St Pius X College Newsletter

Parent & Student Matters 

  • From the History Department
  • Science Club
  • Lights, Camera, Pius! - Calling all Filmmakers 
  • Splinters, Splashes, Stage and Sound
  • Visit by Olympic Athlete
  • Morning Study in C5
  • Maths Drop-In

From the History Department

The Mandatory History students in Years 9 and 10 were privileged to visit the Sydney Jewish Museum last week.  Participation in the Understanding the Holocaust Program run by the museum educators included a tour of the superb exhibition by volunteers and an engaging interactive session on the history of the Holocaust.  Undoubtedly the highlight was the presentations by Holocaust survivors, Yvonne Engelman and Jack Meister. Indeed, the reunion of Year 10 student, Aidan Mensforth, who had been photographed with Jack five years ago was a poignant moment for all.  The individual survivor stories were moving and informative testimonies of the  horrors of the period but also lessons in resilience that the St Pius X boys were honoured to hear.  The students are commended for their behaviour, cooperation and sensitive answering and asking of questions.  Thanks go to the staff who guided the excursion, Mr Hartnett, Mr Kovacic, Ms Zervakos, Mr Dobb and Ms Colefax. Sincere appreciation to the museum staff whose work in the organisation of the experience was top class, as usual.

Mr Pat Rodgers - History/Legal Studies Coordinator

Science Club

At Science Club last week, we had fun experimenting with water surface tension. Accompanied by Mrs Barwick, Mr Varjavandi and Mr Camilleri, a small number of Year 7 students, alongside the Year 11s, performed two different experiments. They started off with creating art using paint, dishwashing liquid and water, where the interactions between the paint and dishwashing liquid created some amazing artwork, which was then able to be soaked up by the paper. Afterwards, the boys used a steady hand to try and make paperclips float on water. Although there was only a small group, all the boys thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Science Club will be back on Thursday 18 August at lunchtime, open to all year groups... and hope to potentially do an activity off-site... look out for more information in the coming days.

Eamon Boyle (Yr 11 student and Science Club Leader)

Lights, Camera, Pius - Calling all Filmmakers!

Just a reminder to all budding St Pius filmmakers to enter their films into the upcoming College Film Festival - Lights Camera Pius! We’d love to see you enter your short films (maximum of 3 minutes) that you have made this year. From thrillers to documentaries, all genres are accepted as long as they are rated PG or below. All submissions must be entered by the end of Week 7, at the box in the School’s Front Office. If you are more interested in watching the Films, be sure to join us at the Gym during lunch-time on 9 September in Week 8. There will be prizes given out to the most well-composed and engaging films, chosen by a judging panel of teachers. We’ve seen some great films from the young men of Pius in previous years and can’t wait to see what you have in store for us in 2022. If you have any questions, feel free to ask Mrs Bryant, Ms Doyle, or any of the boys from the Film Festival Committee. Hope to see you there! 

Ms Frances Doyle - Visual Arts Coordinator

Splinters, Splashes, Sounds and Stage - Save the Date

Thursday 25 August from 6.00 pm.

A celebration of Year 12 Major Works from Design and Technology, Industrial Design, Visual Arts, Music and Drama.  All are welcome.

Ms Donna Janes - Year 12 Coordinator

Visit by Olympic Athlete to Year 9

Year 9 were fortunate to have an Olympic Athlete, Rohan Chapman-Davies, who competed in the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games. Rohan was able to share some incredible stories of how he managed to compete at the elite level even under adversity. The three main points of his presentation were accountability, perspective, and goal setting. He spoke about the importance of setting goals, although breaking them down into smaller chunks to achieve the ultimate goal of representing Australia. When Rohan spoke about accountability, he referenced how he took responsibility for his actions to move forward and not dwelling on setbacks. When he was injured, he used perspective to inspire him to continue to train and succeed. The Year 9 cohort listened attentively, and it was a pleasure to have Rohan speak at the College.

Mr Martin Gillogly - Year 9 Coordinator

Morning Study

Morning Study is held on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings from 7.30 am in C5.

 

An open invitation to get organised for the day, discuss your thoughts and ideas, complete yesterday’s work and prepare for today and tomorrow.

Please come to C5 when you arrive at school.

Maths Drop-In

Maths Drop-In Years 7-12

Maths drop-in sessions run each Tuesday and Thursday morning 7.40 am – 8.30 am in C1.

This is the ideal place where students can come and feel comfortable to ask questions, take time to study or nut out some challenging problems. Rewards are given, laughs are heard and words of encouragement are shared. Come along and be a part of the team in C1.

 

Maths Drop-In Years 5-6

Junior Maths Drop-In sessions will run on Friday mornings from 7.40 am - 8.30 am in The Learning Enrichment Room in the Junior School.

This is an ideal place for extra revision or taking the time to get support if needed. Come along and be part of the team.

Mrs Amanda Fileman - Junior School Teacher