Junior School News & Sport

• Junior School News and Information
• Junior Debating
• Highlights from the Junior Resource Centre
• Junior School Sport

PRAYER/REFLECTION:   Tomorrow is the Feast day of St Teresa of Calcutta.

Written on a wall in one of Saint Teresa’s Calcutta Children’s Homes:

♥ People are often unreasonable, irrational and self-centred; forgive them anyway.

♥ If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; be kind anyway.

♥ If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies; succeed anyway.

♥ If you are honest and sincere, people may deceive you; be honest and sincere anyway.

♥ What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight; create anyway.

♥ If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous; be happy anyway.

♥ The good you do today, will often be forgotten; do good anyway.

♥ Give the best you have, and it will never be enough; give your best anyway.

♥ In the final analysis, it is between you and God; it was never between you and them anyway.

SPORT - JUNIOR SCHOOL FATHER AND SON SPORTING AFTERNOON:  I believe it was the biggest roll up of dads we have seen!  Estimates are at approximately 160 athletes attending along with the Junior athletes so we had over 400 mouths to feed, and the magnificent 12 mums and the BBQ Master, Wayne, fed them all.  The sport may have been great but the synchronised feeding of the 400 was awesome.  I don’t want to mention the names of the mums in case I miss someone but you know who you are.  Thanks for your assistance on the day. 

Well done to the senior boys for their refereeing and thank you to one and all for attending.  I was amused that we had to ask the dads to come in out of the rain, as it is usually the boys we have to chase out of the wet weather!  I hope you had a great bonding experience and may you have many more. 

Lost and found:  1 small umbrella and an apron labelled ‘Matador.’

A gallery of photos  can be found in Sports section below.

FOOTBALL PRESENTATION NIGHT –  Tonight

Please note the starting time is 5.30 pm.  

The Presentation Night for Football for the Junior School will commence at 5.30 pm  in the Sarto Centre which is the old church on the corner of Daisy Street and Anderson Street in Chatswood, just north of the College.  The 5.30 pm start will allow parents with boys in the senior school to attend the Senior School Presentation at 7 pm in the Chatswood campus gymnasium.  Parking is available in the school playground but please be aware Senior School parents will also be parking in the playground and may block your exit. 

MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY JUNIOR SCIENCE PROGRAMS:  Macquarie University runs science programs for primary school children which aim to encourage children to be confident in science.  Information can be found in the flyer below.

SCIENCE PRESENTATION AFTERNOON:   On the last day of this term, Friday 27 September, we will be having an afternoon where the boys can present their assignments.  If they have an audience, it enhances their learning and makes it real.  Also, if you can explain why something happens then you have a high level of understanding so on this afternoon the boys will have to explain why or how their assignment was designed the way it was or how it works. 

Year 5 are studying adaptations and designing animal enclosures so they will need to explain how and why they designed the enclosure in the fashion they did.  Year 6 are investigating natural phenomenon and they will need to explain how the phenomenon is caused and what happens.  If you wish to come and learn please come along from 1.45 to 2.45 pm on Friday 27 September.   Please extend this invitation to grandparents or a significant auntie or uncle.

TWILIGHT CONCERT – COME ONE, COME ALL!!!  The Twilight Concert is this Friday at Chatswood.  It begins at 5 pm and goes for approximately 2 to 2.5 hours.  Please feel free to come along and be entertained - buy a sausage or a raffle ticket.  Invite the grandparents!  Full details are available on the Performing Arts page.

TERM 3 DATES:

• Wednesday 4 September (TONIGHT):  Football Presentation Night - Junior School begins 5.30pm/Seniors at 7pm
• Friday 6 September – Twilight Concert
• Friday 13 September - RUOK Day
• Friday 27 September – Term 3 Concludes

After-School Study Program - Venue E1:  The after-school study program runs on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons in E1 from 3:15 – 4:30pm.  It is available to all students from Years 5-12. 

A Thought to Ponder

Tomorrow is the Feast day of St Teresa of Calcutta who was a living saint. 

Here are some pearls of wisdom from her:

Thanking you for your support,

Mr Tim Long - Head of Junior School

Junior Debating

Our final Round of engaging debates took place at Oxford Falls Grammar School on Friday 30 August 2019.  Rory McCallum, Luke Mortimer and Ethan Auer represented the Affirmative Team while Reilly Bois, Anthony Parissis and Dylan Turnell argued as the Negative team on the Topic … 'That parents should be punished if their children commit crimes'.

