Pastoral Care

From the Assistant Principal Pastoral Care

• Student Leadership Camp
• House Cup 2018 and House Vice Captain and Captains Presentation
• Mercy Week and the Year 12 Mercy vs Pius Netball Match
• Kokoda Commemoration
• Peer Mentees thank you letters to Year 12 Mentors
• Preliminary Course Exams
• College Counselling Team
• Year 9 Commerce Market Day 1
• RUOK Day
• Notice for Year 12 Students
• St Pius X College Old Boys Association Annual Dinner​
• Boxercise at the College for Years 5-12 every Thursday and Friday morning at 7.30am
• White Knight Foundation Walk Against Youth Violence - Sunday 23rd September

Student Leadership Camp

Congratulations to College Captain, Vice Captains and Prefects elect for 2019: Oliver Tysoe, Luke Forwood and Nick McLachlan and their Wellbeing, Mission and Identity, Cultural and Learning Prefect Teams for their great work under Year 11 Coordinator Mr Master's leadership at their Workul Koo (One God ) – Huntington House Leadership Camp Last week. The strategic planning, Theme for 2019 and goal setting achieved by this group are far in advance of that of previous years through the process of Leadership determination and distributed teamwork developed by Mr Masters and the Student Leadership Team. The Team is now greatly looking forward to sharing and learning from the collective wisdom of the 2018 Student Leadership Team at a Year 11- 12 Student Leadership Team Portfolios Handover this Thursday at lunchtime in Year 5 Blue and Gold Classroom. Thank you to our Year 5 staff and students for sharing their learning space while they are at Oxford Falls.

One highlight of our Student Leadership Camp was the visit to St Edmund's Wahroonga, our closest fellow EREA school as we returned to Sydney last Friday afternoon. As always working with the students and staff of St Edmund's was inspirational in developing our understanding of what it truly means to be an Edmund Rice School for others. We thank their Principal Mr Jon Franzin, Deputy Ms Rebecca Kirwan, and all their staff including Ms Bernadette Acret for allowing and facilitating our visit.

House Cup 2018 and House Vice Captain and Captains Presentation

This Friday at Assembly our College Vice Captains Nikita Papastamatis and Jack Moran and House Captains 2018 and 2019 will present both the Semester 2 House Vice Captains to Mr Couani and The 2018 House Cup to the winning House. Points from all events; cultural, dramatic, artistic and daramatic, as well as Colour Awards and participation in significant school initiatives such as Boxercise and Peer Mentoring, accrue to determine the winner of the House Cup. Good luck to all House Teams in anticipation. As soon as the Cup is presented there will be points allocated from Week 8 events, such as the Lights Short Film Festival and RUOK Day,  which fall under the leadership of the new College Vice Captains Luke Forwood and Nick McLachlan.

Congratulations to all 2018 House Captains listed below, and I ask the Semester 2 House Vice Captains to meet with their Semester 1 counterpart to collect the appropriate House Vice Captain Badge before Fridays assembly, or see Mr Brannan if there is any issue in doing so.   

The House Vice Captains provide a system of distributed Leadership opportunities to our Year 7 – 10 students and these students are called upon to support the House system and College curricular, extra curricula and community building activities in general, as well as give voice to their cohort through the House leadership system. They will attend and assist in the running of our Leadership Forum in Term 4 and represent the College at various events such as the Centenary of Armistice Day Sunday 11th November at the Chatswood Garden of Remembrance.

Mercy Week and the Year 12 Mercy vs Pius Netball Match

This week our sister school Mercy College Celebrate Mercy Week, and while it doesn’t make for much of a War Cry, at Mass on Monday Fr Jim McKeon explored the theme of being merciful. To be merciful is to be compassionate and to share what we have, often beyond the scope of what has been earned or what is deserved. A similar compassion to that which I hope we are sharing with our Country cousins, farmers and people of the land, who are struggling with the severity of the current drought. We continue to give, share and pray for helpful rains.

On a brighter note “Mercy Week” heralded our annual Year 12 Mercy vs Pius netball match which was again held in great spirits on the Mercy central netball court on Tuesday at lunchtime. While the some sights, for example, of our Student leadership Team in netball skirts, cannot be “unseen”, the overall result was a good one, not only in building connections with our neighbour school, but also on the scoreboard where the accurate shooting of House Captain Dom Courtney and reach of College Captain Dan Hall contributed to earning St Pius the win!

The Mercy Nuns who arrived by bush horse and cart to found the school 125 years ago, would have been proud of our pioneering efforts.

Kokoda Commemoration

Kokoda Commemoration

A brief reminder to the 20 students attending the 75th Anniversary Commemoration of the 2/33rd NSW South Coast Battalion Kokoda Campaign Air Disaster this Friday at the ANZAC Memorial Hyde Park to be well presented in polished winter uniform, bring your recess, lunch and drink bottle in a small plastic bag and bring a rain jacket and / or umbrella. We will depart after assembly on Friday by train to Town Hall Station so bring an Opal Card which works on the train.

