Junior School News & Sport
Year 5 Aboriginal Incursion
- Junior School News
- Highlights from the Junior Resource Centre
- Opal Cards for 2019
- Junior School Sport
PRAYER/REFLECTION
I have spoken to the boys lately about doing their best and let God do the rest. Below is a reflection on this point.
Saint Mother Teresa is often quoted as saying that God asks us to be faithful, not successful. In other words, we are called to offer our best to the Lord, striving to be faithful to His holy Will, and then leave the rest to Him. At times it may appear that our “best” does not produce the desired good fruit that we desire. Perhaps an attempt you make at reconciling with another failed. Or perhaps you put your heart and soul into some apostolic work and it never appeared to take off in the way you had hoped. There is great freedom in the realization that all we are called to do is be faithful, not successful. “Success” is measured by God, not by human standards. We are truly “successful” only when we are faithful to the Will of God and diligent in committing ourselves to His divine work. If we are faithful in this way, nothing else matters. Do your best and leave the rest to God.
Source: Daily Reflections on Divine Mercy.
YEAR 5 INCURSION - ABORIGINAL CULTURE: Year 5 had a wonderfully entertaining cultural experience last week when an Aboriginal woman – Mageda Beatty - taught the boys about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island culture. This is part of the cross-cultural and indigenous links in the curriculum and also part of our current English program. Mageda demonstrated the importance of ochre and body paint designs in aboriginal culture. As you can see from the picture gallery and video link below, Mageda had audience involvement through dance, stories and language.
Video link: https://youtu.be/kz4MHL62hy8
WILDLIFE STORY COMPETITION WINNERS: Last Thursday our four winners of the Willoughby Council short story competition received their published works. Our illustrators were Jordan Moore and Ryan Fong, while Christian Wong and Bradley Ning had their stories and art work published.
Well done to the boys who are now published authors and illustrators! It was great that some of the parents were able to attend, and that the boys had their photo taken with the Mayor.
PARENT INFORMATION: A USER'S GUIDE TO THE BRAIN (Part 2): Brain development is a very interesting topic. Last week I mentioned that brain development in early life sets trajectories for development throughout life. These experiences can affect health, behaviour and learning. Below is an attachment giving more details from the lecture by Dr Nagle.
UPCOMING EVENTS/ACTIVITIES IN THE NEXT WEEK
- Wednesday 14 November: Year 5 Excursion - Kokoda Walkway
- Thursday 15 November - Swim/Surf Safety Program continues.
- Friday 16 November: Year 6 Bakery Excursion
- Friday 23 November: Founder's Day at Oxford Falls
- Keep the Date Free: Thursday 6 December - Junior School Prizegiving Day
P&F NEWS & EVENTS: Please see the P&F page of this newsletter for all news and events, including those for Years 5 and 6. Don't miss the Junior School end of year activities!!
Founder's Day: Friday 23 November at Oxford Falls - Helpers please!
Thank you to the parents who have already contacted me to help with Founder's Day. I still need around 5 or 6 helpers and a few more Dads would be great on the team to help cook the sausages. Please let me know if you can assist, even just for an hour or so, between 8:30am and 12:30pm. robson.nadine@gmail.com.
TERM 4 CALENDAR: The Term 4 Calendar is attached below and activities with a significant number of Junior School participants are highlighted in Red. I have left many other activities in the calendar as you may have an older son, or occasionally a Junior Boy is involved in a Senior activity. It also demonstrates the busy nature of the college.
Thanking you for your support.
Mr T Long - Head of Junior School
Highlights from the Junior Resource Centre
Year 5 have been Building a Book Buzz with Book Snaps! #booksnaps#librarylife
How to make a Book Snap
- Read, think, & be creative
- Take a picture of the passage that you connect with in some way.
- Highlight, underline, or box the part of the text with which you are connecting.
- Create a visual representation that shares your thinking.
- Use emojis, stickers, speech bubbles, draw pictures, etc.
- Include the title and author or book cover to give credit.
Book Snap by Robert Oner - 5 Red
Book Snap by Sam Coper - 5 Red
Epic resources available for the students at St Pius X JRC, ebooks, audio book titles, provides plenty of choice 24/7. Audiobooks are extremely beneficial for struggling readers. They are also great for average, avid, or gifted readers and compliment print and ebooks.
This is the time of year when the boys hang out in the library because they have completed all their work in their classrooms and frankly I love it! #librarylife
Mrs Martin’s Book Trail: MIDNIGHT at the LIBRARY - Ursula Dubosarsky and Ron Brooks are artists. Pairing up with @nationallibraryaus, they have produced this beautiful nod to the power of books and reading. Lyrical. Layered. Textured. A conversation starter.
