Week 6 Term 3 2026

🌿 Kia ora koutou,

What a wonderful couple of weeks we have had at St Pius X. There have been so many opportunities to celebrate our faith, our school spirit and the strength of our community.

Thank you to our students, staff and families for the many ways you continue to get involved and support our school. As we move into the second half of Term 3, there is still plenty to look forward to!

📣 House Chant Champions – Pompallier!

Last Friday our House Chant Competition brought plenty of noise, colour and enthusiasm to the school! It was fantastic to see the pride our students showed in their Houses and the way they supported one another.

Congratulations to Pompallier who took out the win! Well done to all four Houses for getting involved and making it such a fun celebration.

⛪ St Pius X Feast Day Mass

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us for our St Pius X Feast Day Mass on Sunday. It was wonderful to see so many school families celebrating alongside our wider parish community and honouring our school's patron.

Thank you also to our teachers and staff for all the work behind the scenes preparing our students and helping make the celebration possible.

🌼 Daffodil Day

Our Daffodil Day Mass on Wednesday was a lovely opportunity for our school community to come together in faith and show our support for those affected by cancer.

This Friday we continue that support with our Yellow Mufti Day. Come dressed in as much yellow as you can and bring a gold coin donation. There will be prizes for some of our best and brightest yellow outfits! Follow the link to donate if you would like to support our schools effort.

🚶🛴🚲 Gate Activation Success

Thank you to everyone who supported our Gate Activation on Wednesday 19 August.

The Council noted a significant improvement in congestion around our car park, with more families choosing different ways to get to and from school.

It was great to see our community getting behind this. Walking, biking, scootering, carpooling, parking a little further away or simply arriving a few minutes later all make a difference.

Thank you for helping us make the area around our school safer and easier for everyone.

🚗 A Reminder About Our School Driveway

A reminder that families are not to drive up the school driveway before school to drop children off. With children and families walking through this area, vehicle movements create an unnecessary safety risk.

We appreciate that mornings can be busy — you may be running late or have a little one in the car — but we still need everyone to follow this expectation to keep our children safe.

There are a small number of families who have permission to use the driveway due to particular circumstances. If you feel your circumstances mean driving in is your only practical option, please come and have a conversation with us at the office.

Thank you for helping us keep the start of the school day safe for everyone.

🪩✨ School Disco – Get Ready to Dance!

The countdown is on for our much-anticipated School Discos!

Our Student Leaders have been busy planning this year's events and have chosen two fantastic themes:

🚀 Years 0–3: Space
🎭 Years 4–8: Masquerade

These themes are simply for fun and to spark a little creativity. Children are welcome to dress up as much or as little as they like, or simply come along in comfortable clothes ready to enjoy a great night with friends.

The discos are also an important fundraising event for our school. Entry is by gold coin donation and there will be plenty available to purchase on the night, including:

🌭 Sausages
✨ Glow sticks
🍬 Lollies, drinks and other treats

Please remember to bring a little spending money if you'd like to purchase food or other goodies.

A huge thank you to our Friends of the School, Student Leaders and parent volunteers who are giving their time to make these evenings possible. Your support helps create memorable experiences for our tamariki while raising valuable funds to support learning opportunities across our school.

We can't wait to see everyone there for an evening of fun, friendship and dancing! 💙💛

👖 Student Voice Makes a Difference!

Great news — long pants have now been approved as an option for our St Pius X School uniform!

The timing couldn't be better, as I recently received some very persuasive letters from one of our classes arguing for exactly this.

Their reasons? Long pants would keep them warmer and ready for learning, protect their legs if they fell over, and — my favourite — if you went into the mud, your pants would get muddy instead of you!

We even had one student argue against them because they would be harder to wash and dry in winter. Fair point!

This was a wonderful example of student voice and persuasive writing in action. You made your case, I listened and long pants are available, but only for the winter term.

Well done, persuasive writers — your voices have been heard!

On another note we are aware of on going issues to get the grey socks with blue stripes so in response we have added navy knee high socks as an option for both boys and girls. These socks can be sourced from any retailer as long as they are Navy and knee high.

To learn Love, To learn Wisdom, The way we are.

Ngā mihi nui,
Erin Clayton
Principal

Office News

General Information

Tommo's Bakery
As our school is growing, so are our Friday lunch orders from Tommos' and they have asked that I ring through the orders before 10:00am on Friday. Can you please tell your child to put their lunch order in before school or even the day before. Make sure they have the right change. Unfortunately, if they put in a late order (after 10:00am) , they will not be able to get their lunch for that day.

General Information
Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Welcome to St Pius X School. Whether you are new to our school, or already part of our community, we hope this information helps answer your questions.

School Times

School starts at 8:45am and finishes at 2:45pm.

Please make sure your child arrives on time. We begin each day with prayer. If your child is late, they must go to the school office to sign in.

If you need to take your child out of school during the day, please sign them out at the school office. If your child returns after the appointment, you must sign them back in at the office.

Absences

We use an electronic roll to mark who is at school each day. Because of this, it is very important that you tell us if your child will be late or away. You can report an absence in these ways:

School website: stpius.school.nz (click on Absences)

Skool Loop app: You can download this onto your phone.

Phone message: Call 07 843 6554 and leave a message on the absence line.

If your child arrives late and does not sign in at the office, you may get a text message saying they are not at school.

If you have not reported your child’s absence by 10:00am, I will send you a text message. If we do not receive a reply from you, your child will be marked Truant, which means they are marked as away from school without a reason.

Extended Absences / Holidays

If you are taking your child out of school during the term for any reason, you must email the office a term in advance. Please include your child’s name, class, and the dates they will be away. We must report this information to the Ministry of Education.

Driveway Safety

Please do not drive down the school driveway at any time. The only exception is if the school has asked you to pick up your sick child or you have permission from the office.

Stationery

You can buy your child’s stationery online at myschool.co.nz. Choose the year level your child will be in (the room name is not important). Please make sure your child has all their stationery ready for the first day of school.

Lunches

Fridays—Children can come to the office on Fridays (or Thursday afternoon) to order lunch from Tommo’s Bakery. This is cash only, and they must bring the correct change.

Kebab Stop – Tuesdays & Wednesdays—You can order lunches from Kebab Stop on Urlich Ave.—Order online at: orders.kebabstop.co.nz. Lunches will be delivered to the school office. This is a convenient option and supports a local business.

School Uniform

St Pius X uniforms are sold by The Brand Makers. You can buy uniforms at their store:- 6 Latham Court, Frankton. Monday–Friday, 8:00am–5:00pm. (You can also order uniforms online at: tbm.co.nz (click Find My School). A school hat is compulsory during summer months, a cap is for years 7 and 8 only.

Attendance Dues

These fees are paid directly to the Catholic Schools Integrated Schools Office, not to St Pius X. We send your contract to them and they will contact you about payments. For 2026 - Fees are $536.00 per child and there is a Catholic Character fee of $60 per student as well.

We hope this information is helpful. If you have any questions, you can contact the school office by email, (info@stpius.school.nz), phone (07 8436554) or SeeSaw.

Mrs Maree.—St Pius X School Office Administrator