomerie, Mr Bourke, and I are all looking forward to spending the first weekend of the holidays watching our Junior School rugby players participate in the largest Under 12s rugby carnival held in Australia – The Armidale School (TAS) Rugby Carnival. Each year this event attracts over 1,000 young rugby enthusiasts & their coaches, along with committed families and supporters, who make the journey to Armidale. Armidale’s beautiful autumn colours provide the backdrop to the event, which utilises The Armidale School’s outstanding ovals & facilities.
DATES FOR THE DIARY:
Thank you for your ongoing support of the Junior School.
Mrs Jill Greenwood - Head of the Junior School
PAPA Comedy Night - May the 4th
Please use the link or QR code below to get your tickets and join us for a night of laughter to raise funds that will support our boys in their performing arts endeavours.
Seat numbers are strictly limited, so get in quickly!!!
This event is open to all adult members of the SPX community (not just families of students in Performing Arts).
Looking forward to seeing you there!
Junior School Sport
Winter Season:
As was announced in last week’s report our Winter Season commences in Week 1 of Term 2. Teams for Round 1 (4 May) will be finalised and shared during the holiday break. There are a variety of home and away games over the course of the season. The draft fixtures will be posted via Clipboard prior to the first matches. Each Thursday evening team lists will be finalised, and fixtures will be confirmed. Please be aware that there may be changes to draft fixtures. To ensure you have access to the most accurate information each week I highly recommend adding the ‘Portal’ to your mobile device. For instructions on how to complete this, please see below A Guide to Logging in for Parents and Guardians.
Thursday Sport
Winter sports trials for Rugby Union, Football and AFL continued this week. On Thursdays, students are to come to school in their normal PE uniform. Once at Oxford Falls, they will have the opportunity to change into Winter Sports gear – this does not have to be Pius gear, any football/ rugby jersey is fine. With the potential for wet weather, having an extra jersey to train in is a good idea.
Please ensure that your son has the correct safety equipment organised and ready e.g. mouth guards, football boots, shin guards, etc. Students without the correct safety gear will not be able to fully participate in the trials.
Australian Junior Golf Championship
At the end of this week Cuba Nicholas will be setting off to the Gold Coast to compete in the Australian Junior Golf Championship. Cuba is really looking forward to the tournament and hopes to improve on his score from last year. ‘’My goal is to finish in the top 10’’. We wish Cuba the best of luck and anticipate an update on his results in next weeks Woodchatta.
CIS AFL
On Monday 8 April Felix Feeler, and Ben Costain and Oliver Mackinlay will compete for selection at the CIS AFL trials. The boys have demonstrated a great deal of dedication to the sport of AFL and we wish them well as they seek to gain selection in the CIS squad. We also look forward to watching them compete for the school with the other squad members of the St Pius X College AFL Primary AFL team.
Summer Sports Photos
Summer Sports Photos will be taking place on Thursday 11 April. Students that were part of Basketball, Touch Football, Softball, Cricket and Tennis teams are required to bring along their playing uniforms. Cross Country and Swimming Squads will wear their PE uniforms. All loaned uniforms for Basketball and Touch Football will be collected at the end of each photo.
Rugby Holiday Clinic
With the Junior Rugby Season just around the corner, the annual Easter Holiday rugby clinic will take place on Thursday 18 and Friday 19 April - April School Holiday Clinic. This is a great opportunity for the students to make sure they’re well and truly prepared for the season and will help them put their best foot forward during trials. Coaching staff will be age group coordinators, Trytime coaches and special guest coaches. Position specific coaching will be given as well as team play. It will be a great chance for students to work on their skills and confidence before the season.
The bus will depart Archer Street, outside O.L.D. Church at 9:00 am and return to Anderson Street Chatswood by 3:15 pm. The clinic will start at 9:30 am for those heading direct to Oxford Falls.
To register for the clinic please use the link below.
https://events.humanitix.com/st-pius-holiday-rugby-clinic
Mr James Bourke - Junior School Sports Coordinator
COERVER Football Camps
In preparation for the Football season, the College is offering St Pius X student only COERVER Camps.
ST PIUS X APRIL HOLIDAY CAMPS
Monday - Thursday 15 to 18 April
9:00 am - 12:00 noon each day
Bus transport to and from is available, with details provided in link prior to registration.
Active Kids Vouchers accepted.
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
From the Junior Resource Centre
This week’s Highlights:
Books for April
Some new. Some old. When I purchase books, I always have a person in mind, but hope that many more will enjoy it the same. My goal is always to help someone find 'their book'.
Author visit - Liz Anelli and Pamela Freeman
Year 5 had the pleasure of listening to the award-winning illustrator and writer team of Liz Anelli and Pamela Freeman launch their new picture book Seed to Sky.
Their talk covered, how does a tall tree fit on a small page? How can you make a dense and very green rainforest using words and colours? They described and talked through drawing a scene from the Daintree Rainforest. You may never look at nature the same way again!
National Pet month 2024
National Pet Month 2024 is held from 1 April to 1 May. The aims of National Pet Month are to promote responsible pet ownership, make people aware of the benefits of pets for people, plus the positive impacts that owners can have on their pets.
Library Monitors
Thank you to these amazing Library monitors. They worked so hard today returning books to the shelves and organising our library.
Welcome to the team Alex Seifert, Hugo Hasanoglu, Isaac Korkor, Ethan Odze and Noah Menezes.
UNO in the JRC
Shower Land by Nat Amoore
A big thank you to Dee Weir and his friend Sam Stroud who attended the book launch for Nat Amoore’s latest book, Shower Land: Break the Curse. We now have a signed copy for all the students to enjoy donated by Dee Weir and family.
Mrs Martin's Book Trail: Being Jimmy Baxter by Fiona Lloyd
A gently funny yet powerful coming – of age middle grade novel about surviving the odds, unlikely friendships and the magical music of Elvis.
'it’s not eggsactly easy being Jimmy Baxter’ cause –
The real Jimmy’s hiding inside
Ned Kelly’s giving him the evil eye
Mum’s stopped going to work and stays in bed
There’s no eggs in the fridge – or anything else
AND there’s new jobs, bad-at-school
Brains and a whole lot of trouble called Duke.
But then….there’s Mac.'
Mrs Elena Martin - Teacher Librarian
Junior School Chess Club
Thank you to all the students who attended chess training on Tuesday 2 April. A reminder that chess training continues next week, Week 11, 9 April at 7:30 am in the JRC with Mrs Martin. Chess teams will be announced during training next week.
Mrs Elena Martin and Ms Raelene Boyle - Junior Chess Convenors