Dear Parents and Carers,

It was with great excitement that we officially welcomed back our Kindergarten and Year One students on Monday. This was a part of the first phase of our staggered return to school. The children looked wonderful in their uniforms and were so excited to reconnect with their friends and teachers. The overwhelming feedback from our youngest students was one of sheer joy. The balloons and welcome on entry were well received and the children settled seamlessly back into the routine of school.

It was certainly nice to witness busy classrooms and children engaging in learning. As I walked around and chatted with the children, they shared with me their thoughts…what a great insight into young minds!

What was the best thing about learning at home

Letters and sounds with mum and dad. Zane

I got to have a nice lunch. Courtney

What do you like best about being back at school

The new playground. Grayson

The new playground that you made for me. Valentina

Seeing my friends. I have over 100! Sophia

Working in the class. Tristan

What do you miss the most about being at home

Giving mum and dad a hug. Zara

Mrs Hertsch was not there. Poppy

The food is better at home. Sonny

During October, the month of Mental Health, I wanted to share with you a beautiful sentiment from our Pope.

“Rivers do not drink their own water;

trees do not eat their own fruit;

the sun does not shine on itself and flowers do not spread their fragrance for themselves. Living for others is a rule of nature. We are born to help each other.

No matter how difficult it is. Life is good when you are happy but much better when others are happy because of you”.(Pope Francis)

Let’s continue to support each other as a community and keep those that are vulnerable in our prayers.

Yours Sincerely,

Pauline Chrostowski - Principal

Summary of Important Dates

Monday 25^th October: Years Two to Six return to onsite learning.

Monday 8^th- November: Canteen open for lunch orders all week (Menu to follow closer to the date)

Wednesday 24^th- Thursday 25^th November: Proposed Year Six camp.

Friday 26^th November: Book Week Celebrations and costume parade.

Friday 3^rd December Stage Award Presentations.

9.00a.m Infants

2.15 Stage Two (Years Three and Four)

2.45 Stage Three (Years Five and Six)

Saturday 4^th December Local Government election and onsite P and F BBQ (COVID pending).

Monday 6^th December: Year Six Graduation.

Tuesday 7^th December: Children meet their 2022 teacher!

Year Six at Jamberoo or Water Fun Day on site.

Friday 10^th December Medallion Assembly 2.15p.m.

Saturday 11^th December Father Duane’s 10^th Anniversary of Ordination.

Monday 13^th December Confirmation 7pm Immaculate Conception.

Wednesday 15^th December Last day for students.

Thursday 16ty December Last Day for Staff.

School Photographs

Our School Photographs arrived during our remote learning period. We did explore the option of posting these individually but this was strongly discouraged by the Photographer. The cost of appropriate postage also equated into the thousands!! The children will be issued with their photographs on their first day scheduled day back to learning.

We appreciate your understanding in this matter.

Term Four Awards

1. Presentation of Medallions

Our Medallion presentation will take place on Friday 10^th December at 2.15pm. 

Please see the attached Awards Flyer for details of the various awards and the requirements for a Medallion.  

2. ACE / Principal Awards

Under the current restrictions whole school assemblies will not take place. However, we will be hosting outdoor Stage Assemblies on the below dates. If restrictions ease, parents are most welcome. If we are unable to have parents on site these assemblies will be made available virtually.

Stage Assemblies: Friday 3^rd December

9.00a.m: Infants

2.15p.m Stage Two (Year Three and Four)

2.45p.m Stage Three (Year Five and Six)

At these assemblies the following will occur:

ACE Recipients announced (Parents will be noted prior to the date if their child is a recipient of this award)

The ‘ACE’ award stands for Academic, Citizenship and/or Endeavour and has been designed to acknowledge those students who always try their best and go out of their way to be kind to others. Teachers will select just two students each Semester from their class to receive this award. This award will not be a part of the current school award system and stand alone.

Principal and Merit Awards from Remote learning will be formally recognised. Children will be encouraged to bring these in.

Welcome

A warm welcome to our new families joining our community this term. We know you will love the sense of community and welcome that St Pius X offers.

 Louis and Lola Garcia

Vitaly and Markian Riznyk

Rafael, Orlando and Marcella Specogna

ASPECT  Satellite Class 2022

It is with a sense of great excitement that we welcome Aspect to our site in 2022. Aspect is Australia’s largest service provider for people on the autism spectrum. The Principal of Aspect Kaye Perry will present information to interested parents in early Term One and a date will be made available in the new year. In the interim please forward any questions or feedback through to the office and we will respond to these questions and feedback via the newsletter.

Community feedback has been positive and noteworthy, it is the sense of inclusion that parents and staff feel that this unit will provide.   

