St Pius X College Newsletter

Parent & Student Matters  

Geography is alive and well at St Pius!

What's happening in the College? 

  • Year 12 Science Students:  One Day HSC Science Advantage Course at UTS
  • Year 12 Retreats
  • Year 11 Geography Field-Trip
  • Year 7 Ski Trip
  • Debating Information
  • From the Science Department: 
  •    - 'CREATE IT' Competition

Year 12 Science Students

One Day HSC Science Advantage Course at UTS

Saturday 28 September 2019 from 9.00am - 4.00pm

Year 12 HSC Science Students are invited to attend an intensive one day course covering the HSC Physics, Biology, Chemistry, EES, Investigating Science and Science Extension exams.  This is a well-regarded revision course for Science students. 

The various subject workshops throughout the day will include:

  • Answering long-answer questions
  • Answering multiple choice questions
  • Answering short-answer questions and
  • Yellow Submarine : A think-tank style session where participants will be unpacking the syllabus and writing their own questions.

REGISTER HERE:   https://www.cognitoforms.com/STANSW/hscscienceadvantage

 

Mrs Joanne Schuster - Science Coordinator

Year 12 Retreats

The final preparations are being made for the Year 12 Retreats that will be occurring next week over a number of venues. The timing of these retreats is critical as it they occur to allow our Year 12 students time to: re-group, refresh and re-focus before they commence the lead up to the HSC. Many past students of St. Pius look back with fond memories of their Year 12 retreat experience. These retreats will provide time to be away from their busy lives and being given the opportunity to reflect on their personal journey of education and faith amongst their close friends. A report will be provided here in future publications.

Mr Nathan Mulheron - Assistant Principal Mission & Identity

Year 11 Geography Field-Trip

Our Year 11 Geographers enjoyed a day at North Narrabeen Beach last Thursday examining issues relating to Coastal Management.  Geography is alive and well at St Pius!!

Mr Mark Pawlak - Geography Teacher

Year 7 Ski Trip

I would like to thank all the staff who gave these boys such a wonderful opportunity:  Ms O'Brien, Mr Formosa, Ms Bryant, Mr Kennedy, Mr Stearn, Ms Dempsey,  Mr Donnelly, Mr Donovan, Ms Doyle, Mr Virgona and Mr Russo.  Also, many thanks to all the boys and parents who have sent messages of appreciation.  I will respond to your emails as soon as possible.

Mr Phil Stollery - Year 7 Coordinator

 

Noah Elms:  Year 7 made their annual trip to Blue Cow Snow fields last week from Monday to Thursday. After many hours of traveling by bus, all boys were excited to go skiing.  Most students had never seen snow before which made it a very a special occasion. We got lucky with the weather and managed to avoid the weather Bomb that dropped as we drove away from Berridale on Thursday. The temperature at the top of Thredbo on Thursday night broke a record with minus 22 degrees. The boys were very well behaved, supportive of one another and had a great time. 

The Year 7 Ski Trip was the school camp that I have most looked forward to going on. I’ve heard from many students that it is the highlight of the school camps at St Pius. This was one of my personal favourites as it taught us how to work as a team and cooperate. Skiing was a fun idea for all of the students regardless of experience. I loved working together and challenging myself to a new level. The whole trip was great including our accommodation. It was great to hang out with my mates in a new environment.

Alex Kelson:  My Year 7 ski trip experience was the best! Although we had to wake up really early, I thought it was really fun. I had never been skiing before and thought that it was really good to have friendly instructors that helped us to do many things. We all skied for about 7 hours and we learnt and mastered lots of skills. If you have skied before you were out doing lots of slopes with your instructors. But after the 2 days that you skied you finally had to go back home to your parents. 

Alex Dixon:  The year seven ski trip was a great experience, teaching us how to ski and cope with some minor hardships during a fun adventure to the Snowy Mountains. I was very happy about going on this trip as I had never skied before, let alone seen snow. Some parts I found quite challenging, but it was all very rewarding, such as, walking in my ski boots (that took getting used to!), learning to ski (and the pain of falling over), the price of the food (and managing my money) and learning to cope and agree with the others in my cabin. I found the ski trip to be a great learning experience and would go and freeze in a blizzard (while skiing again) and rate it 10/10.  Thanks to all the teachers for arranging the trip and for getting us there and back home safely.

Debating

Information from Mrs Waterson can be found in the document below.

Debating Information.pdf

Mrs Michele Waterson - Debating and Public Speaking Convener

From the Science Department: 

CREATE IT Competition

If anything is possible and you had unlimited time, money, help and skill, what would you engineer?

Entries close 30 September 2019.

Please click on the link for details:  https://100yearsea.com.au/create-it-comp/

 

Mrs Joanne Schuster - Science Coordinator