Junior School News 

• From the Head of the Junior School 
• Junior School Sport
• From the Junior Resource Centre

From the Head of the Junior School

PRAYER

With Remembrance Day tomorrow:- 

Almighty God, we remember with thanksgiving, 

those who made the supreme sacrifice for us in times of war. 

We pray that their offering of their lives may not have been in vain. 

May your grace enable us this day to dedicate ourselves 

to the cause of justice, freedom and peace; 

and give us the wisdom and strength to build a better world.

This week:

At the Assembly last Friday, Mrs Spanyik gave out the Maths Olympiad certificates, please see Mrs Spanyik’s article below.  The library looks fantastic with a Halloween theme and a special creepy noise machine as you walk in the door.

Year 5 enjoyed an online author talk from Alice Zaslavsky last Friday.  

Mathematics Olympiad 2021

Congratulations to the Year 5 and Year 6 students who participated in the 2021 Olympiad. The delivery of this program was particularly challenging during this year. Given these challenges the Competition converted to an Intra-School version for the second half of the Olympiads. The boys demonstrated great improvement in both their creative problem-solving skills and confidence over the course of the year. All the boys who participated were awarded a Certificate of Achievement and boys with the top scores receiving a Special Achievements Medal. 

A special mention and impressive results from Mrs Spanyik’s class which the entire class was awarded a Certificate of High Achievement scoring in the top 25% of all teams scores in the Junior division across all schools.

Year 5

Special Achievement Medals

Equal Highest individual Score

Joshua Lee Top 20%

Julian Kuang Top 20%

Year 6 

Special Achievement Medals

Team 1

Welton Ang Top 2% Highest Individual Award

Oliver Hartry Top 10%

Zachary Rapa Top 10%

James Borg Top 10%

Antonio Calcarao Top 10%

Alex Burke Top 20%

Cameron Giang Top 20%

Charles Li Top 20%

Alex Moores Top 20%

Hudson Savage Top 20%

Harry Arnold Top 20%

Team 2

Special Achievement Medals

Highest individual Score

Leo Ward-Harvey Top 30%

Well done to all the boys who participated in the Competition you can certainly be proud of your mathematical abilities.

Mrs Bettina Spanyik - Learning Enrichment Teacher

Upcoming:

This Thursday we will have Remembrance Day.  Lessons 1 and 2 will be shorter and we have an online assembly in class to mark the signing of the Armistice to end World War I on 11 November at 11 o’clock.  The boys will be bussed out to Oxford Falls after the assembly for their sports afternoon.

Next week on Tuesday John Larkin will launch his new book called Zombies versus The Illuminati. (online).

Christmas Appeal

Every year the Junior School has a Walkathon which goes to our partner organisations. This year due to lockdown this couldn’t occur. We normally also have a Christmas Appeal.  This year, for the Christmas Appeal we will be making snack packs for the St Vincent de Paul, Woy Woy branch, night patrol to distribute.  This is a request from them so we know it will be appreciated and used.  I used to do the night patrol for Vinnies in Sydney and then later on I used to take senior students with me on night patrols where you offer homeless people a drink and some food.  Some of your sons will probably assist at Matthew Talbot Hostel when they are in Years 9 and 10.  This is the beginning of that journey where we do something for those less fortunate than ourselves.  It is a positive lesson in helping others and recognising that we are fortunate.  It is part of the Edmund Rice Charism.  To quote Blessed Edmund, ‘Give to the poor in handfuls.’

Items Needed

We will be starting our Christmas Appeal collections from Monday next week (Week 7), running until the end of Week 9.   We will be making the snack packs as a class.  If your son could bring in some of the following:- 

• Zip lock bags that are large enough to hold the items
• 1x popper juice
• 1x can of tuna OR cuppa soup/sachet soup OR noodles
• Le Snak/Cheese Dippits;
• Packet of chips;
• Packet of sultanas;
• Fruit cup;
• Packet of biscuits (e.g. single serve Tiny Teddies);
• Muesli bar (nut-free) Please note: muesli bars must be chewy e.g. Uncle Toby’s Choc Chip Bars.

The boys will then pack in their classrooms the following items: Please follow the instructions below for offsite snack-packing. 

Each snack pack should have all 5 items in total in a zip lock bag. 

This MUST include: 

1x popper juice 

1x can of tuna OR cuppa soup/sachet soup OR noodles 

AND three of the following items: 

• Le Snak/Cheese Dippits;
• Packet of chips;
• Packet of sultanas;
• Fruit cup;
• Packet of biscuits (e.g. single serve Tiny Teddies);
• Muesli bar (nut-free) Please note: muesli bars must be chewy e.g. Uncle Toby’s Choc Chip Bars.

Timetable for Junior School 

We are running a different timetable to allow the Junior School to be out in the playground when the remainder of the school are in class and vice versa.  It means that the boys will have three periods in a row in the morning with a crunch and sip time sometime in Periods 2 and 3.  Please ensure you pack a snack that is easy for the boys to eat in class. 

(No roast dinners allowed!  It has to be quick and easy and preferable not messy.)

ADMINISTRATION: 8:42 am - 8:57 am

Allow a crunch and sip for 5 minutes in Period 2 or 3. Remember a water bottle for the classroom.

