Junior School 

News & Sport

• Junior School News and Information
• Highlights from the Junior Resource Centre
• Junior School Sport:  Football Meeting TONIGHT

Prayer/Reflection

The feast day for Pope John Paul II was yesterday, 22 October, so I have abbreviated a part of a prayer to him.  So we pray:

Oh, St. John Paul, from the window of heaven, grant us your blessing!.

Bless the young, who were your great passion. Help them dream again, help them look up high again to find the light that illuminates the paths of life here on earth.

May you bless families, bless each family! St. John Paul, with your prayer, may you protect the family and every life that blossoms from the family.

Pray for the whole world, which is still marked by tensions, wars and injustice. You tackled war by invoking dialogue and planting the seeds of love: pray for us so that we may be tireless sowers of peace.

Oh St. John Paul, from heaven’s window, send God’s blessing down upon us all.

Amen.

The week that was and will be!

• The boys have settled into work and we are quickly progressing towards assessments.  Please check the assessment schedule. 
• Today Year 5 are on an excursion to the Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway. 
• Tomorrow three of our Year 6 Class captains will be representing the College along with some senior boys at the Diocesan Mission Mass.
• Congratulations to the boys listed below who are involved in the 2019 Combined Catholic Schools Choral Festival at St Mary’s Cathedral.  It is the Mozart Choral festival and the boys will be singing in a concert at 7 pm that night.  As they say in show business ... 'Break a leg!'

• Next week we also have the Performing Arts Festival where the students perform solo or small group acts.  It is a great opportunity and I commend their bravery in getting up and performing.
• This Friday is World Teachers' Day! Be nice to teachers!
• On Monday 28 October the debating teams will be travelling to Abbotsleigh for the IPSHA Gala Debating Day.  

Yes, it is a short but busy term.

After-School Study Program - Venue E1 

Please note that on Wednesday 30 October we have a whole school staff meeting so there will be no After School Study provided.

 The after-school study program runs on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons in E1 from 3:15 – 4:30pm.  It is available to all students from Years 5-12. 

Principal's Award:  At Monday morning’s assembly four Principal’s Awards were presented.  Two of the students were from the Junior School.  Congratulations to Angus Gibson from Year 5, Jonah Steele from Year 6, Cooper Anderson and Ethan Li from Year 7.

From the P&F

Year 5 Mums' High Tea celebration

Ladies please get your diaries! Come and join in the Year 5 Mums' High Tea celebration - book your ticket today!!

• When:   Sunday, 10 November 2019 from 1.30pm to 5pm
• Where:  Killara Golf Club, 556 Pacific Highway
• Cost:     $50 per person includes sweet and savoury high tea delights, tea / coffee and a welcome drink.  Additional beverages available to purchase at the venue
• Trybooking Link:  https://www.trybooking.com/566815
• RSVP by Thursday 31 October 2019 for catering purposes.
• Please contact Cathy Thomson on cathythomson7@gmail.com with any specific dietary requirements.

Year 5 Family Gathering –Save the Date

• When:    Sunday 1 December 2019 from 3.00pm.  Families welcome to stay for dinner.
• Where:   Longueville Sporting Club ‘The Diddy’, Corner of Kenneth Street and River Road West
• Cost:      $10 per person.  Trybooking link will be provided in upcoming SPX newsletters

Sport:  This Thursday is Summer sport training at Oxford Falls – normal timings.

TERM 4 DATES

• Thursday 24 October – Year 6 Class captains representing at the college mission mass
• Friday 25 October – World Teachers Day ( Let’s call it School Staff Day)
• Monday 28 October – IPSHA Gala Debating Day at Abbotsleigh - selected students
• Wednesday 30 October – Whole School Staff Meeting – No After School Study (Homework help)
• Thursday 31 October – Transition Day for new Year 6 students to the College
• Saturday 2 November – Years 5 and 6, 2020 – Orientation Morning - new students in 2020
• Monday 11 November – Remembrance Day Assembly
• Tuesday 12 November – Year 7 Orientation morning – Year 6 boys going into Year 7 at St Pius X College will sit the Allwell Test and have an Orientation Afternoon. This includes current students and new students.
• Tuesday 19 November – Year 6 Bakery excursion – Green and Blue in the morning and Red and Gold from 11.15 till the end of day.  Please arrange any private music lessons so there are no clashes.
• Thursday 21 November – Whole School Staff Meeting – No After School Study(Homework help)
• Friday 22 November – Founder’s Day Festival
• Saturday 23 November - IPSHA Sport Rd 12-  Summer Season concludes.
• Friday 29 November – Year 6 Reflection Day at Oxford Falls – Parents welcome for conclusion at 1.45 pm
• Friday 29 November – Christmas Twilight Concert – 5 pm at Chatswood
• Thursday 5 December – Term 4 concludes – Years 5 to 10 Closing Mass/Junior School Prizegiving Day.

