Term 4, Week 8 2021

Dear Community Members,

Welcome to our final edition of the newsletter for 2021!

I would like to announce the following staffing arrangements for 2022:

We welcome Ms Kate Lose to our teaching staff. Kate comes to us from Trinity College, Gawler River, where she has been Head of Pastoral Care for 12 years. Kate brings a wealth of primary experience to Dominican School with a strong commitment to quality teaching and learning.

We welcome Ms Lisa-Marie Siviglia to our teaching staff. Lisa-Marie comes to us from Star of the Sea School, Henley Beach. Lisa is an early career teacher who will also bring a strong commitment to quality teaching and learning.

We welcome Ms Genevieve Spencer to our teaching staff. Genevieve is well known to all of us in her current teaching role here at Dominican and is looking forward to continuing in 2022.

Kate, Lisa- Marie and Genevieve bring a wealth of teaching experience to these positions with a strong focus on quality teaching and learning. I congratulate them on their appointments.

Georgia Hext, Lia Cummings, and Carmen Larwood will be leaving our Dominican Community at the end of this year. I would like to sincerely thank these people for the significant contributions that they have made to our school and wish them every success in their future endeavours.

I am pleased to announce the 2022 Class Structures:

Reception N       Julia Nofi

Year 1/2 AB        Sofia Agnello and Sue Brogden

Year 1/2 S          Lisa- Marie Siviglia

Year 3/4 S          Genevieve Spencer

Year 3/4 L           Kate Lose

Year 5/6 K          Matt Kosta

Year 5/6 OK       Lisa Osborne and Martina Kovacev

All students will be meeting their new teachers for 2022 on Monday 6 December at 2:15pm.

Congratulations to all of our Dominican students who have continued to strive to be the best they can be. I have certainly witnessed this during 2021 and I look forward to this continuing in 2022.

To our Graduating Year 6 Class of 2021…Congratulations! You have all been resilient and extremely adaptable in what has been a year of uncertainty! Thank you for your contributions; you have certainly triumphed in an extraordinary time.

Each year at Dominican School two of our Graduating Students receive the Dominican Award. This award is awarded to students who best display our Dominican Pillars of PRAYER, STUDY, COMMUNITY and MINISTRY. I am delighted to announce that our Dominican Award Recipients for 2021 are;

Charlotte White and Cooper Thompson

Please join me in congratulating Charlotte and Cooper on this excellent achievement.

Student Learning Summaries will be sent home today accompanied with your child’s class placement for 2022. Thank you for your partnership with us in the learning journey of your child. We are looking forward to continuing this journey with you.

As I reflect on the school year, I strongly believe that we have achieved so much. In a year of unmatched impact on the way we live and work, I would like to thank you for the support that you have shown to each other and to our Dominican Community. After another year of COVID craziness, we finally got there in the end - and we did it together!

Our staff have been dedicated to the care and wellbeing of the students in our community. They have worked in different ways in order to ensure your child could keep up with their learning and development. I would like to thank them for what they have been able to achieve this year.

My sincere thanks to our School Board Members, our Parents and Friends Committee and all our volunteers for their ongoing support, commitment and guidance that they have constantly given Dominican School throughout 2021. I look forward to our ongoing work together as we embark on a new year in 2022 with exciting capital development enhancements.

It is a privilege to lead Dominican School and I truly value the support that I have received from our community throughout 2021.

Wishing you all every blessing at Christmas and may 2022 be a great year for all of you. I look forward to Dominican School continuing to achieve new levels of excellence in 2022.

Kind regards

Phil Holmes
Principal

END OF YEAR THANKSGIVING & BLESSING MASS

Today we gathered as a school community for our END OF YEAR THANKSGIVING & BLESSING MASS. This is always a special time for us to celebrate and give thanks for the blessings of the year that has been. It is a particularly significant occasion for our graduating Year 6 students, as well as for those staff members who are leaving our school community.  Our Mass provided us with the opportunity to acknowledge these members of our school community and bless them on their journey ahead.  We keep them in our prayers and wish them all the very best.

ST VINCENT DE PAUL CHIRSTMAS APPEAL

Many thanks for your generosity in providing donations to support the VINNIES CHRISTMAS APPEAL. Class boxes are filling with goods!  Any of the following items would be much appreciated - packaged foods such as pasta, noodles, and biscuits; tinned foods such as vegetables, soups, baked beans, and spaghetti; Christmas items such as bonbons, decorations, puddings, and tinned hams; long life products such as tea, coffee, milo, milk, juice, jam, and honey; and small gift items such as puzzles, books, stationery, and toiletries.  We will be collecting donations until next MONDAY DECEMBER 6. Our goods will be bundled into Christmas Hampers to be given to those families in need this festive season.  Thank you again for your support! 

ADVENT PRAYER

Loving God, Your Son Jesus is Your greatest gift to us.
He is a sign of Your love.
Help us walk in that love during the weeks of Advent
as we wait and prepare for His coming.
We make this prayer in Jesus’ name.
Amen.

Wishing you and your families all the blessings of a joyous Christmas filled with love, peace and hope.

Alison Tanti-Clark
Assistant Principal Religious Identity & Mission

We have enjoyed working with our 4/5S buddies this year.  One activity that we did together was an art activity where we made Christmas trees out of paper. Thank you to our buddies for being helpful this year, we really appreciate their leadership. 

A reminder to organise your Uniform needs for the new school year. You can purchase school uniforms direct from Hambours, Royal Park, or online. To apply for an online store account, go to www.hambours.com.au and click on the Dominican School logo. Hambours will close  from Thursday 16th December and re-open on Monday 10th January 2022. Dominican's full summer school uniform is to be worn on the first day of Term 1 2022.

Last chance for this term to find any missing uniform pieces or articles in the Lost and Found Box! Unclaimed items will be used as spare items in the office, or donated to charity. If your child has lost something, please encourage them to check this week in the Lost and Found box.

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