The college operates as two separate schools: the "Junior School" catering for boys in Years 5 and 6, and the "Senior School" catering for boys in Years 7 to 12.
History
Street View of Front Entrance to college, in 2020
St Pius X College started in 1937 as Christian Brothers Chatswood,[5] initially going to the Beginner level, with the first Leaving Certificate class graduating in 1941.[citation needed]
St Pius X College used to be a coeducational school, partnered with Mercy College; however, during the 20th century the partnership ended and each school became single sex.[citation needed]
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 meeting places and classrooms. In the late 1990s the college undertook extensive renovations and rebuilding. Later, during the late 2000s a new building was erected. It included meeting rooms, stands and basketball courts and can facilitate stage plays (e.g. Pius Talent Show).[citation needed]
Fide et Labore is written on the shield, which is Latin for "By Faith and Labour". In 2011, John Couani became the first lay person to be principal of the school.[citation needed]
In 2013, the school implemented an E-Learning program, which provides students with personal learning devices across the school,[6] using the Microsoft Surface Pro 4, then the Surface Pro 6, and later the Surface Pro 7 in 2021 and the Surface Laptop 5 in 2023. These computers act as learning aids and hold student text books.[citation needed]
Commencing construction in November of 2021, the Waterford Learning Centre, adjacent to the Chatswood Campus, is a major expansion to the College acting as a new learning centre for staff and students. Containing two levels, it will provide eight new classrooms that can be used as flexible indoor and outdoor learning spaces. It is estimated to cost approximately $8 million.[7]
Extra-curricular activities
Sport
The school participates in rugby, cricket, football, basketball, tennis, softball, swimming, squash, chess and athletics.[8]
A house system has existed at St Pius X from before 1952, involving four basic colours of red, green, blue, and gold. However, in 1952 the houses were named after four Christian Brothers and house war cries were introduced. In 2010, the school instituted new mottos and crests for the houses, creating the 'House Cup' as the annual internal trophy.[9]
The college also participates in debating and public speaking. It is a member of the Catholic Schools Debating Association, 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 11A 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 12A team were Grand Final winners of the CSDA Senior Opens debating competition winning the Michael Robson Shield as champions of the Senior Competition.[10][11]
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