Peer Mentees thank you letters to Year 12 Mentors

Junior Mentees who have a Mentor in Year 12 are reminded to see Ms Hunt at the front office to write a thank you card to your buddy who will soon be facing the HSC. This is also a timely invitation for students in Years 9, 10 and 11 who may consider being a Mentor to make yourself known to Ms Hunt, Mr Brannan or other members of the College Counselling team to join this most worthwhile of initiatives. Assisting and mentoring junior students in their integration and development through the College is an important function of our Inclusive Community.

Preliminary Course Exams

Best wishes to all our Year 11 students as they approach the conclusion of the Preliminary HSC Course and commence the HSC Course proper in Term 4.

College Counselling Team

This week we welcome Ms Kellie Dargan to our Counselling Team, filling in for Mr Russo who is on well-earned leave with his extended family in Europe. Ms Dargan is well known to the College as a long term mentor to our Counsellors and locum Counsellor in situ. Her experience with adolescent counselling and current experience of facing the challenges of school and the HSC are second to none and we greatly appreciate her support for our students at this time of the calendar school year where Year 12 students are approaching the HSC exams, Year 11 the transition from Preliminary to HSC courses and all our Junior students in the thick of Semester 2.

Term 3 Counselling:

Ms Dargan:        Week 7:  Tuesday 4th to Thursday 6th September

                                 Week 8:  Tuesday 11th to Thursday 13th September

                                  Week 9:  Monday 17th to Wednesday 19th September

                                  Week 10:  Monday 24th, Tuesday 25th and Friday 28th September

Ms Gill:                  Monday, Tuesday, Friday each week

Ms McCarthy:    Wednesday, Thursday  in Week 1

                                  Wednesday, Thursday, Friday in Week 2

Year 9 Commerce Market Day 1

Congratulations to our Year 9 Commerce students and staff who completed a very successful Market Day 1 on Tuesday. We now look forward with anticipation to Market Day 2 next Wednesday 12th September for the remaining Year 9 Commerce Classes. The food and entertainment promise to be worth the price of admission to the playground alone.  A large selection of photos can be found on the Department News page of this newsletter.

RUOK Day

The Official RUOK day is next Thursday 13th September and will be marked by a Staff vs Students Dodgeball game.  However our Year 12 MindMatters Student Empowerment Team have reserved Friday 14th September as the main event when the College Assembly will be addressed by Mental Health and Wellbeing advocate, former Liberal State Opposition leader and EREA product Mr John Brogden.

College Vice Captain Nikita and his MindMatters team have prepared a raft of activities around this day, complementing the Creative Arts Department's 'Lights Camera Action' short film festival at lunchtime. We are greatly looking forward to this student-led initiative which centres around the contemporary concern for our society’s and individuals’ wellbeing.

Notice for Year 12 Students

Year 12 Students are reminded that they have limited time to complete the survey emailed by Ms Cheney in which they provide their consent and post-school contact details to join the St Pius X College Old Boys Association. They will then receive membership, Old Boys tie and pin, and an invitation to attend the Old Boys September 2018 Annual Dinner free of charge. See Mr Brannan or Ms Cheney for details.

St Pius X College Old Boys Association Annual Dinner

Associations and connections of the College are reminded that the Annual Old Boys Dinner will be held on Friday 14th September (delayed from the usual first Friday in September) from 6pm at the Chatswood Club, Help St Chatswood.  The class of 2017 are sponsored free of charge and College Captain for 2017, Joe Unwin, will lead a prayer and tribute to Lachlan Ridley.

Final tickets for the Old Boys Annual Dinner must be accessed this week.

Bookings can be made at Trybooking:  https://www.trybooking.com/400629

Please contact Old Boys President Jeff Clarke or Mr Sean Brannan at the College for more details.

Boxercise

A reminder that Boxercise is held every Thursday and Friday morning at 7.30am in the Junior School playground.  This MindMatters initiative provides friendship, fun and fitness to strengthen students’ resilience and general sense of wellbeing.  Classes are free to all students.

White Knight Foundation Walk Against Youth Violence - Sunday 23rd September

Limber up and get ready to make a difference for The White Knight Foundation in the 2018 Walk Against Youth Violence.  Join us for a fun day out and make every step count!

• When:   Sunday 23rd September 2018 - 8:00am - 10:30am
• Where:  From West Spit Reserve, Mosman to Manly Wharf
• Why:  To raise funds for those affected by youth crime whilst on their journey through rehabilitation.

Details can be found in the flyer below.  

Fide et Labore

Mr Sean Brannan - Assistant Principal Pastoral Care