Mission and Identity
Edmund Rice International: Youth Voices for Justice
Red Dirt Immersion 2026
Year 9 Formation Day
Youth Mass
Edmund Rice International: Youth Voices for Justice
A group of Year 10 students attended a zoom meeting to engage with students in Edmund Rice schools in Oceania. The topic was exploring the way we promote social justice and are advocates for those whose voices are silenced.
The discussion was meaningful and has provided us with some great ideas for future initiatives we could start at Pius. It also gave us an opportunity to reflect on the wonderful things we are already involved in such as: Matt Talbot Hostel, nursing home visits, push up challenge, Vinnies Winter Appeal, Lenten Appeal for Uganda, Red Dirt immersion. There are so many ways we help and assist others in our communities.
The Zoom raised awareness of the wonderful things other Edmund Rice schools are doing which we would love to explore: events such as zero plastic days, human trafficking awareness, fun runs to raise money and awareness and a winter sleepout.
We are part of not only a wonderful school community, but a broader national and global community of people working hard to be instruments of change and advocacy for others. Thank you to Ethan McMahon, Brandon Ang, Marcus Espejo and Jason Bau for joining me on the Zoom meeting with Br Tino.
Red Dirt Immersion 2026
After much discernment and through conversation with our rural partners, we are pleased to be able to confirm that our Red Dirt Immersion to Central and Northern NSW will be able to take place this year. The dates for Red Dirt are Saturday 27 June to Thursday 2 July, the first week of the upcoming school holidays. We share this experience as we have for a number of years now, with students and teachers from Christian Brothers High School Lewisham, another EREA school.
We have been in contact with the communities we regularly visit to gauge concerns about both fuel supply and cost in regional areas. The latter is now more of a concern than the former, which will unfortunately have an impact on our budgeting and cost to families.
For those that do not know, Red Dirt is a longstanding cultural and spiritual formation experience for our students, travelling through the central and northern regions of NSW. We travel from Sydney to Coonabarabran and the neighbouring Warrumbungle National Park then on to Dubbo via Coonamble and then home. We visit schools in each of these major towns as well as Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal sites of interest. Throughout the experience, students have a reflection journal to complete and will spend time daily sharing their experiences. Our experiences are themed as Seeking and Finding God in the Stars, in Others, in Reconciliation and in Ourselves.
The cost of the experience per participant this year will be $700 to be paid before departure. Offers of places will be made after a short interview with each student to discuss their interest and suitability. Generally, numbers are restricted to 32. Priority is given to Year 10 students, with some places reserved for Year 11 students who have previously attended, to return as student leaders. Any Year 10s missing out will be given priority for the end of year immersions if they wish to participate in them.
If there are any preliminary questions, please feel free to email Mr Di Sano sdisano@stpiusx.nsw.edu.au.
Year 9 Formation Day
Next Friday, 22 May, Year 9 students will participate in their Formation Day which will be held at Oxford Falls. The theme of the day is Building Bridges and the students will explore relationships, team work, and new beginnings.
A reminder that on this day students are to bring all of their food and a water bottle and may wear their College sport uniform.
Youth Mass
This coming Sunday, 17 May, all students are invited to join us at the Sunday evening Mass held at Our Lady of Dolours commencing at 5:30 pm.
Youth Masses are held twice a term and are a wonderful way to share faith, enjoy community and share a meal after Mass.
Mrs Gabrielle Scanlon - Assistant Principal, Mission and Identity