Pastoral Care 

• Wellbeing Anecdote from the Student Diary
• National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence Assembly
• Harmony Day Assembly
• Peer Support
• KYDS Fun Run
• Red Dirt Immersion 2021
• Peer Mentoring Afternoon
• Free Parent and Teen Workshops

Wellbeing Anecdote from the Student Diary

 "If you have a strong purpose in life, you don’t have to be pushed. 

Your passion will drive you there.” 

Roy T Bennett. 

National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence

Congratulations to our Student Wellbeing Prefects Jacob Glass and Matthew Brannan as well as College Vice Captains Alec Ramsbottom and Nick Ward who conducted our National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence last Friday morning.

Their message was underlined by the Peace Prayer of St Francis led by Matthew on the Feast Day of St Joseph, the Father of Jesus, and Patron Saint of Carpenters.

Our guests at the assembly included Mercy College Principal Mrs Brenda Timp, Captain Sophie Satnarine and Vice Captain Stephanie Loker who spoke eloquently on the negative long term impacts of bullying or racist behaviours, and the positive benefits of respectful relationships at all levels of our school communities.

Our student leaders also gratefully welcomed and interviewed Mrs Mary Rajca (Class of 1972 Mercy - St Pius’ coeducational era), whose sons Daniel, Matthew and Luke all attended St Pius. Mrs Rajca has worked tirelessly to support the Women’s refuge, child-care centre and health clinic set up in Peru by Mercy Sisters Jacqui Ford, Patricia McDermott and Joan Doyle (all former teachers of Mercy – St Pius senior classes), to counter the generational trauma of domestic violence and poverty there. 

The voices of Mr Carroll (Year 5 Red teacher), Year 5 Student Oscar Kwiatowski and Mr Dan Quilty, Old Boy and now English Teacher at St Pius, added further weight to the call for action to counter bullying and violence at our local as well as global level.

I thank the Year 11 and 12 Student Empowerment Teams and their facilitator Mrs Bamber for their organisation of the Assembly and associated initiatives including the Year 5 Anti- Bullying poster competition for which the Westfield Voucher prizes will be distributed at Assembly next Monday. The poster competition was run by our Year 11 SET Team including Will Staber, Ethan Rosetto, Will Ramsbottom, Harrison O’Brien, Nathan McAdam, and Mr Mendez.

The National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence Assembly can be viewed via the link on the Portal.  The password to access the link is available on the College Portal:   

Harmony Day Assembly

Continuing the theme of Respectful Relationships, our Cultural Prefects: Ashley Johnson, Liam Kinna, Charlie Hammill and James Baldock were coordinated by Mrs Manga in running our Harmony Day Assembly last Monday. Mr Brannan’s Year 9 RE students Patrick Frost, Michael Krizan and Reef Farias led the prayer before the College student leaders spoke of the Inclusive Community which it is part of our shared vision. Student and staff representatives including Mrs Lee, Mrs Bamber, Mrs Manga and Mr Couani, then greeted the College community in the traditional languages of their forebears, before Ronan Crispe and our Junior School students explained the ideals of community they had written on the Harmony Day chain links joined together. The Year 11 Student Empowerment Team leaders: Ronan Crispe, Elliott Cook, Anthony Elliot, Jai Oorloff-Kay, Conor Dunne, have led the Harmony Chain initiative, which we will share with Mercy College. 

Ben Cullen then spoke of “Close the Gap Day”, prioritising Harmony and Respect for our First Nations Peoples and our guest Ms Sofie Tobin (Mercy Class of 2020 and twin of sister of our own Jack Tobin), spoke eloquently of the imperative of supporting Harmonious Respectful Relationships through education and authentic communication. 

The Harmony Day Assembly can be viewed via the link on the Portal.  The password to access the link is available on the College Portal:   

Peer Support

The Peer Support Program will continue next Tuesday 30 March during Period 2 and then into Term 2 as our Year 11 Peer Support Leaders continue to support our newest students' transition into the College.

KYDS Ku-Ring-Gai Community Fun Run

Ku-Ring-Gai Youth Development Service Fun Run and major fundraiser is approaching on Sunday 18 April which is the last weekend of our School Holidays. As such there is an urgent call for assistance for this in-demand health service. It would be great if we could recruit a contingent of both runners and support officials to support this in demand Health and Wellbeing Service and local community event. If you would like to assist our Student Empowerment Teams in supporting this event or contribute directly please contact Mr Brannan sbrannan@stpiusx.nsw.edu.au or Mrs Cathy Thomson through the College.

Further information can be found in the Parent & Student Matters page of this Woodchatta.

Red Dirt Immersion 2021

Expressions of Interest are called from students in Years 9, 10 and 11 in particular, who are motivated to participate in the 2021 Red Dirt Expedition from Sunday 20 to Saturday 26 June. We will spend several days camping and visiting Aboriginal Cultural sites and communities around the Warrumbungles region. Including the Reconciliation Sculptures in the Pilliga Scrub, Dandry Gorge, before moving on to Walgett, Brewarrina (Fish Traps, Aboriginal Cultural Centre and Hospital Ck Massacre memorial), Bourke and Dubbo cultural centres of NW NSW.

Our COVID safety contingency planning is evolving, as we hope restrictions continue to ease, and it may be possible to connect with some of the school communities we visited in 2019! A visit to Dubbo Zoo during our return trip might then be possible to allow us to consider our observations and learning experiences from a culturally rich, remote and beautiful part of Australia.

See Mr Brannan to register your interest by the end of Term 1 so that we can prepare some guest visit experiences in Term 2. 

Peer Mentoring Afternoon 

Congratulations to our Year 12 Student Leaders including Callum Fitzgibbon who have organised an activities afternoon next Wednesday, 31 March for all students involved in our Peer Mentoring Program. Contact Callum, Liam Chang, Mr Russo or Mr Brannan for more details and a permission form.

Free Parent and Teen Workshops

The Kidman Centre UTS is offering free workshops to equip teenagers and their parents with practical and evidence-based psychological skills to manage teen life stressors.

The next three workshops are:

• Support your teenager:  Manage emotions, Beat the blues
• Supporting your teenager:  Keeping the balance, Less Stress
• Understanding technology:  Parent effectively, Protect your teen

For more information please use the link below:

St Pius X College acknowledges our First Nations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and particularly the Cammeraygal people, 

whose interconnection with this land sustained and 

fulfilled them mentally, physically, emotionally, socially and spiritually, 

over thousands of years. 

May we learn from their wisdom.

Fide et Labore

Mr Sean Brannan - Assistant Principal, Pastoral Care