Junior School News and Information
Learning Enrichment Notices
Highlights from the Junior Resource Centre
Junior School Sport

PRAYER: St Patrick’s Day

The Irish were predominantly responsible for the spread of Catholicism to Australia and next Sunday 17 March we celebrate St Patrick’s Day. With Edmund Rice being an Irishman, I have included an Irish prayer. As an aside, The St Patrick's Day parade and festival will begin at the Rocks at 11am this Sunday.

Blessing

Christ be with me, Christ be within me,

Christ behind me, Christ before me,

Christ beside me, Christ to win me,

Christ to comfort me, Christ above me,

Christ in quiet, Christ in danger

Christ in hearts of all that love me

Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

(From the Breastplate of Saint Patrick)

Photo: Year 6 Red led the Prayer at Assembly this week.

BIBLE LITURGY: The boys were involved in a beautiful liturgy today where all the new boys received their Bible. For more information and photos please go to the Mission and Identity page of this newsletter. Thank you to Mr Simpson for his reflection and Mr Mulheron for his organisation.

LENT: During Lent many of the classes are looking at a different person each week to see how they live their lives and how project Compassion has assisted them. The poster below is the overview. If you wish to look yourselves the link is https://lent.caritas.org.au/page/schools#

The College has also opened a special donation page with Caritas Australia and all donations are tax deductable. Donations made via this page will also become part of the St Pius X College contribution.

Please use the following link: https://lent.caritas.org.au/stpiusxchatswood

As stated previously, it would be good if the boys give up something or do something extra and give money to those less fortunate than themselves.

TOUCH FOOTBALL : We introduced touch football this year to the Junior school and it has been a success. It is supposedly being ratified as an official IPSHA sport in Term 4. Most importantly the boys are having a great time.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Friday 15 March - NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION AGAINST VIOLENCE AND BULLYING. An Assembly will be held in Period 1. Junior school boys will be involved in an Anti-Bullying Poster Competition in the week before this assembly.

Saturday 16 March - COLLEGE OPEN DAY. We would love boys to volunteer to be guides. I will show them where to walk beforehand and it is actually a good way to boost confidence at speaking to others. It is also a good way to ‘give back.’ Boys can be buddied up with a more talkative or older student. Many boys come after sport or they act as guides at Oxford Falls.

Timing: 10am – 2pm at Chatswood and 8am – 12noon at Oxford Falls.

Please complete the permission slip on the letter below if your son is able to assist.

Monday 18 March: 5 Gold Assembly Prayer

Tuesday 19 March: Extended Staff Meeting - no After School Study (Homework Help)or detentions on this day.

Wednesday 20 March: CSO Year 6 Leaders' Day. (Year 6 Class Captains attending). The leaders need to return their permission letter.

P & F NEWS: Please see the P&F page of this newsletter for all P&F information, including events for Years 5 and 6 parents and students.

P&F Meeting next Monday 18 March - 7.30pm in the Sarto Centre
Year 5 Boys: Join in for a game of laser tag + bowling in the school holidays!!

Strike Bowling, Mandarin Centre Chatswood

Tuesday 16 April 2019 from 10am to 12pm

$16 per head for laser tag and bowling with shoe hire

Parents join us for a coffee at Jamaica Blue cafe Chatswood Chase from 10.15am to 11.45am

Optional lunch for the boys at Mandarin Centre food court after laser tag and bowling

Please complete the Google sheet sent via spx2026@gmail.com to confirm expected numbers to venues. Any questions, please contact Cathy Thomson on 0439 139 995.

If this doesn’t work please use the following link:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IbgKGDuk40NviDIhq8tqnFwl5xXctfBG0lJLR2bD4_4/edit?usp=sharing

SPX Year 5 Parent Representatives

Class 5 Blue: Kate Baker, Hesn Higgins, Cathy Thomson

Class 5 Gold; Louise McCallum, Sarah Robson

Class 5 Red: Lisa Aggett, Julia Conn, Audrey McCarry

The 2019 SPX School P&F + Year 5 Events Calendar can be found below:

Learning Enrichment Notices

COMPETITION REMINDERS

Write for Fun: Due Sunday 31st March - https://www.write4fun.net/competitions

What Matter’s Writing Competition: 400- 600 word opinion piece on What Matters to You? Due Friday 10th May. https://www.whitlam.org/what-matters/

Da Vinci Decathlon Competition: Enrich, Excite, Challenge. Held at Knox Grammar School on Thursday 30 May. NB compulsory training sessions in Compass Club. This competition is aimed at students celebrating their academic gifts. (Registrations of interest - Weeks 4 & 6)

Year 5 & 6 (absent students may catchup): Friday 8 March - Lunchtime in the JSR

Entry into this competition is based on demonstrated academic ability and an ability test. The competition will be run in Term 2 with compulsory training beginning Week 1 Term 2 on Wednesday lunchtimes during Compass Club. Further details will be given at the next Junior School Assembly and link: http://www.davincidecathlon.com/davinci/index

JUNIOR SCHOOL DEBATING – SELECTION TRIALS: Boys in the Junior School have the opportunity to become involved in Debating. The College enters two teams in the IPSHA Debating Competition. Twelve boys from the Junior School form the two teams and these are selected to compete. The teams debate fortnightly on a Friday afternoon (during school hours Periods 4-6) during Terms 2, 3 and 4 on a rotational basis. The emphasis is on learning the skills of debating and workshops will be held during lunchtimes leading up to the competitions. Training begins in Week 9 of Term 1, every Wednesday and Friday lunchtimes.

