Term 2, Week 10 2022

Dear Community Members

It is hard to believe that we come to the end of another school term.

Term 2 has been full steam ahead and much has been achieved here at Dominican including SA Police Band visit, NAPLAN, Mother’s Day Stall, Catholic Education Week, Class Liturgies, Assemblies, Reception Transition, Celebration of the Sacraments of Baptism, Reconciliation, Confirmation and First Communion, Sports Carnival, Sports Clinics, Excursions to the Sand Dunes, Student Reports…just to name a few!

All of these events enhance our school to be a thriving community where every child strives to be the best they can be. I would like to sincerely thank the students for all of their efforts this term. I would like to commend all of our staff for their absolute commitment to our community across all facets of school life. I am privileged to work with such an amazing group of people. I would also like to take this opportunity to celebrate the great partnership that we have with all families. This is an ongoing commitment that we are proud of and these positive partnerships are essential to ensure that we continue to achieve new levels of excellence.

Early next term all families will be invited to take part in a school satisfaction survey and I strongly encourage you to complete this survey.

• The survey takes between three and five minutes
• The survey is to find out about the performance of Dominican School
• The survey is an opportunity for parents and caregivers to tell the school staff how things are going for them and their children
• The school values your feedback and will try to respond to the information that you provide
• The feedback does not include the data of individuals; rather, feedback involves graphs based on feedback from all parents and caregivers.

As Term 2 concludes I would like to wish you all a restful term break and I look forward to seeing you all as we commence Term 3 together.

Kind regards,

Phil Holmes
PRINCIPAL

Many thanks to you all for your support of our Can Drive for the VINNIES WINTER APPEAL. Dennis Kennedy, the President of our local Vinnies, will be visiting us on Friday to collect our donations.  Dennis has expressed his gratitude to our school community for our continued support in giving so generously to this appeal.  These donations will be bundled into food hampers for local families in need.  We are a community of faith in action that lives with love to make a positive difference to those less fortunate.  Our Justice Leaders have been instrumental in raising awareness of the work of St Vincent de Paul and promoting this initiative to provide outreach to those doing it tough this winter.  This gift of food donations will go a long way to helping the needy in our local community this winter. THANK YOU.

As a school community, we congratulate Elijah, Emma, Jaeda, Jenny, Jessica, Marley, Sean and William on becoming full members of the Catholic Church.  These students celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation on Wednesday June 29 conferred by Archbishop Patrick O’Regan DD where they confirmed the promises made by their parents and godparents when they were baptised.  They then celebrated the Sacrament of First Holy Communion led by Fr Roderick O’Brien on Saturday July 2 where they received the Eucharist for the first time at Mass with our Catholic parish community. We keep these students in our prayers as they continue to journey in faith. Special thanks to Sr Marie Egan for her coordination of the Family Faith Formation Program and to Jamie Chilvers and the Junior Choir for leading us in the singing at the Confirmation Celebration.

Wednesday August 3 is the Feast Day of St Dominic, our Patron Saint, and on FRIDAY AUGUST 5 we will celebrate ST DOMINIC’S DAY.  To mark the occasion, students are invited to come to school dressed in our Dominican colours of black and white, and to contribute a gold coin donation to support the work of the Sophia centre established by the Dominican Sisters.  We will host a special morning for VIPs to visit classrooms, gather in prayer, share in morning tea and celebrate Mass together at the Church. 

This day provides us with a special way to honour and give thanks for the life of St Dominic and the way we live his mission today through our Dominican Pillars of Prayer, Study, Community and Ministry.  We look forward to celebrating Dominican School as a place of great faith and learning where we live VERITAS to grow in God’s Truth & Love. 

Alison Tanti-Clark
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL RELIGIOUS IDENTITY & MINISTRY 

On Wednesday 6th July, 56 students from Years 3-6 attended the SACPSSA Netball Carnival at Priceline Stadium, Mile End. We were so proud to see their Dominican Spirit shine throughout the day! Their great sportsmanship, teamwork, effort and resilience was admirable. Many thanks to the parents and old scholars who supported us on the day as umpires and coaches.On Wednesday 6th July, 56 students from Years 3-6 attended the SACPSSA Netball Carnival at Priceline Stadium, Mile End. We were so proud to see their Dominican Spirit shine throughout the day! Their great sportsmanship, teamwork, effort and resilience was admirable. Many thanks to the parents and old scholars who supported us on the day as umpires and coaches.Congratulations to Dlila, Caitlin, Ava and Maya who have been selected to represent Port SAPSASA and Dominican School at the State Netball Carnival on 22nd – 24th June.

Martina Kovacev
SPORTS COORDINATOR

We are very excited to introduce three new staff members to OSHC this term.

Sarah Muir is Dominican Schools’ new Vacation Care Director.  Sarah has a wealth of knowledge and experience in OSHC and is very excited to be part of our OSHC Team.

Hannah Freer and Holly McGorman will be also joining the team and will be working in the July Holidays Vac Care Program.

Thank you to all the families that have booked their child/ren into Vac Care.  There are already days fully booked so if you need a booking, please email at oshc@dominican.com.au or call or text the oshc mobile on 0408844306. 

The HOLIDAY PROGRAM is on the Dominican website – under community – OSHC.

Have a wonderful break and look forward in seeing everyone in Term 3.

Paula Northeast
OSHC DIRECTOR

This year has seen the introduction of LUNCH CLUBS at Dominican. These clubs provide our students with opportunities to gather with peers at lunchtimes to participate in a range of activities that support social engagement and interaction, as well as involvement in experiences of interest that enrich their learning.  We value student voice and agency and our Year 5 and 6 Senior Leaders have been instrumental in initiating and coordinating these clubs with the support of our teachers.

We thank Jacob for his idea of a GAMES CLUB which occurs on Tuesdays, and the support of the P&F in funding the purchase of a range of games for students to access and enjoy during this time. 

Eli, Faith and Liam run the DRAWING CLUB each day on the tables outside the MFC.

DRAMA CLUB occurs on Wednesdays with our Performing Arts teacher, Charlie Willoughby.

CHESS CLUB occurs on Thursdays in the MFC.

Next term, we will introduce a MINDFUL CLUB thanks to Lily and Molly which will take place in our Chapel.

We commend our Senior Leaders for their passion, enthusiasm and commitment for driving our Lunch Clubs… for all of our students to ENJOY.

Alison Tanti-Clark
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL, COORDINATOR OF ENRICHMENT

Families are kindly asked to contact the school office before 9.30am if your child will be absent or late. Please leave the students name, class and the reason for the student’s absence. You can do this by:

• Emailing absent@dominican.catholic.edu.au
• Phoning 8114 3600 (select option 1 and leave a message)

Please don’t email teachers directly or use Seesaw for absentees.

If an absence is unexplained an automatic SMS message will be sent to parents requesting confirmation of an absence.

ALL students who arrive at school after the 8.50am bell must sign in at the Front Office.

Students who need to leave school before the 3.05pm dismissal time must be signed out in the Front Office by an adult.

Communication with the classroom teacher is required when a student:

• Is going to arrive at school late, due to a pre-arrangement
• Needs to leave before dismissal time
• Is going on a family holiday
• Any other pre-arranged absence.