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St Pius X College, Sydney

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Coordinates: 33°47′41″S 151°11′0″E / 33.79472°S 151.18333°E / -33.79472; 151.18333
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This article is about the school in Sydney, Australia. For other uses, see St. Pius X (disambiguation).
St Pius X College
Location
Map
Chatswood, New South Wales

Australia
Coordinates33°47′41″S 151°11′0″E / 33.79472°S 151.18333°E / -33.79472; 151.18333
Information
TypePrivate, Single-sex, Day school
MottoTemplate:Lang-la
("Through Faith and Work")
DenominationRoman Catholic, Christian Brothers
Established1937
ChairmanBrian Populin
PrincipalJohn Couani
Staff~84[2]
Enrolment~1,100 (5–12)[1]
Colour(s)Blue and Gold   
Websitewww.spx.nsw.edu.au

St Pius X College (often referred to as Pius) is an independent, Roman Catholic, secondary day school for boys, located in Chatswood, a North Shore suburb of Sydney, Australia.

Located in the heart of the Chatswood central business district, the school is relatively close to Westfield Shopping Centre and Chatswood railway station. It is operated under the auspices of the Trustees of the Christian Brothers and is situated within the borders of the Catholic Diocese of Broken Bay which is under the leadership of Bishop David Walker. The College was ranked 101st in the State for the 2005 Higher School Certificate marks, up from 108th the previous year.[citation needed] More recently, in 2013, the school again improved its rank to 73.[3] It is a member of the Independent Schools Association (ISA).

The college operates as two separate schools: "The Junior School" catering for boys in Years 5 and 6, "The Senior School" catering for boys in Years 7 to 12.

The college has recently[when?] implemented an E-Learning program, which provides students with personal learning devices, specifically for the younger years the Lenovo Thinkpad 10 and the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 for the senior years. These computers act as learning aids and hold student text books.

History

St Pius X College started in 1937 as Christian Brothers Chatswood,[4] initially going to the Beginner level, with the first Leaving Certificate class graduating in 1941.

A major improvement in the 1990s was the development of Oxford Falls as an educational complex. Named the Treacy Centre, the facility comprises a variety of sports fields and venues as well as a number of meeting places and classrooms. In the late 1990s the college undertook extensive renovations and rebuilding.

"Fide et Labore" is written on the shield, which is Latin for "By Faith and Labor". The current principal is Mr Mark Casey, the first lay person to be principal at the school.

Extra-curricular activities

Sport

The school participates in rugby, cricket, football, basketball, tennis, softball, squash and athletics.

Debating and public speaking

The college also participates in debating and public speaking. It is a member of the Catholic Schools Debating Assosciation, the largest debating competition for schools in New South Wales and has since 2015 participated in the Sydney Debating Network. It enters students into the Legacy Youth Public Speaking and Plain English Speaking Competitions annually. In 2015 the 11 A debating team were runners up in the CSDA debating competition and were awarded the prestigious Aggregate Senior shield for winning the most debates out of any school in the competition. Following this in 2016 the 12 A team were Grand Final winners of the CSDA Senior Opens debating competition winning the Michael Robson Shield as champions of the Senior Competition. [5][6]

Music

Music has also always been a large part of extracurricular involvement at St Pius. The various bands include concert bands, jazz bands and guitar ensembles. In order to gain entry to any band, a student must audition. In order to gain access to the Senior Jazz Band and Senior Concert Band, generally a high level of skill is required in the instrument of which a student plays. [citation needed]

The bands and choir often play for the school as well at the Twilight Concert held every term. The twilight concert generally begins with the choir. After the choir have performed, the ensembles usually play next and after which, the Jazz and Concert Bands begin to play. The concert is usually held under Baby Brother (the junior school playground), however, if the weather is unfavourable, the concert takes place in the school gym.

Robotics

St Pius X College has the largest active robotics club in Australia with over 100 members. The school's robotic club takes part in robotics competitions. The two major annual competitions are the RoboCup and First Lego League (FLL). The club consists of members from years five through to twelve. Acceptance is usually granted through the robotics lessons held in class during year five, however, entry to the club in later years can also be granted through applying directly to the robotics coordinator.

Notable former pupils

See also: Category:People educated at St Pius X College

See also

References

  1. ^ Australian School Choice – St Pius X College (accessed: 27 June 2007)
  2. ^ St Pius X College Annual Report 2006 (accessed: 27 June 2007)
  3. ^ "HSC 2007: All Class" (304 KB) The Daily Telegraph. (20 December 2007).
  4. ^ History of the College
  5. ^ http://www.csda.nsw.edu.au/
  6. ^ http://www.spx.nsw.edu.au/news-events/fx-articles.cfm?loadref=15&id=72
  7. ^ The Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office (ACMRO) (accessed: 27 June 2007)
  8. ^ "Seize the opportunity". Elicia Murray. The Sydney Morning Herald. 21 April 2007 (Accessed 26 November 2009).
  9. ^ Archdiocese of Sydney: Peter William Ingham (accessed: 27 June 2007)
  10. ^ Diocese of Maitland-NewCastle: About our Bishop (accessed: 27 June 2007)
  11. ^ "Mayor Pat Reilly never lost that loving feeling for Willoughby", obituary, The Age, 24 January 2014

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