Junior School News & Sport

International Games Week 2019 is here!

Junior School News and Information
Highlights from the Junior Resource Centre
Junior School Sport: SPX Rugby Supporters' Club Golf Day at Roseville Golf Club from 1pm on Friday 29 November

Prayer/Reflection:

In the Church calendar we start November with all Souls Day and All Saints Day. Many people celebrate All Hallows eve, otherwise known as Halloween. This is the eve before All Souls Day so with this in mind:

May all the Saints, pray for us and for all those whose lives we touch.

May God, Who loves and holds us all, let the Spirit guide all our days

in the ways of compassion and justice,

May we reflect the heart of God, sure in faith, strong in hope,

built on love and become all that we are called to be.

And may our journey lead us into God’s gentle and almighty Presence,

our God whom we will one day see face to face.

Amen.

THE WEEK THAT WAS: Last Thursday we had a very successful Year 6 transition day for the new Year 6 boys in 2020. We also had a positive transition day for the new Year 5 and 6 boys last Saturday. The boys have been doing many assessment tasks at the moment as we prepare for our final reports and prize giving. I will endeavour to email parents of boys receiving awards before the prize giving afternoon but due to tight deadlines it will only be about 6 days before, if possible.

NEXT WEEK: We will celebrate Remembrance Day next Monday during period 3. We will also have 6 Red representing us at the local RSL service at Chatswood Memorial Gardens at 11 am.

On Tuesday all the boys moving from the Junior School into Year 7 plus the new boys moving into Year 7 will have a transition day. The boys will do an ‘Allwell’ test (Bob Allwell standardised testing) followed by a transition induction in the Year 7 classrooms. The testing will give us some more information on the boys' learning and assist in building classes with the new boys coming to the school in Year 7.

PHONE POLICY: The simple way to look at the phone policy is ‘phone away all day.’ The boys are placing their phones in their bags till the end of the year. I have ordered phone caddies and a locker for each classroom for next year so that the boys will hand their phone up at the beginning of the day and at the conclusion of lessons they will receive their phone back later in the day. Phone will be confiscated for the day and a detention given for using your phone in the during the school day.

SPORT: This Thursday is Swimming (Year 5) and Surf Safety (Year 6). Please note that the pool for Year 5 is outdoors so a rash vest or sunscreen is required. We will have sunscreen at the pool. Sunscreen will also be at the beach for Year 6 and the surf program do supply a form of rash vest but sometimes boys wear their own underneath.

If you are picking up your son from the pool, you do need to be there by 2.10 pm please and just a reminder that if you want your son collected by another parent we need a note. The note can be for the four weeks if that is going to be the case. We can’t leave a boy behind so if you are not there on time, we will have to bring your son back to school to be dismissed.

I believe swimming in Australia is a very important skill to develop so please encourage your son if he is a reluctant swimmer.

PERFORMING ARTS: Twilight at Christmas – Helping Out With the Drought

Friday November 29, 5 pm at Chatswood – Bring Your Family

With only four weeks to the end of Term 4, things are going to start getting Christmassy. Our final Twilight Concert for 2019 showcases our large ensembles, culminating with a visit from Santa and Christmas Sing-a-long. Think Carols by Candlelight, or Carols in the Domain, only the domain is our playground. In lieu of buying tickets, parents and friends might like to make a donation towards drought relief in regional NSW. With music, drama, dance, food and lots of festive cheer, this will be a wonderful community event for all.

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.

***No After School Study on Thursday 21 November due to Whole School Staff Meeting

P & F EVENTS

Year 5 Mums High Tea Celebration

Come and join in for the Year 5 Mums high tea celebration and book your ticket today!! We need at least 35 to 40 bookings to meet function requirements at the Killara Golf Club. Thanks so much for the 10 ladies who have already booked. Come join us and book early!!

(Editor: Many thanks to Cathy Thomson)

When: Sunday, 10 November 2019 from 1.30pm to 5pm

Where: Killara Golf Club, 556 Pacific Highway

Cost: $50 per person includes sweet and savoury high tea delights, tea / coffee and a welcome drink. Additional beverages available to purchase at the venue

Trybooking Link: https://www.trybooking.com/566815

RSVP by Thursday 31 October 2019 for catering purposes

Please contact Cathy Thomson on cathythomson7@gmail.com with any specific dietary requirements

Year 5 Mums High Tea Invite.pdf

Year 5 Family Gathering

SPX Year 5 families come join in – siblings welcome

When: Sunday, 1 December 2019 from 3pm.