Happy Reading!
Mrs E Martin - Junior Librarian
Opal Cards for 2019
Students progressing to Year 7 do not need to re-apply if they:
- are continuing at the same school
- are residing at the same address
- have not been sent an expiry notification from Transport for NSW.
Where a student meets the new distance eligibility for high school, the system will automatically update their entitlement. If they do not meet the new eligibility, they will receive an expiry notification. Students who have an entitlement approved under a medical condition which is due to expire will receive a notification advising them to re-apply. Term Bus Pass holders will receive a notification to re-apply.
If students need to update their information or re-apply, they should go online to https://apps.transport.nsw.gov.au/ssts/updateDetails
Applications need to be submitted before 31 December 2018 to ensure student entitlements are updated and their current entitlement/card is not cancelled. If their application is submitted after 31 December 2018, the system will automatically cancel a card and a new one will need to be issued.
Students in the Opal network applying for a SSTS or Term Bus Pass entitlement for the first time will receive their card at their nominated postal address. Cards will be mailed out during December 2018 and January 2019. For further information visit https://apps.transport.nsw.gov.au/ssts
Junior School Sport
Thursday Sport: Our aquatic program continues (see below). Please note the earlier pick up time (2.10pm) from Macquarie Uni Aquatic Centre (Year 5) and Dee Why Surf Club (Year 6).
Basketball:
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. Students are required to return the respective form issued last term – Macquarie Uni Grading Form (Year 5) and SEA Australia Waiver (Year 6 boys).
RUGBY: FROM THE RUGBY CLUB
Inaugural SPX Rugby Supporters' Club Fundraising Golf Day at Roseville Golf Club from 1pm on Wednesday, 12 December - ‘Ambrose Shotgun Start’ – Tickets now on sale through TryBooking via this direct link https://www.trybooking.com/414231
$150 a ticket - includes lunch and drinks on arrival; golf fees; drinks cart circulating the course with complimentary drinks; BBQ dinner with complimentary drinks; discussion panel with Australian representative sporting personalities who will be playing on the day (including George Gregan, Rod Kafer, Royce Simmons, hopefully Michael Hooper, and others yet to be confirmed); and a chance to win a $65,000 Volvo XC60 in the 'hole in one' competition, - as well as lucky door, silent, and live auction prizes.
A limited number of golf carts will be available at an additional cost of $45 per cart. Lady golfers most welcome and encouraged to play. We are limited to 100 players on the day - so book now or you might miss out!
If you would like to advertise your business we have a great opportunity through our Golf Day with extremely cost effective hole co-sponsorship advertising opportunities.
If you are interested please contact Paul O'Neill (Tel: 0418-634750 or pmoneill@optusnet.com.au) for further details and costings.
Paul O’Neill - President SPX Rugby Supporters’ Club
Tel: 0418-634750
Softball: Round 10 Report by Max lenton and Eliot Sanders
Max Lenton and Eliot Sanders are captain and vice-captain and were in charge of organising the team last week. St Pius played a fantastic game on Saturday against St Ives Grammar and managed to pull home a victory. At times it was a struggle but Max and Eliot did a great job of motivating the players. Everyone cooperated, with Oliver Johnston showing a great act of sportsmanship when he volunteered to play for the other team because they were two players down.
In the 1st Innings St Pius weren’t as awake as they usually are and were struggling to keep up, with the opposition scoring one run straight off the bat. The fielders needed to up their game and by halfway through the innings everyone seemed to get the message and we came back 2-1.
In the 2nd Innings St Pius came up with their A-game, scoring a massive 9 runs, the maximum amount you can get in one innings, to St Ives' 5 runs. Max hit a big hit to get three home and Dominic Mitchell made an impressive foul ball catch to get the batter out.
We won the overall game 14-11. Jordan Moore and Ben Bromby had some strong pitching moments, and everyone worked well together as a team. There was some great fielding work by Xavier Dwyer, Jack Harrison, Matthew Yee, Jakob Lohtaja and Ben Shoudra.
We're looking forward to another exciting game at Strathfield next week - 9:30am start. Parents please remember to bring a chair.
Thank you to Ms Ward for keeping score and Mr Yee for photography. Also a special thank you to Mrs Lenton for organising the kit and Max and Eliot for writing this week’s report.
Mrs J Williams - Softball Convenor