A Thought to Ponder

Thanking you for your support.

Mr Tim Long - Head of Junior School

Highlights from the Junior Resource Centre

Name that villain!  This week the students are invited to enter the Name that Villain competition!  Fill out a guessing sheet sheet with the name of the book that each villain can be found in. For an extra bonus, name the character. Drop you answers into Mrs Martin for a CHANCE to win a prize! Remember to keep the answers TOP SECRET.

Chapter Books Separated by Genre

This term is our first term with our fiction chapter books separated by genre. We went with twenty-five genres or categories including fantasy, animal stories, sports fiction, science fiction, historical fiction, contemporary, humorous fiction, adventure, mystery, and horror.

Each genre has a genre sticker for shelving purposes. Now that we have books grouped together, the next step is featuring or highlighting books from within each genre. Each week the students visit the library I am going to put the spotlight on books from particular genres. To start, I began with – Horror! Rather than do a full-fledged book tasting, I decided to set books up like a gallery or museum. Students get to walk through at their leisure browsing and interacting with the selected books. A big thank you goes to Mrs Mak and Mrs Dmitrewicz, who over the holidays worked tirelessly to make this happen.

Martin’s Book Trail – Things That Go Bump In the Night by Patrick Carman.

Some stories are best told in the dead of night. 3:15 means several things. It’s a time when Things Go Bump in The Night. A place where spooky stories find a home. A feeling…. that chill running down your spine. Each story is introduced, then if you are brave enough to continue, you’ll read for about ten minutes.

Then the ending will be unlocked with a short video. I advise leaving the lights on. #MrsMartinsBookTrail

Happy Reading!

Mrs Elena Martin - Junior Librarian

Junior Sport

Thursday Sport: at Oxford Falls. Summer training continues for Basketball, Cricket, Softball, Tennis and Touch Football.

Term 4 Swim Program: All students will take part in this program. It runs as per the schedule above in lieu of regular Thursday Sport. Yr 5 attend Macquarie Uni Aquatic Centre for a pool based program and Yr 6 attend Dee Why Beach for a surf skills program. Students are required to complete the respective form issued this week:

• Macquarie Uni Grading Form (Yr 5) - hard-copy form distributed (and on the App)
• SEA Australia Waiver (Yr 6 boys) – electronic form accessed here

All details for each program, including a detailed information letter, can be found on the College App.

Basketball:

Touch Football: The St Pius X ‘A’ and ‘B’ Touch Football sides were put to the test against a strong Riverview and Trinity outfit. A low amount of tries were scored against Trinity but the flood gates really opened against Riverview. There was a lot of running and ball movement with many dump and splits to create extra space. Excellent display of skills in the B side from Ethan Lines and Aiden Lindsey with fantastic vision and passing from Archie Harris and Toby Moran in the A team. After one win and one loss we look forward and prepare to take on an old rival in St Aloysius.  

Mr Greg Virgona - Junior School Sportsmaster

Softball Report Round 7

Saturday was our first match for Term 4 season. We were up against Grammar St Ives which was a known quantity. Our Captain, Matthew Yee and Joshua Floridia were our first 2 to score runs. Next we went in to field. The St Pius squad was ready. The wonderful team work with Christian Fiore, Sebastian Doss and Zach Brown throwing bullet like returns to the bases was entertaining to watch.

Ben Shoudra took a spectacular catch that was applauded by both teams. Patrick Thomson and Andrew Montano were working hard on their bases as runners approached. Our outfielders, Matthew Sissons, Martin Chan, Kayden Foo, Jasper Ghannoum and Jack Morabito, were alert and ready to retrieve any loose balls and backed each other’s play. Harrison Hooper, catcher, assisted in keeping the run rate low. He worked tirelessly throwing balls to first base.

Though we lost, the St Pius players displayed great sportsmanship.

Thank you to Ms Cregan for keeping score.

Parents remember to bring a chair as many of our venues do not have seating.

Mrs Jenny Williams - Convenor

Football News:  Football Meeting TONIGHT

An SPX Football meeting will be held on Thursday 24 October 2019 at 6.30pm at the Sarto Centre.  

At the meeting we will plan the beginning of the 2020 SPX Football season which commences with Senior School football trials in Week 2 of 2020.

The SPX 2020 Football season planned to align to the Coaching Program presented by Chris Semaan, SPX Football Technical Director at our meeting on 31 July 2019.

Please come along, join us and have your input to continue to develop SPX Football. We are beginning a new era for the SPX Football Committee and would love to see SPX Football families join in.

Please contact Cathy Thomson, 2019 SPX Football Secretary, on 0439 139 995 for any matters regarding the SPX Football Committee.

CatchEm Surf & Adventure Action is a surfing facilitation service that enables kids to purse their passion for surfing and the ocean by providing transport and surf supervision to children who are troubled by distance to the beach.  Please see details below.