Where: Longueville Sporting Club ‘The Diddy’, Corner of Kenneth Street and River Road West

Cost: $10 per person for finger food served during bowling

Please purchase a ticket for each person in your family

Beverages available for purchase at the venue

Families welcome to stay for an optional dinner at ‘The Diddy’ Bistro – we all need an easy Sunday night dinner optio

Highlights from the Junior Resource Centre

Congratulations to the following boys, winners of the Guess That Villain Competition: Luka Senicic, Oliver Butler, Sam Millar,Lucas Robson, Oliver Jones, Jack Manning- O’Donnell, Harrison Signor, Aiden Kiem, David Smith and Rory McCallum.

Author Visit for Year 5 – Remy Lai: Author will be here on Tuesday 12 November to promote her latest book ‘Pie in The Sky’. The boys will have a chance to participate in a draw-along, and purchase a signed copy of her book.

Please find below an Order Form for her book.

Remy Lai Order Form 2019 Better Read.pdf

#internationalgamesweek2019 – Commenced this week in the JRC #boardgamers galore! #studentsneedschoollibraries

International Games Week 2019 is here!

Libraries all over Australia are celebrating play and the playful arts with tabletop games, puzzles, and more. A great opportunity for libraries to introduce fun activities and raise awareness of the social and educational benefits of play.

Mrs Martin’s Book Trail – Winter of the White Bear by Martin Chatterton is a brave awareness-raising fable cleverly disguised as a picture book, and it pulls no punches in dealing with the difficult and important subject of modern slavery, talking about it and MOST IMPORTANTLY, doing something about it. Winter of the White Bear was published in OCTOBER IN HONOUR OF National Anti-Slavery Day. Dr Martin Chatterton visited Year 5 and 6 in Term 3, the boys were thoroughly engaged and especially thrilled during the live drawing part of Martin’s presentation.

Happy Reading!

Mrs Elena Martin - Junior Librarian

Junior Sport

Thursday Sport: at Macquarie Uni Pool and Dee Why Surf Club for Yr 5 and 6 respectively.

Term 4 Swim Program: All students will take part in this program. It runs as per the schedule above in lieu of regular Thursday Sport. Year 5 attend Macquarie Uni Aquatic Centre for a pool based program and Year 6 attend Dee Why Beach for a surf skills program. All details for each program, including a detailed information letter, can be found on the College App.

Basketball:

Touch Football: The St Pius X College A and B Touch Football sides travelled across town to Queen’s Park to play a very tough outfit in Waverly White. The B side was neck and neck the whole game with a try on the bell to win the game 13-12. Great running by James Thompson and Finn Lonsdale with many great tries.

The A side had a more convincing win, taking down Waverly 13-5. Noah Tachjian had several barnstorming runs down the wing and Bailey Yu had 2 outstanding intercept tries.

Round 10 will be against Waverly Blue at Oxford Falls.

Mr Greg Virgona - Junior School Sportsmaster

Softball: Report Round 9 - On Saturday we were up against St Patrick’s Strathfield. We began well, only chasing St Pat’s for 2 runs after the first innings. However, in the second innings something changed. We were given many opportunities to catch out the opposition but it was not happening for us. From that innings on we struggled to get into the game.

Joshua Floridia and Sebastian Doss were our pitchers who both had their eyes focused. They delivered sharp pitches but unfortunately St Pat’s were able to take advantage. Zach Brown, Matthew Sissons, Martin Chan, and Ben Shoudra made some great hits to the outfield; however, this was not enough to put us in front.

Patrick Thomson and Andrew Montano were directing throws to team members to try and get St Pat’s out at the bases. Our outfielders, Kayden Foo, Jasper Ghannoum, Matthew Yee and Jack Morabito, were stopping balls but we were not quick enough to send those balls to the bases. Harrison Hooper, our catcher, was doing a super job and worked tirelessly throwing balls to first base.

Though we lost, the Pius players learnt from their mistakes and we look forward to another game next week.