Term 1, Week 4 2022

Dear Community Members

Welcome to Week 4!

It has been great to see all students well and truly settled in their classes and highly engaged in their learning over the past two weeks. They are showing amazing resilience and agility as we continue with our Stage 1 Building Project and the many challenges this brings here at school each day.

Next Week marks Week 5 of the school term where some COVID-19 restrictions will be lifted. I will be sending a community email out tomorrow with all the information that I have at this point in time.

This year we have 4 vacancies for our School Board. School Boards enable a spirit of partnership to be developed within the school community. They are constituted in a way that allows the various bodies within the school to be represented and to provide advice in regard to the development of the school and its management.

Board meetings are times when the parish, parent body, staff, local community and the wider Catholic education community meet and work together for the holistic development of students, taking into consideration both their educational and spiritual welfare.

Through partnership, and by the coming together of various people with a range of gifts and talents, the school will become a stronger community and be more effective in its religious dimension, individual identity and educational vision.

If you are interested in being considered to be on the Dominican School Board please see further information in this edition of the newsletter.

Our School Board Annual General Meeting will hopefully be held here at school at 6:30pm on Monday 4 April- SAVE THE DATE (TBC). Our guest speaker will be Mark Le Messurier.

Mark is a teacher, counsellor, author and public speaker. He works in private practice as a mentor to children and adolescents, and as a coach to parents. Mark regularly presents at conferences for Universities, public and independent schools, for parent organisations and interested groups throughout Australia and Australasia.

We are privileged to have Mark accept our invitation to be with us. I strongly encourage you to attend and can assure you an enjoyable evening. More information will follow in regards to registering for this event.

I would like to acknowledge and thank the following staff members who are leaving our Dominican community;

• Lauren Sawyers- OSHC Director
• Damian Kitschke- Grounds and Maintenance
• Julie Taylor- Wellbeing Support Officer
• Jane Jones- Education Support Officer

We wish Lauren, Damian, Julie and Jane all the very best in their new endeavours.

Have a great week and stay safe.

Kind regards,
Phil Holmes - Principal

WELCOME PRAYER AND BLESSING

On Friday February 18 we celebrated our first whole school prayer gathering for 2022 via the MS Teams platform.  This was a special time for our staff and students to gather in faith, hope and love to welcome and pray for all members of our school community, and to ask God’s blessing upon us as we begin a new school year.   At Dominican School, we look to St Dominic, our patron saint, who came to share the Good News of Jesus, and who shows us how to follow God’s way.  We prayed to St Dominic to guide us in our mission to live our motto of Veritas through our Pillars of Prayer, Study, Community and Ministry.  Our Welcome Prayer marked the beginning of our journey in 2022 to LIVE VERITAS with Hearts of Hope.

FAMILY FAITH FORMATION

As a school community, we pray for the following students in the FAITH FORMATION PROGRAM who will prepare for and celebrate the Sacraments of First Confirmation & First Holy Communion this year: Marley, Elijah, Sean, William, Emma, Jessica, Jenny & Jaeda.

We ask God’s blessings for these children and keep them in our prayers as they journey in faith.

THE SEASON OF LENT

Ash Wednesday begins the 40 days of LENT, a time for reflection, prayer and service as we journey to Easter. As a school community, we will celebrate Ash Wednesday with class liturgies on Wednesday March 2.  The cross of ash reminds us to act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with God during Lent.  In Pope Francis’ words, ‘Lent is a time for drawing near to Christ.’  Ash Wednesday also marks the launch of CARITAS Australia’s Project Compassion appeal with this year’s theme, For All Future Generations.  Each class and student will be provided with a Project Compassion box to contribute to during Lent.  Our support of Project Compassion is one way of putting our faith in action to make a positive difference to the most vulnerable in our world.  So let’s open our hearts to the poor and give generously to this worthy cause during Lent.

PANCAKE DAY

On Tuesday March 1, we will be holding a Pancake Morning Tea to celebrate Shrove Tuesday. Pancakes will be provided for a gold coin donation to support this year’s CARITAS Australia Project Compassion Appeal.  Many thanks to our Justice Leaders for their help with organising this for all of our students and staff.  Please advise your child’s class teacher if your child has any special dietary requirements

Alison Tanti-Clark
Assistant Principal Religious Identity & Mission

INTERVENTION PROGRAM

This year, our ESO staff will continue to implement our intervention programs to ensure all students are provided with the opportunity to be successful in their schooling. The school has made a large investment in MiniLit and MacqLit programs which have been developed by MultiLit (Making Up Lost Time In Literacy). These programs are highly effective because of the grounding in scientific evidence-based best practice. The school has adopted a Mulit-Tiered System of Support for all students at Dominican. This includes upskilling staff to implement effective teaching and learning programs at a whole-class level, targeting intervention groups for students who are experiencing struggles in literacy, and one-to-one support for students with significant needs.

These programs were implemented during Semester 2 last year with positive feedback from students and families, and provided the stepping stone for students to feel confident in their schooling. This year, we are able to provide these programs for students from Year 1 all the way through to Year 6, targeting literacy support and needs for 30 students per semester, meaning that we will be able to specifically target the needs of 60 students throughout the year. This will provide an opportunity to improve outcomes for all students at Dominican and allow students to achieve success. 

The school has also acknowledged the great academic achievements of other students within specific year levels, and looking at how we are able to extend and enrich their schooling to ensure they are engaged and reaching their full potential also. These enrichment programs will also begin this semester. 

AGM – Monday 4th April 2022

If you would like to nominate to be a parent representative on the Dominican School Board, please email our Principal at principal@dominican.catholic.edu.au expressing your interest. No prior experience is necessary however, Board members will need to be available to meet after hours, twice a term. This is an exciting opportunity to be involved in the future developments at Dominican School.

If we receive more nominations than available positions for the Board, it will be taken to voting at our AGM, on Monday 4th April.

Statements for 2022 School fees were posted to all families this week.

The due date for school fees is now Friday 18 March 2022. Fees paid on or before 18th March 2022 will receive an early payment discount of 4%.

A friendly reminder that if you choose not to pay your fees in full, a payment plan must be in place, and we ask that you ensure that you are regularly meeting the payment requirements of your plan.

If you have any queries regarding your school fees, please contact Jo Freer, Finance Officer, on jfreer@dominican.catholic.edu.au or phone 8114 3600.

All information and forms can be found on our website by clicking here .

SA Health advises that if your child has a cold, cough, runny nose or flu-like symptoms, please keep them home to avoid exposing vulnerable people, staff, students and families to illness.

If children present at school with any of the above symptoms, parents will be contacted to collect their child from school.

We appreciate your cooperation in keeping our school healthy.

Lunch Orders will commence in Week 5.

We are excited to partner with Ruga's Cafe, providing lunch orders Monday to Friday. The menu offers a variety of quality lunch options.

Please place orders via the Qkr! App before 9am of the day of order. 

Download Menu Here

We acknowledge that we are on the traditional country of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains. We recognise and respect their cultural heritage, beliefs and relationship with the land. We acknowledge that they are of continuing importance to the Kaurna people living today. Approved by Kaurna Elder Uncle Lewis O’Brian 2004