Dear Parents and Caregivers,
Welcome to Term 4! This term we have many exciting things happening across the school, and some of these include: Semaphore Street Fair, School Christmas Concert, School Photos, Year 6 Graduation and Mass, as well as may class and year level activities. Please refer to our school calendar for all other important school dates.
We also welcome two new students, Sophie and Toby, and their families who join our community this term. What an exciting time to join Dominican School!
SWIMMING
We started the term with a SPLASH! All students from Rec- Year 5 absolutely loved taking part in swimming lessons at Immanuel College. Swimming week is a great opportunity for students to not only develop their swimming skills, but also to learn about water safety. There was an absolute buzz in the air at the beginning of the week, but by the end, you could sense the student’s exhaustion and tiredness. I have no doubt they all slept well over the weekend.
Thank you to all the staff for their efforts in preparing this wonderful learning opportunity and to the many parent volunteers who supported each day. Without the correct student/adult ratios, experiences like this could not happen.
WORLD TEACHER'S DAY - FRIDAY 27 OCTOBER
This Friday World Teacher’s Day will be celebrated across Australia. The theme this year is ‘Hats off to teachers’ 🤠World Teachers' Day is an opportunity to show appreciation and say thank you for the incredible contributions our teachers make. At Dominican, we are blessed to have an exceptional group of teachers working in our classrooms, specialist programs, intervention, and leadership roles. Our children flourish under their care, so on Friday, let’s celebrate their dedication and hard work!
Thank you to our wonderful teachers who always inspire our student’s hearts and minds to be the best they can be! #WorldTeachersDay2023
SCHOOL UNIFORM
It is really pleasing to see our beautiful students in their school uniform, proudly representing our school. During term 4, it is compulsory for students to wear a hat when playing outside. If students do not have a hat, they must play in the shade.
Please be mindful that the old style of summer uniform dress for the girls will be phased out at the end of this year.
2024 NEW RECEPTION TRANSITION PROGRAM
In Week 4, 23 new receptions will be starting our new ‘Little Dominicans’ transition program. Sessions will run on a Thursday over 4 weeks.
This program will be slightly longer this year, with our new students wearing their own special ‘Little Dominicans’ uniform. Please keep a look out for our new families and welcome them into our community.
HELMETS WHEN RIDING SCOOTERS AND BIKES
It’s great to see so many students walking and riding their bikes and scooters to school. It is
a great form of exercise and a fun way of getting to school. Student safety is of our upmost importance, and over the years we have had a number of incidents happen on our busy surrounding roads both before and after school.
Wearing a helmet is an important way to keep children safe and the Australian Road Rules clearly state that anyone using a scooter or riding a bike MUST wear a helmet.
I thank all families in advance for ensuring their children are following these road rules and ensuring the safety of their children.
SCHOOL PHOTOS
School Photos will be taking place on Tuesday 31st October (Week 3). Students must come to school in their correct summer uniform, with the correct shoes, correct colour hair accessories and hair neatly presented (hair longer than shoulders must be tied back). Please do not forget to bring back photo envelopes prior to this day.
Over the first few weeks of this term, it has been so wonderful to see many families, both existing and new families, back in our school and connecting with our staff and each other. We look forward to a term of reconnection and celebrating our beautiful school and community.
Have a great week,
Angela Scodella
PRINCIPAL
Welcome to Term 4 at Dominican School
A special welcome to our new students and families
Blessings to you all
COMMUNITY PRAYER
All families are warmly invited to attend our R-6 COMMUNITY PRAYER & ASSEMBLIES on Fridays at 9.00am in the Multi-Function Centre. Please see below for this term’s calendar of dates:
Week 3 Friday November 3
Led by Year 1/2D
Week 4 Friday November 10
Sports Presentation Assembly
Week 5 Friday November 17
Led by Year 3/4L
Week 6 Friday November 24
Led by Year RN
Week 9 Wednesday December 8
Led by Year 6
Our R-6 Assemblies are special times for our school community to celebrate in faith, learning and love our students as thriving people, capable learners and leaders for the world God desires. We give thanks for the partnership we share in Inspiring the Hearts & Minds of our young people to be the best they can be through our Dominican Pillars of Prayer, Study, Community and Ministry.
CELEBRATING OUR FAITH
We are blessed to be able to share in the CELEBRATION OF MASS with our Lefevre Catholic Parish. This term we will gather for parish masses at 12.00pm at Sacred Heart Church on:
Week 2 Friday October 27
Year 3-6 Parish Mass
Week 3 Wednesday November 1
R-6 Parish Mass – All Saints Day
Week 5 Friday November 17
Year R-2 Parish Mass
For all Masses, students will walk to and from the Church supervised by their teachers.
