Term 1, Week 2 2023

Dear Families,

Welcome to 2023 at Dominican School… and what a smooth and successful start it has been! 

Our staff and students have embraced these first weeks of the school year with energy and excitement, and we look forward to a positive and rewarding year ahead.

A warm welcome to our 42 new students and their families, along with several new staff who join our school community:

We wish you every blessing as you begin your journey with us in 2023.

We commence the year with 191 students across 8 classes:

Our first two weeks have centred on building the foundations for success with a strong focus on promoting student wellbeing, engagement and belonging.   This whole school approach aims to create positive, safe and supportive learning environments where all students are guided to develop respectful relationships.  All classes have been involved in exploring and unpacking our school motto, pillars, values and theme, and all teachers and students have engaged in co-constructing expectations and responsibilities for the year ahead.   These initial weeks provide the solid foundation for our students to be… thriving people, capable learners and leaders for God’s world.

We look forward to seeing you all at our Meet the Teacher Evening next Tuesday 14 February.  This will provide the opportunity for a parent information session in your child’s classroom, where teachers will share their vision for teaching and learning in 2023. They will also discuss the expectations, routines and processes communicated in the class newsletter you received last week.  I ask that you make this evening a priority to attend as we begin this new school year together and develop positive partnerships to support your child’s learning and wellbeing.  A friendly reminder to RSVP by this Friday (bookings for the creche are essential).

It is a privilege to lead our school community as Acting Principal in Term 1, with the support of Martina Kovacev, Acting Religious Education Coordinator, and Nick Ryan, Pedagogical Coach and Acting Inclusive Education Coordinator.  As a Leadership Team and in partnership with our exceptional staff, we are committed to providing a learning community of excellence for every student at Dominican School in 2023.

Inspiring Hearts & Minds to be the BEST we can be.  

Kind regards

Alison Tanti-Clark
ACTING PRINCIPAL

Welcome back to 2023 at Dominican. A special welcome to our new students and families.  

LIVING VERITAS WITH FAITH AND LOVE 

Each year at Dominican School, we embrace a theme which guides us in our mission to live our motto of Veritas through our Pillars of Prayer, Study, Community and Ministry. In 2023 we celebrate the theme, Inspiring Hearts and Minds to be The Best We Can Be. At Dominican, we do this by Living Veritas with FAITH and LOVE. 

This year, we draw inspiration from Matthew’s Gospel to be people of FAITH and LOVE. 

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 'This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself. 'All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”(Mt 22:37-40) 

OUR DOMINICAN CALLING, To Live Veritas with Faith and Love 

In this scripture, Jesus tells us to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind and to love your neighbour as yourself. Ultimately, all else flows from these principles of loving God and loving others. This is our mission – to live Veritas with faith and love. Pope Francis reminds us to share LOVE. ‘Be kind, show interest, give the gift of a smile, speak a word of encouragement, listen.’ (Fratelli Tutti).  

Each of us is called to follow Jesus, love God and share God’s love with all around us. We strive to live that love every day at Dominican. 

CELEBRATING OUR FAITH

We are pleased to be able to once again share in prayer, liturgy and mass celebrations with our school and parish communities. 

Please see this term’s calendar of dates listed to the right. 

For Masses, students will walk to and from the Church supervised by their teachers. Teachers will inform families of rehearsal dates and times in preparation for these celebrations which provide us with the opportunity to gather in faith and love, and we look forward to sharing in these special prayer times. 

COMMUNITY PRAYER

On Friday 3rd February our staff led our school community in a Welcome Prayer and Blessing. This marked our first whole school prayer gathering for 2023 and was a special way to celebrate the beginning of our new school year together as we journey in faith, learning and love. 

This term, we will share in Community Prayer to commence our Assemblies at 9.00am in the Multi-Function Centre in: 

All families are warmly invited to join us for Prayer, Liturgies and Masses throughout the Term.  

Martina Kovacev 
ACTING RELIGIOUS EDUCATION COORDINATOR

The students have spent their first two weeks at school goal setting, team building and getting to know each other at a deeper level. We have created a classroom environment that is centred around the principles of Community, Connection, Discovery and Challenge. These principles are lived daily through our words and actions, inviting others to do the same. We look forward to a fun term full of exciting events.

Matthew Kosta
YEAR 5/6 CLASSROOM TEACHER

SCHOOL UNIFORM

In Term 1 students are required to wear the Summer Uniform. We ask families to ensure that students are wearing the correct uniform items at all times. This includes:

• black formal school shoes (not black sports shoes)
• the new Summer Dress (the old style dress is being transitioned out)
• SKORTS are not permitted to be worn as part of the Sports Uniform. Please ensure that your child is wearing the correct sports shorts.

A copy of our Uniform Policy is in the student diary or can be viewed here 

Uniform is purchased through Hambours Uniform Shop, in store or online (with delivery to school).

School commences at 8.50am and concludes at 3.05pm each day. Students who arrive after 8.50am must sign in at the Front Office.

If your child is absent from school, please email absent@dominican.catholic.edu.au or phone 8114 3600 Option 1 and leave your child's name, class and reason for absence.

If your child needs to be collected before the end of the school day, they must be collected from the Front Office and be signed out.

Whilst we are able to put many COVID restrictions behind us, COVID-19 continues to affect the community. We all have a part to play in keeping our school community safe and minimising the disruption to learning that can occur when illness circulates at school.  Students who are unwell should stay home if they have cold or flu-like symptoms and get tested for COVID-19. If students have COVID-19, please advise the school as soon as possible, and stay at home until all acute symptoms (runny nose, sore throat, cough and fever) have cleared.

To ensure that we have the latest student and family information details, particularly emergency contact information and who to contact in the case of an accident, it is very important that we keep this information up to date. In Term 1 you will be issued with a copy of the information we currently hold in our computer system. It is important that you check this information very carefully, make amendments as needed and then return it promptly to us.