Boys are invited to present a short two minute speech to assist in selection of these teams. These speeches are to be presented during the set trial sessions on Wednesday and Friday lunchtimes:

The topic for the speech is 'Which is better - television or books?' Further details will be given to the boys at the Junior School assembly.

Mrs Bettina Spanyik - Learning Enrichment Teacher

Highlights from the Junior Resource Centre

Read on and on and on ….. Usually over 500 books are nominated to possibly become the CBCA Books of the Year. On February 26, the NOTABLES were announced. https://cbca.org.au/notables-2019 . This is a shorter but still longish list of the best books nominated. Congratulations to all authors and illustrators listed. See how many you have read. See how many your library has. And then, READ ON and ON!

Premier’s reading Challenge: The PRC is well under way. All the boys have managed to log on successfully, and have already added books to their list.

Mrs Martin’s Book Trail – Say What?!

The History of Communication by Woody Brambles is an illuminating and entertaining look at the ways we have communicated throughout history and how our methods of communication have changed and continue to change. Dynamic images and well-designed layouts will capture YOUR IMAGINATION. #MrsMartinsBooktrail2019

Mrs Elena Martin - Junior Librarian

Junior Sport

Thursday Sport: Thursday Sport: at Oxford Falls. Year 6 will complete their Cross-Country before their normal sport training for Basketball, Cricket, Softball, Tennis and Touch. Year 5 will complete normal summer sport training.

Swimming: Congratulations to Jonathan Yang (6 Green) who qualified for the IPSHA Swim team after placing overall 4th in the recent selection Carnival in a PB time (39.14s)

Basketball: Our final round of the Term 1 half-season takes place this Saturday. Good luck to all teams.

Rugby: Trial games for all Junior School Rugby players are scheduled for Saturday 30 March at Oxford Falls against St Aloysius and Cranbrook. More details to follow though matches will be at roughly 8am (‘B’ trial) and 8.50am (‘A’ trial). We will be finished by 10am.

Touch Football: The St Pius A and B Touch Football sides had two exciting games against a strong Riverview outfit. The B side had a very hard-fought loss whereas the A side ran away as convincing winners. Many tries were scored as the defence was just no match for our great attack late in the game. Riverview were well drilled and full of energy but were just not as good as us on the day. Great defence in the B side from Finley Lonsdale and Ethan Lines. Outstanding running and stepping in the A side by Bailey Yu and Louis Forbes. We now look to next week with two big games against Reddam House.

Mr Greg Virgona - Junior School Sportsmaster

FOOTBALL

The Junior School Football program has been generously supported by the Football Committee through the specialist coaching program, holiday camps, equipment and the Football Tour to Tamworth. The Committee is seeking volunteers to fill roles and help to continue supporting the Football program. Please see the Football Club News below for more information.

Football (soccer) Referees: The Junior school requires qualified referees for our home games on Saturday mornings at Oxford Falls commencing in Term 2. The first game starts at 8.00am and the final game begins at 10:15am. Games are 40 minutes with a 5-minute half time. Referees are paid after each home round. Please contact Mr Paul Cummins via pcummins@stpiusx.nsw.edu.au for more information.

Paul Cummins - Junior School Football Coordinator

FOOTBALL CLUB NEWS

We need you!

The Committee is run by parent volunteers. Most of the existing members of the SPX Football Committee have boys in Year 12 and after six years or more will be retiring at the end of 2019, leaving one existing Committee member for 2020. We need your support to transition to a new group of SPX Football parents to maintain continuity and bring new ideas and initiatives into the College.

If we cannot form a Committee then all the good work we have done over the years such as specialist coaching and holiday camps will be at risk, and in some cases may cease to be provided. The effort required is a few hours a month. The roles required for the Committee in 2019 are Communication Manager, Events Manager, Shadow Treasurer and Shadow BBQ Manager.

Please consider joining in. This year is 2019 Unity in Community. Meet the challenge and Get Amongst It. Details on 2019 SPX Football Club activities are attached below.

Please email footballclub@pandf.spx.nsw.edu.au if you are interested or want some more information, or just come along to the next meeting in April.

Term 1 Holiday Football Camp at Oxford Falls: The SPX Football Club will again be organising a two-day football camp during the Term 1 holidays. The camp will be run from 9.00am - 2.00pm on 17 and 18 April at Oxford Falls. Transport to and from the College will be available.

The camp will be run by professional coaches under the direction of Chris Semaan and suits all age groups from Years 5-10. We particularly encourage some of the older boys to come along and get ready for the ISA season starting in Term 2.

Trybooking details are https://www.trybooking.com/UPLP

Ms Christeen Berte - Football Club President

Softball Round 5 Report: So far we have had a mix of wins and losses. This week our game against Trinity Juniors was easily won by Trinity, a stronger team who have been playing together for the past two years. However, St Pius did make some great plays. Joshua Floridia caught a fly ball, threw it to Ben Shoudra who threw it to Jack Morabito on second base, therefore completing a double play. Pius got two out at once.

Luca Cheal was our first runner home, followed by Martin Chan and Christian Fiore. We had three runners home so there was a chance to narrow the scores.

The outfielders, Nicholas Kwan, Kayden Foo, Matthew Sissons and Ben Haskew were excellent at stopping all the balls coming their way which kept Trinity’s run rate lower.

Next week is our final game at our home ground.

Thank you to Mrs Haskew for keeping score and to Ms Cregan for taking the photos.

Mrs Jennifer Williams - Softball Convenor

NSTA Tennis: Information can be found on the Senior Sport page.

Mrs Sam Iwatani - NSTA Convenor

Teaching & Learning Matters

NAPLAN 2019