St Pius X College Newsletter

Pastoral Care and Old Boys' News

  • Year 7 Camp
  • Year 10 Safetalk
  • Peer Mentoring
  • RAP
  • Iftar Dinner
  • ANZAC Day Commemorations
  • Old Boys' Gala Day

Year 7 Camp

Congratulations to our Year 7 Pastoral Care Camp participants who took up the growth mindset challenges and teamwork as an inclusive cohort at Tea Gardens last week. Paolo Mirenzi earned the bravery award, soldiering on under adversity, and was an example of the many students who were able support one another through the challenges of the high ropes, archery, sea kayaking, raft building, rock climbing, mud pit and pioneering activities.

We are grateful to Year 7 Coordinator Mrs Loughman and the pastoral team including Mrs Lewis, Miss Barwick, Mrs Scott, Mrs Baguley, Mr Chan, Mr Gibson, Mr Stearn, Mr Reay, Mr Wall and Mr Quilty who generously supported this important formative learning experience for the students. 

Year 10 Safetalk

On Tuesday 28 March all of Year 10 participated in the Commonwealth-funded Livingworks Safetalk wellbeing and suicide prevention training at Oxford Falls with great empathy and thoughtfulness to this contemporary concern in society.

Thank you to Mrs Jennie Coen: Wellbeing Leader for Catholic Schools NSW, to Adrian Brannan – Edmund Rice Centre and Ministries, and our own Counselling Staff: Mrs Judy Gill and Mrs Joe McCarthy who supported this training for our young men, as well as Mr Pawlak and Mr Kovacic and our PDHPE Staff who greatly the supported this important day of rich learning and activity.

Peer Mentoring

Well done to the following students who enjoyed magnificent conditions to engage with their Peers and Mentors canoeing from Northbridge Scouts Boatshed on Monday afternoon. Next Wednesday our Peer Mentoring program will feature mentors and mentees rock climbing together at St Leonards as we round out the program for the term. We will repeat these activities later in the year along with our annual buddies not bullies bushwalk and beach walks! See Mr Brannan, Mr Russo or your year coordinator for more details.

Peer Mentoring Canoe Crew:

Year 12 Declan Carroll, Lucas Wong, Oisin Whooley

Year 6 -7: Luka H, Hamish S, Isaac K, Connor K, Dylan G, Joseph W, Arlo C

Thankyou also to Mr Russo, Mr Stollery and Old Boy Parents; Michael Rohanna and Ed Coates who facilitated this event, and to the Old Boys' Association and the P&F for generously supporting these invaluable programs for our students.

RAP

Willoughby Council are currently consulting with Gai-Mariagal elder Susan Moylan-Coombes to develop a Reconciliation Action Plan for our Local Government Area. I attended a consultation meeting this week and I am pleased to report that Patrick Frost and Eliot Sanders of Year 11 and Lachlan Staber of Year 10, members of the St Pius X College Student RAP Team, will attend the Young People's forum in representation of our College tonight.

Our RAP Team will develop Reconciliation Week lessons to engage our junior school students early in Term 2. Contact Mr Brannan if you would like to be involved.

Iftar Dinner

Next Monday our Year 11 SOR students will join their Mercy and Brigidine counterparts along with other school communities at the Prestons Campus of Amity College, to learn about and celebrate an Iftar Ramadan breaking of fast and dinner! We look forward to hearing their feedback.

 

Over the holidays there are further opportunities for students from Year 5 to Year 12 to represent the College at Shoah Commemorations on Sunday 16 April.

ANZAC Day Commemorations

Saturday 22 April at the Kokoda Walkway, Concord

Tuesday 25 April at 

- Chatswood RSL Garden of Remembrance Dawn Service 

And 

- Willoughby Park Legions Club 7:00 am Service

Please contact Mr Brannan if you are able to represent the College at these or other upcoming events.

Old Boys' Gala Day

The Annual Old Boys vs Open students Gala Day was conducted last Sunday 26 March at our magnificent fields at Oxford Falls.

Our 1st XI football toiled against a star studded Old Boys XI of Mr Quilty’s past captains led by Sevan Hanimyan (Class of ’95). For the record our Old Boys prevailed 3-0 courtesy of 2 goals to Claudio Rossano, and 1 goal to Oscar Martin whom, Mr Quilty reports, are the two highest SPX goal scorers ever. 

The Old Boys were encouraged by the standard of the students' play and wish them well for the season ahead.

In Basketball our newly appointed SPX Convenor Danny Garrett led his Old Boys' team to an 86-62 point win over the students in which Liam Calleja, Nick Biefeld, Matt Watts, James Shahinian and James Brannan showed their experience and class and shared the court with Billy Sykes, Isaac Byrne, Tom Dixon, Nick Schuster, Jake Brown and Charlie Arena. 

We will declare the points shared between our Open Rugby Squad 1st XV who completed their pre-season camp at Workul Koo on the Central Coast while Brother Rugby Old Boy Club were on a country tour to trial in preparation for their NSW Suburban Rugby season. 

The day culminated with a shared BBQ hosted by SPX Old Boys' Association President Jeff Clarke (Class of ’86) who is keen to recruit some support for the upcoming BBQ at our first home trials of Football and Rugby vs St Aloysius on Saturday 1 April. Please contact sbrannan@stpiusx.nsw.edu.au if you can assist or even just make yourself known to Jeff at the Old Boys BBQ on Saturday.

Old Boys Win the Trophy over 2023 Open Students 2 rubbers to 1 tie!

Fide et Labore

Mr Sean Brannan - Assistant Principal, Pastoral Care and Wellbeing