ASPECT Frequently asked questions

Will the students interact at lunch and recess?  Yes, the Aspect students have the same lunch/recess times as the host school.  Many of the students will want to interact with their mainstream peers, however some of the students will use playground times to relax and spend some quiet time by themselves. The Aspect staff are always on duty with their students.  

Will the children access the Canteen?  Yes, our students will access the canteen.  Some of our families may also be interested in helping out, if volunteers are needed.

Assemblies?  Our students have always joined the host school for assemblies.  At some of our host schools, we perform items etc. We individualise the supports each student might need to participate in whole school events.  Some of our students might attend assembly for a shorter period, while they get use to the format, what is expected etc.

What aspects of the school routine will the children participate in with the general body of students?  To begin with, the Aspect students will mainly just be on the playground with their host school peers.  As they get familiar with the environment, they would participate in assemblies and any other whole school events.  If possible, integration opportunities would be great, but that is very individualised and needs to form part of the students individual plan.  If our students can access the library or any shared spaces, that is always beneficial for our students, but we understand these opportunities are only available if time permits and if it works for the school.

How many staff members will be in the classes with the students?  We generally have one teacher and teacher aide per 6/7 students.  If there are any more students in a class then we adjust the staffing ratio accordingly.  We have an art therapist who works across the sites and speech therapist, occupational therapist and psychologist who support the class programs as needed.

COVID UPDATES

Face mask requirements for visitors to schools Following yesterday's update regarding mask requirements for staff and students, please be advised that all other visitors to schools (including parents and carers) are required to wear a face mask in line with the Public Health (COVID-19 General) Order 2021.

Specifically, this means parents and carers and other adults are not required to wear a mask during drop off/pick up while they are outdoors.

Responding to a positive case of COVID-19

CEDoW has an established process for responding when a member of a school community tests positive for COVID-19. In the event this occurs, we will work closely with the Catholic Education Office and the Public Health Unit to rapidly inform impacted families and ensure we complete all required steps to safely reopen.

Cleaning

Enhanced daily COVID-19 cleaning arrangements (with a focus on high-touch surfaces) will remain in place until further notice.

Vinnies Christmas Giving Tree 

It is that time of year again. We are collecting food items to be donated to St Vincent De Paul in December. 

At present many families in our wider community are facing hardship, particularly with COVID 19. Once again this year to support families in need we will be having our annual Hamper Drive. 

Please see below for items to be brought in for each Year group.

Thank you in advance for your kind donations. 

Kinder: Lollies, chips, chocolates 

Year 1: Biscuits, Tea, Coffee

Year 2: Drinks, cordial, juice, fizzy drink 

Year 3: Christmas pudding/cake, desserts 

Year 4: Tinned fruit, long life custard 

Year 5: Breakfast items eg. Boxed cereal, Long life milk 

Year 6: Pasta, Pasta Sauce 

Christmas Art Competition Results

Thank you to everyone who took the time to vote in the Virtual Gallery over the past 24 hours. I have the great honour to announce that the St Pius X Catholic Primary School 2021 entrants for the CEDoW Christmas Story Art Competition are as follows:

Fee Update

As you are aware, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted all areas of our school life and unfortunately many excursions and activities were unable to take place. We are now in the process of liaising with the Catholic Education Office, Diocese of Wollongong, for reimbursement of ONLY the Excursions and Activities portion billed in the 2021 School Fees. Below is where we are currently at in this process.

Please note that the school will provides this information to the Catholic Education Office, Diocese of Wollongong, and they process any refunds due to families. At this stage, we are not able to provide a timeframe when these will be processed. As you can imagine, there are many schools in the Diocese impacted as we have been at St Pius X, so we appreciate your patience in this regard.

If you have any questions regarding this, please send an email to the school office via info@spxudow.catholic.edu.au and we will contact you. 

Sport Trial Nominations

Representative SPORTS Trials - 2022

Every year the Diocese of Wollongong conducts trials for a variety of sports.  Students who are successful during these trials represent the Diocese of Wollongong at MacKillop Level (against elite students from Wagga, Canberra/Goulburn, Sydney & Parramatta) and if selected may represent at the NSWPSSA State level as a member of the MacKillop team.

Students are required to be experienced players and extremely talented at their chosen sport.  These trials are not gala days or school-based carnivals. They have not been designed for students “to come and try” or  “for the experience”, they are for students who are elite at their sport and expect to make it to the next level. Not all students who nominate will be invited to trial for their chosen sport. 

The trials are for children currently in Year 4 & Year 5 (Year 5 & Year 6 2022).

Please see the note attached for more details. 

Please call Mrs Olima at school if you have any questions. 

Social Media Update

Term 4 Homework

It has been absolutely energising to see and hear the students in Kindergarten and Year One return to school this week. And with Years Two, Three, Four, Five and Six still working remotely it seems a little strange to be thinking about homework for the rest of the year. However, acknowledging the very different experience our students have had, the teachers discussed homework at our Staff Development Day last Friday and an agreement was made that there will be a school wide focus on reading at home.