Mr Carl Saunders, adjudicated the arguments brought forward. He enjoyed the battle on this very challenging topic and  awarded a win to our Negative team, saying that their convincing line of argument was consistent and logical.  Well done boys … another victory for St Pius X College!

Unfortunately that was not the case with our talented Affirmative team. The Adjudicator called it a very close contest but awarded the win to Oxford Falls Grammar … Congratulations!

We look forward to our participation in the 2019 IPSHA Debating Gala Day on Monday 28 October 2019, hosted by Abbotsleigh Junior School, Wahroonga.

Ms Antonella Schiller

Highlights from the Junior Resource Centre

Premier’s Reading Challenge 2019:  The Results are Out!  Popcorn and a Movie!  Congratulations to 5 Red and 6 Blue.

Mrs Martin’s Book Trail: The Peacock Detectives by Carly Nugent

When two peacocks that live opposite her house go missing, eleven year old Cassie decides to become a detective and, with the help of her dad, write the story of how she came to solve the case of the missing peacocks.

#mystery#suspense#MrsMaritnsbooktrail.

I had a lovely visit today from Brother Carl, who looks after the College Archives, and he left me with the following:

‘What you eat today, walks and talks tomorrow.’

‘What you read today walks and talks tomorrow.’

‘Devote yourself to reading’

(Scripture 1 Timothy 4:13)

Happy Reading! 

Mrs Elena Martin - Junior Librarian

Junior Sport

Thursday Sport:  at Oxford Falls. Summer training/trials resumes for Basketball, Cricket, Softball, Tennis and Touch Football.

Father & Son Sports Day: Thanks to the wider St Pius community for supporting this annual event. Despite the inclement weather had a huge number of participants, numerous spectators and a dedicated team of mums on the BBQ, who must be highly commended for feeding such a ravenous horde so efficiently. The rain did not dampen the spirits of participants and I would like to thank the dads and the boys for being patient and adaptable. We somehow managed to sneak in the outdoor games and I’m sure the experience will be memorable for the boys. We are certainly lucky to have such quality facilities at our disposal year round and it was great to share these with the dads who are so often present as spectators. The boys thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to bond with their dads, grand-dads and uncles, and I sincerely thank all for taking the time to be a part of their sons’ day to day schooling.

A selection of photos can be found in the gallery below.

Basketball: Grading resumes this Thursday. Team lists for the Term 4 Season will go onto the App in the next fortnight with the season draw and information letter also available. The first game of season is on Saturday 19 October.

Cricket: Teams have been announced and training now resumes for the fast-approaching season. Thanks in advance to the parent volunteers for giving up your time to guide the players through the season, and also to the Cricket Club who do an enormous amount in organising, staffing and funding Cricket at SPX. A reminder that boys can bring their own kit bag to Oxford Falls for Thursday Sport sessions (or use the school issue gear provided).  At the very least boys must have a protector and personal gloves.

NSTA Tennis: Grading for the new Term 4 Season will be completed in the coming two weeks. The season begins on 19 October and relevant information, including team lists and a draw, will be disseminated to players after the grading meeting.

Softball:  A season draw and team list will be available via the App in the next fortnight. The first game of the Term 4 season is on Saturday 19 October.

Winter Sport and Co-curricular Photos: Our Winter Sport/Co-curricular photos have now been taken. Hard-copy order forms were given to students and are due back to the Student Office by the end of this term.  A PDF form is also attached below should you require it.

Mr Greg Virgona - Junior School Sportsmaster

FOOTBALL CLUB

The SPX Football Presentation night is on tonight, Wednesday 4 September 2019 from 5.30pm at the Sarto Centre for the Junior School and from 7.00pm at the College Gym for the Senior School.

There will be the draw of the 2019 Football Raffle at the Senior School Presentation ($5 per ticket or 6 for $20).

• First prize:  Framed and Signed Mile Sterjovski Socceroos No 21 Jersey - valued at $1,000+
• Second Prize:  SPX Football Kit - valued at $500+

There will also be SPX men and ladies supporter caps for purchase at $20. 

All monies raised go towards SPX Football professional coaching for our boys.

Cash and EFTPOS machine will be available on the night.

If you can help out with the sale of raffle tickets and supporter caps, please see Steve Thomson at the front tables on the evening.

Cathy Thomson - Secretary, SPX Football Club