Parent & Student Matters  

What's happening in the College? 

• TONIGHT:  Snowy Hike Expedition 2019 Parent Information Night
• SPX Students and Staff take part in the SAN Run for Life
• Duke of Edinburgh Award - Outward Bound Australia Dates & Itineraries
• Science Results 2019 - Reach Assessment 
• Year 8 French Breakfast
• Champions of Chess
• Debating Information
• News from the Senior Resource Centre
• From the Science Department: 
•    - TONIGHT:  FREE Sydney Science Festival Talks at Chatswood Library
•    - 'CREATE IT' Competition
•    - STEM Outreach Program for Students
• 'Teaching Learner Drivers' - Free Workshop Wednesday 21 August

TONIGHT:  Snowy Hike Expedition 2019 Parent Information Night

TONIGHT:  Wednesday 7 August 2019 from 6.00 - 7.00pm in the Sarto Centre

• Expedition Dates:  3 - 9 December 2019 (last week of the school calendar year)
• Who can attend:   Any student who is currently in Year 11 at the College
• School Contact:  Mr Paul de Silva (pdesilva@stpiusx.nsw.edu.au)

The purpose of the information night is to give an overview of the timelines, journey, student preparation, equipment and risks associated with this type of activity.  Parking in the College will be limited due to another activity at this time.

Mr Paul de Silva - Outdoor Education Coordinator

SAN Run for Life

Our SPX students and staff took part in the SAN Run for Life at Wahroonga on the weekend. This is a charity based event for Cancer Research and it is the third year we have taken part. We had 35 boys run while just as importantly 20 came along from 5.00am onwards to help set up for the event at the front of the hospital.

A series of brilliant performances enabled SPX to win two of the three Schools Age Groups and retain the Schools' Trophy for a third year, over teams from Barker, St Ives and Turramurra.

Thank you to Mr Matt Stearn, Ms Leanne Ho, Ms Sally Richardson and all the parents who gave their valuable Sunday morning time.

Mr Steve Quilty

Duke of Edinburgh's Award

Outward Bound Australia - Upcoming Program Dates and Itineraries

Keen to continue your Duke of Edinburgh's Award? Complete your Adventurous Journey before the year's end by grabbing a spot on one of the upcoming Adventurous Journeys.

Click on the link below for details.

https://mailchi.mp/outwardbound/complete-adventurous-journey-2019?e=4cba4cc0cb

Mrs Kara Manga

Science Results 2019 - Reach Assessment

Last term, 800 students from St Pius X College participated in the inaugural 2019 Reach Assessment in Science.  Please see details in the attachment below.

Year 8 French Breakfast

“We were bubbling with excitement. It was 1st period on Monday morning and Year 8 French Class 1 was about to enjoy our French breakfast. As we entered the room, an accordion was playing some beautiful music. We put down our books and took our seats, with the smell of French bread and hot chocolate reaching our noses. Our first meal was the classic baguette, with a spread of butter and the optional jam. There was also a bowl of hot chocolate to dip our breakfasts in. Yum! We then learnt about some of the French people’s most famous landmarks, such as the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and the Arc de Triomphe. The next meal was a croissant, with a refill of hot chocolate! Next, we learnt about Napoleon Bonaparte and all about his rise and fall as the famous French military leader and strategist. This last the meal was my favourite, le pain au chocolat, a chocolate croissant!

The incursion ended with French music and singing. Our class exited with smiles on our faces and delicious food in our stomachs.”  (Eamon Boyle)

“We were greeted by an amazing accordion player, and with culture I would expect in a French restaurant.”  (Ethan Boulos)

“We learnt a lot about French history in particular we learnt about Napoleon Bonaparte the famous Emperor who won countless battles for France. However, despite his numerous victories he was banished to the island of Elba off the coast of Tuscany, but he escaped and started a campaign in France revolting against those in power. We also learnt about the Eiffel Tower, originally everybody hated the look of the tower and wanted to take it down. The tower was very useful in the world wars because it was big and solid metal and useful to intercept enemy radio chatter. In all, the incursion was a great experience and I would happily do it again.”  (Liam Thomson)

“We talked about how to say words like ‘please’ ‘thank you’ ‘I would like’ and the foods we were going to eat. It was important to help us with our French and to help us answer questions asked. The French breakfast incursion was an amazing experience that Year 8 was lucky enough to experience. I hope there are more exciting things like this in the future!”  (Thomas Haymen)