Reading is a central component to so many of our learning experiences throughout school and it plays a pivotal role in the development of writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation. 

It is because of this that we will have the expectation of students reading each weekday night. This reading will be recorded in their reading log format (previously used by their teachers) weekly and we ask for your support in sighting and signing this reading log before it is returned each week. Your child’s teacher will clarify this upon their return and if you have any questions regarding this, please contact your child’s teacher via email.

Return to Face-to-Face Learning Parent Survey Results and Actions

Thank you to those families who managed to find the time to fill out the parent survey last week. The information provided has been essential to our planning for the return of our students. Some of the key information that arose from this survey includes;

• The students are looking forward to seeing the familiar, “smiling” faces of their friends and teachers.
• The children, whilst excited to return, have some anxieties around what has changed in routines and the environment
• The need for staff to acknowledge student concerns and reassure them.
• Worried they have missed out on learning.

Actions

It became clear that the social and emotional aspects of returning to school needed to be addressed by the staff along with the academic needs of our students.

At the Staff Development Day on Friday 15th November the teachers and School Support Officers looked at agreed practices in the areas of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), Learning and Teaching and COVID Practices.

These were each discussed at length and provide a schoolwide approach to our daily routines. Some key elements are;

• Social and Emotional Learning will take place in all classrooms and will be embedded in our KEy Learning Areas rather than “stand alone” tasks.
• A focus on essential learning will take place. Teachers have selected elements of the curriculum which they feel are most important at this point of your child’s learning.
• Return to School Slideshow. This was created by members of the SPX Positive Behaviours for Learning Team to assist the students in knowing what to expect at school before returning. This slideshow was sent via Compass last week and is shared in the classrooms upon your child’s return.

If you have any concerns or questions please do not hesitate to contact your child’s classroom teacher or myself at school.

Simon Farrugia (Assistant Principal)

Canteen News

Exciting News!!!!!!!

The canteen will be OPEN during WEEK 6 for lunch orders.

Dear Parishioners,

As mentioned in my communication on Sunday, we begin public Masses this weekend, 23-24 October, with 6pm Saturday Vigil and 8am Sunday Mass at Unanderra, and 10am and 5pm Sunday Masses at West Wollongong, followed by usual weekday and weekend Mass timetable.

Having met with Immaculate Conception and St Therese (ICAST) PPCs last night, we have decided upon the following:

PUBLIC HEALTH REQUIREMENTS

As per the Diocesan Directives (attached):

• Vaccination is encouraged but not mandatory
• Masks must be worn inside the church
• 4 square metre rule applies at this time
• No congregational singing at this time
• Strong hygiene practices will be maintained
• QR Registration

REGISTRATION PROCESS

There will be no pre-registration for Masses. That process was demanding in terms of admin hours, and we will need to ensure ready availability of digitized records at short notice to the government in case of a Covid case. All attending Mass will be asked to use the Service NSW QR Code at first, and if unable to do so, the monitors will sign you in using a parish QR code.

4 SQUARE METRE CAPACITY LIMIT

Given that there will be no pre-registration, and the 4 square metre capacity, there is a chance that we will reach capacity at Sunday Masses. Based on average Mass counts this will be most likely at the Sunday Morning Masses. We ask your understanding if this occurs as monitors are legally bound to maintain 4 square metre rule (86 at WW, 96 at Unanderra)

7PM SUNDAY MASS DURING OCTOBER-NOVEMBER (STAGE 2)

During stage 2 only, starting this weekend, I will celebrate an additional 7pm Mass at St Therese on Sundays. Many are unable to attend such a late Sunday Mass. If you yourself are able to attend, please consider doing so to free up spaces at the 4 standard Sunday Masses. Only if attending this Mass please email Melissa at unanderra@dow.org.au

IF YOU ARE RELUCTANT TO ATTEND PUBLIC MASSES AT THIS TIME

We understand that some are concerned about attending public Mass during stage 2 as churches are among the only venues allowing "mixing" of vaccinated and unvaccinated. If you are concerned for this reason, please do not hesitate to contact us, and we will do our best to organize Communion to be brought to you at home. (All ministers attending your home will be double vaccinated.) 

RECONCILIATION

Normal times for Reconciliation to resume from 5pm Saturday 23^rd October, please refer to the weekly bulletin this Friday for the details. In addition, Fr Jerzy will be offering Reconciliation from Monday 25^th October until Saturday 30^th October after Mass as needed.  

BAPTISMS

We are in the process of rescheduling baptisms that were postponed during lockdown. For any new requests please contact Melissa at unanderra@dow.org.au

God bless you all,
Fr Duane