These celebrations provide us with the opportunity to gather in faith, hope and love, and we look forward to sharing our Masses with Father Roderick, parishioners and families. All families are very welcome to attend.
CATHOLIC MISSION APPEAL
Each October we celebrate Catholic Mission month to support the important work of Catholic Mission to reach out and make a difference to those in need. This year’s theme is Hearts on Fire - Feet on the Move and centres on supporting the work of the Salesian Sisters in Timor-Leste to provide vital medical and health support to children and families in the local communities. Our Justice Leaders have been actively involved in raising awareness of Catholic Mission month with all classes and next Monday October 30 they will be holding a SOCKING IT FOR JUSTICE DAY to fundraise for the appeal. On this day, all students are invited to wear CRAZY SOCKS for a gold coin donation. Thank you in anticipation of your generous support as we join together to Sock it for Justice.
Alison Tanti-Clark
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL RELIGIOUS IDENTITY AND MISSION
MATH WARM UP ROUTINES IN RS!
We have had a busy start to Term 4 with swimming week! In between our swimming lessons, we have had time to grow our brains with number activities in Maths. We have recognised numbers by completing colour by number sheets, subitizing using 1 and 2 dice and practiced our number formation using our whiteboards. These are just some of the ways we start our Maths lessons during the week. We are so excited for all our new Math learning throughout the term!
Lisa-Marie Siviglia
RS CLASSROOM TEACHER
YEAR 1 PHONICS SCREENING CHECK
As part of Catholic Education South Australia (CESA)'s initiative to ensure ongoing success for all students within our schools, CESA has recently introduced a Literacy and Numeracy Strategy, identifying five components that underpin the strategy. These 5 components include Building excellence and equity in classroom practice in Literacy and Numeracy, using assessment data to inform learning and teaching, differentiating teaching to meet students' diverse learning needs, developing instructional leadership in Literacy and Numeracy, and embedding a shared system-wide agreement and processes of accountability to Literacy and Numeracy improvement.
As part of this strategy, our school has been participating in the First Years of Schooling Literacy Assessments (FYoSLA) which is a suite of assessments that occur throughout the year from Reception to Year 2 to track and monitor student progress and ensure we are providing supports to students in a timely manner. This is to ensure all our students are provided the best opportunities to be successful. As part of this suite of assessments, our Year 1 students have recently completed the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check. This short assessment allows teachers to check how students are progressing in phonics, and monitor how students blend sounds together to read a word.
With a focused and consistent approach to our literacy instruction across the school, we have seen an improvement in our students results with the average student score increasing from 27 out of a possible 40 words, to 30 out of a possible 40. This assessment is used as a precursor to student performance in NAPLAN with students scoring above 28 predicted to be successful in NAPLAN assessments. This is a positive outcome for our school with 60% of the Year 1 cohort scoring 28 or above. Only 6 students were identified as being 'at risk' from their results. Of these 6 students, 3 of them have Personalised Plans for Learning (PPLs). All 6 students are currently involved in literacy intervention programs to support them and have shown steady improvement from participation in the small group setting.
All students will continue to be monitored and supported through our whole-school data collection cycle and supports are continually provided in order for all students to be the best they can be!
Congratulations to Harrison L, Zane T & Oliver B who have been selected for the Port SAPSASA boys cricket team! They will attend the SAPSASA State Carnival on Tuesday 14th November to Thursday 16th November 2023, at various venues.
We also congratulate Luisa who has been selected for the Port SAPSASA tennis team. Luisa will attend the SAPSASA State Carnival on Wednesday 22nd to Friday 24th November 2023, at Playford Tennis Club.
We wish Harrison, Zane, Oliver and Luisa all the best as they represent Dominican School and Port SAPSASA at their respective carnivals.
SCHOOL FEES FOR 2024
We are pleased to inform our school families that there will be no increase in school fees for the 2024 school year.
Catholic Education SA has announced it will freeze tuition fees at its 84 Diocesan schools for the 2024 school year.
“We recognise that cost-of-living increases are putting significant pressure on families,” says Dr Neil McGoran, Executive Director, Catholic Education SA.
“Growth in enrolments across the State in our 101 Catholic Schools, together with prudent financial management, puts us in a position where we are able to hold tuition fees at this year’s level.”
Dr McGoran said the fee-freeze will not impact the quality of education.
“We’re committed to keeping school fees as low as possible and ensuring a Catholic education is affordable and accessible to all.”
Since 2019, Catholic Education SA has been implementing the Making Catholic Education More Affordable Initiative to ensure Catholic schools are accessible to any family who wants their child to have a Catholic education.
In addition to the fee-freeze, further fee remissions are available to any family who is struggling to pay school fees due to financial difficulties. Families should contact Angela Scodella, Principal, or Jo Freer, Finance officer for more information.
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