“This French incursion was like nothing I have done before.  It was a new experience and I loved it. We were given hot chocolate served in bowls, crispy baguettes with jam, a choice of soft fluffy croissants or delicious filled chocolate croissants. They were eaten ravenously by all the boys who were there on the day. We were all treated to a live performance of a French accordion player who captured the attention of many. The other presenters wore your typical French clothing. All in all this was a great morning enjoyed by everyone.”   (Patrick Mulheron)

Mrs Sarah McCormach - French Teacher

Champions of Chess

This year has been an especially good one in the chess arena. Of the 9 SPX teams entered into the NSW Junior Chess League, 2 have finished first in their divisions. The Junior Division 3 SPX A team (Andre Mury, Ned Turner, Christian and Matthew Moore, and Jamie Leong) were tied for first place and faced a playoff last Friday to determine who would progress into the final rounds. Unfortunately, the boys were out-strategised and lost to Knox Grammar.

So the hopes of glory rest on the shoulders of the Intermediate Division 3 SPX A team of Ethan Griffin, Andrew Guerrera, William Liquorice, Tristan Williams, Manav Purohit and Peter Yastreboff. These boys will play Shore A at home this Friday, in the quarter finals of the Intermediate Division.

We wish them well!

Ms Janelle Dempsey and Ms Denise Ramsey - Convenors

Debating

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

Mrs Michele Waterson - Debating and Public Speaking Convener

Senior Resource Centre  

HSC Trial Workouts:  Our library proved the perfect place for Dr Meale's Modern History class to exercise their knowledge of Russia and the Soviet Union with mind maps on the whiteboard tables in preparation for their Year 12 Trials.

Time's up - 2019 Reading Challenges to end:  Students are reminded that the Premier’s Reading Challenge for Years 7 – 9 and the Edmund Rice Readers’ Challenge for Year 10 conclude on the 30 August.

Our library classes provide time for reading for every student to enjoy reading,  practice this skill and log their reading. This term, the DAILY habit of reading has been promoted with research showing that it’s not necessarily how much you read but how often you read which brings the greatest benefits.

Out-smarting fake news & saving time:  The NEW Britannic School Insights Chrome extension places relevant, rigorously fact-checked sources “front and right” with a bonus box on the right side of the Google Chrome search results page (Albert Einstein example shown).

Students who have downloaded the extension are delighted to find that the box contains brief information and links to the full content on our College’s Britannica High School-level Encyclopaedia. This saves students time in searching and evaluating websites so they can focus their attention on reading, understanding and applying the information to answer their inquiry. Further, they can have confidence in citing this credible information source on their bibliography and demonstrate to their teachers their discerning use of quality information.

Trivia Buffs: did you know?   Early 20th century contributors to the Britannica Encyclopedia included Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Leon Trotsky and Harry Houdini.

Ms Karen Keighery - Senior Teacher Librarian

TONIGHT:  FREE Sydney Science Festival Talks at Chatswood Library

Students and teachers are invited to the following talks to be held in Chatswood Library during the Sydney Science Festival on Wednesday 7 August 2019. 

• The story seashells share

Have you ever picked up a seashell and wondered what story it can tell?  Learn how seashells can be used to tell us about big-picture biology, and how recently extinct animals can tell us a lot about modern conservation issues.  Matt Kerr is a PhD student in the conservation palaeobiology laboratory at Macquarie University, researching variation in beach shells and how they respond to the environment.

 Date & Time:  Wednesday 7 August 2019 6:00 - 7.00pm    

Tickets Available:  <https://www.willoughby.nsw.gov.au/EventDetails.aspx?PageID=1892&eventid=6376>

• The other side of cannabis

Increasingly, cannabis is viewed as much more than a recreational drug. Join Michael Udoh, a molecular pharmacology PhD candidate at Macquarie University, to discover another side of cannabis.Find out medicinal purposes for cannabis and how its chemicals might affect areas of the body to combat chronic health conditions like epilepsy.

Michael Udoh is a pharmacist and drug discovery scientist. He currently researches how individual chemicals in cannabis affect different parts of the body. His discoveries have been presented at different conferences including the International Cannabinoid Research Conference and he aims to develop a cannabis-based formulation for pain therapeutics.

Date & Time: Wednesday 7 August 2019 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Tickets Available:  <https://www.willoughby.nsw.gov.au/EventDetails.aspx?PageID=1892&eventid=6377>

Mrs Joanne Schuster - Science Coordinator

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

'Teaching Learner Drivers' - Free Workshop

Lane Cove and Hunters Hill Council are hosting a free workshop on Wednesday 21 August 2019 for parents and supervisors of learner drivers.  This workshop will outline simple steps on how to teach a learner driver to drive safely. Details are in the flyer below.