Term 1, Week 6 2021

Dear Community Members

Welcome to Week 6! The term is certainly flying by!

Last week I sent you an email regarding the DISA survey that I am asking all families to complete so that we receive a 100% completion rate. This survey will drive our IDEAS Project that Dominican School is embarking on in 2021 and 2022. Can I ask that you make this a priority and complete the survey (link attached to my email) by Friday 19 March at 5pm. Thank you to those families who have already completed the survey. It is very much appreciated.

The IDEAS (Innovative Designs for Achievements in Schools) will focus on building capacity at Dominican School during 2021- 2022 through enhancing the social, intellectual, and organisational capitals and to align our structures and processes for ongoing learning.

Therefore the IDEAS vision is to inspire schools to engage in journeys of self-discovery which will ensure they achieve sustainable excellence in teaching and learning. Crucial to sustainability is the style of leadership that permeates the culture of the school.

Leadership that draws on both positional and informal leaders to work together to engage the professional learning community to create engaging, innovative, inspirational and creative learning environments and quality teaching that deliver enhanced outcomes for students.

The IDEAS process is a highly disciplined approach to whole school revitalisation and we are extremely excited about sharing our learning with you as we begin this journey. The installation and resurfacing of our new Basketball / Netball Court has finally commenced this week. The students have been watching progress very carefully and they are making sure that the work remains on schedule! The students are being extremely patient whilst this work is being completed. This will certainly enhance our school site and we look forward to sharing this new play space with the whole school community in our next newsletter via the video link.

A reminder that the School Board Annual General Meeting will be held on Monday 29 March at 6:30pm here at school in the Multi-Function Centre and you are all warmly invited to attend. As you know I have invited Craig Tonkin our Architect from Brown Falconer Architects to share elements of our Master Plan and what Stage 1 might look like. Craig is looking forward to sharing this information with the community and those in attendance will have the opportunity to share ideas with Craig.

Have a great week and thanks for your ongoing support of our Dominican Community.

Kind regards,

Phil Holmes
Principal

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 Reconciliation, Confirmation and First Holy Communion this year:

Emma Williamson, Grace Blute, Kelsey O’Connor, William Blute, Jacob Borg and Izla Meers.

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

Justice Leaders

Last Wednesday our Justice Leaders for 2021 were presented to our school community at our Student Leaders Assembly. These Year 6 students are committed to leading our school community in our Catholic mission to work for social justice and outreach to the poor. They have already been active in their ministry, organising our Shrove Tuesday Pancake Morning Tea, leading our Ash Wednesday liturgical celebrations and launching this year’s Project Compassion Appeal. We look forward to our Justice Leaders guiding us throughout the year to put our faith in action for a just world.

Lent and Choices

During Lent, we pray for God’s guidance to help us to listen, speak and act with love. Our Lenten journey encourages us to set aside time to reflect on our CHOICES in light of Jesus’ words and actions. At Dominican, we talk about ‘A’ and ‘B’ choices. The ‘Way To A’ means we are learning to make choices that are safe, kind, helpful, and respectful. You might like to use the following questions at home to promote conversations about your child’s choices during Lent - What ‘A’ choices did you make today? How were they safe/kind/helpful/respectful choices? Did you make any ‘B’ choices? What happened? How will you flip them to make them ‘A’ choices tomorrow?

Project Compassion

Our support of CARITAS Australia’s Project Compassion gives expression to the Gospel value to pursue justice and help those suffering from poverty. Our donations to CARITAS Australia this Lent will help to bring love and hope to those in need throughout the world. In Pope Francis’ words, ‘To love God and neighbour… means seeing in every person the face of the Lord to be served. And you are, dear brothers and sisters, the face of Jesus.’