St Pius X Unanderra
A Catholic Parish Primary School
At St Pius X, we aim to develop the whole person – intellectually, spiritually, physically and emotionally – so that the young people who are educated in faith founded in the person of Jesus Christ live their lives with a hope-filled future.
Pastoral care is the total climate of care which exists in the school and reflects the Catholic ethos of loving, caring for and respecting one another.
St Pius X has a dedicated team of staff who nurture a school community that is welcoming, friendly and positive and aims to strengthen respectful, caring relationships between students, staff, families and the wider community.
Students and staff are encouraged to do the best they can and to be the best people they can be in order to nourish and nurture the climate of pastoral care within and without the school. In our Catholic school community, with Jesus as our role model and where faith, love and learning are paramount, we aim to care for the needs of everyone in our community.
Students welfare is of the utmost importance and we are keen to ensure that all of our students enjoy a healthy in mind, body and spirit, and we integrate a number of programs to support this.
This year, our school is engaging with the 'Bounce Back!' Program – a whole-school social and emotional learning program that provides practical strategies to improve student wellbeing and help students cope with the complexity of their everyday lives. It teaches them how to ‘bounce back’ when they experience sadness, difficulties, frustrations and challenging times. The program aims to develop the optimal learning environments that help children experience joy in learning, develop positive student-teacher and peer relationships.
Counselling for children and their families is also available from CatholicCare. A school counsellor visits the school regularly for individual sessions as well as advising and supporting staff on appropriate programs for small groups and classes. Read more about the school counselling available to students.
If a staff member or parent feels that counselling may help a student they need to discuss this with the Principal who may discuss this with the counsellor and/or parent and arrange the appropriate permission forms and questionnaires to be completed by parents and staff.
Parents are partners in the education of the children and we at St Pius X recognise parents as the first educators of their children. We welcome parents into our school to help with a variety of activities including the canteen and classroom assistance.
When families are in need of extra support, whether financial or emotional or otherwise, the school is privileged to provide a variety of ways aimed at gently supporting families while maintaining confidentiality and dignity.
Families are encouraged to contact the school office to speak with the Principal or a member of the Leadership Team if they feel they need assistance of any kind.