Period 1      8:57 am – 9:50 am

Period 2      9:50 am - 10:43 am

Period 3     10:43 am - 11:36 am

Recess        11:36 am - 11:56 am

Period 4     11:56 am – 12:49 pm

Period 5     12:49 pm - 1:42 pm

Lunch          1:42 pm - 2:22 pm 

Period 6      2:22 pm - 3:00 pm

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR MERIT AWARD WINNERS

Congratulations to the following boys for being awarded a Merit Award last Friday. Keep up the good work.

Archie Wragge, Ben Monger, Cooper Thomason, Tobias Wilson, William Pile, Samuel Ford, Mason Dabile, Joshua Lee, Ben Hair, Oscar Kwiatkowski, Finn Burton, Noah Safarian, Thomas Costain, Christopher  Yastreboff, Luke Mc Carry, Isaac Sharpe, Niki Hurrell, Owen Gleeson, Shahe Tachjian, Lachlan Giles, Kalan McNeilly, Nate Ho, Josh Wang, Samuel Rowe, Simon Ellis, Antonio Castorina, Sebastian Gadaleta and Farid Chammaa.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THIS WEEK'S CERTIFICATE OF ACHIEVEMENT WINNERS

CONGRATULATIONS.

A special congratulations to Samuel Koudsy, Julian Bloem, Luca Della Franca, Oliver Hartry, Liam Cooney, Hamish Sullivan, Daniel Gorken-Spyrou, Thomas Costain, Adrian Yip and Isaac Sharpe who have achieved 5 Merit Awards and will be receiving a Certificate of Achievement. 

MATHS DROP-IN

Junior School students are welcome to attend our Maths Drop-In sessions on Friday mornings from 7.40 am.  It is held in the Diverse Learning Room of the Junior School - across the hall from Mrs Fileman's classroom.

With assessments approaching fast, concepts are taught, practice papers are completed and problems are solved all with the company of your mates. 

This is the ideal place where students can come and feel comfortable to ask questions and nut out some challenging problems. Rewards are given, laughter is heard and words of encouragement are shared. Come along and be a part of the team.

A THOUGHT TO PONDER

...and put the effort into working towards them. (Mr Timothy Long)

Thanking you for your support.

Mr Tim Long - Head of the Junior School 

Junior School Sport

Junior School Sport News:

It is now time for all uniforms on loan to be returned. All basketball, touch football, athletics uniforms are to be returned before the end of Week 6. Please return with a post-it note label indicating who is returning the uniform to Mr McBrearty’s office.

Thursday Sport: 

All sports will go to Oxford Falls as per usual. Internal games for each sport or training for Cricket and Tennis.

Pick-up Information: For parents who wish to pick their son up from Oxford Falls pick-up will be at 2.10 pm via the car park as per usual.  

NSTA Tennis

All NSTA tennis players have been allocated a rank forming an initial ladder. Any new boys to tennis for Term 4 will need to add themselves on the bottom of the ladder. Over the next three Saturdays boys will play an opponent no more than 2 places higher or lower on the ladder. The winner of each match will claim the higher on the spot on the ladder after the match. All boys must find a new opponent and playing time each week for 1 x 45 minute match each Saturday. There will be a booking sheet on the noticeboard outside the gym (example below). It is each player's responsibility to find a match and a time each week. Matches will be confirmed at the meeting on Friday morning. Matches are between 8.00 am and midday on November 13, 20 and 27. 

At the end of this term ladder rankings will be used to select Term 1 2022 NSTA teams.

Mr Benn McBrearty - Junior School Sports Coordinator

From the Junior Resource Centre

This week's highlights:

Remembrance Day in the JRC

As Sydney reopens and our lives begin to return to normal, we must take a moment to remember. To remember those who put their lives on the line for us in the past, and those who continue to make sacrifices for us today.

“Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. We will remember them.”

Lest we forget.

The boys have been reflecting and learning about Remembrance Day. They discussed the Poem, In Flanders Fields by John McCrae, explored the Junior School Libguides page, and discussed books in our library.

John Larkin – Virtual Author visit with Year 5. Tuesday November 16, 2021.

Sydney based Author John Larkin returns to St Pius X Junior School with the release of his new novel, Zombies vs the Illuminati. John teaches writing full time and has taught writer workshops for the Junior School for many years.

We are very fortunate to have this award-winning author speak to the boys via TEAMS on Tuesday 16 November, 2021 at 12:49 pm. This will occur during the Year 5 Literacy classes.

‘Three 12-year-old boys and the world’s sassiest teenage girl join forces to defeat the zombie hordes before the world is plunged into a new Dark Age.’

‘The quartet’s weapons of choice? A light-sabre that doesn’t have any batteries, a sack of doorknobs, and a non-existent Pegasus.’

‘What could possibly go wrong?’

Please find the link below that has a trailer for the new book.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agMed6WLWAs&t=2s

The students can order the book online at 

https://www.thechildrensbookshopspeakersagency.com.au/person/larkin-john-speaker/   Signed books are delivered after the event.

Mrs Martin’s Book Trail:The Australian Climate Change Book by Polly Marsden.

An accessible and reassuring picture book that teaches children about the specific challenges of climate change for Australia so they can be informed and make a difference.’ This is another great Primary Resource. Clean design, informative and positive too. #mrsmartinsbooktrail2020

   Mrs Elena Martin – Teacher Librarian