Dear Families,

Term 3 has been a busy term with many activities. Year 5 and 6 have prepared speeches and completed their Christmas Art. All students are to be congratulated for the work they put into making informative and interesting speeches and engaging artworks. In 2025 the Christmas Art program will move to Term 4 which is a far better time of year to be unpacking the Christmas scriptures and creating a Christmas themed artwork. This is a diocesian decision and the opportunity to be selected to show your artwork in the Wollongong Art Gallery will still be a possibility. 

The wonderful thing about the speeches and Christmas Art programs are that they assist in developing determination in our students. Public speaking can be daunting and is a skill required for many jobs in life.  Art and the ability to transform a scripture passage into a drawing or painting is not everyone's preferred option, however the students took on both activities with determination and did a great job. Quite often when we dig deep and keep trying we can discover things about ourselves that we didn’t know were possible.

I would like to personally thank the community for your feedback and support this term. I will be meeting with Mr Hill on Tuesday 24 September to discuss any recent appraisal process. I am truly humbled by the feedback and feel incredibly fortunate to lead this community. Looking ahead we will continue to focus on our improvement agenda in order to keep our momentum in improving faith, learning and wellbeing.

I would like to wish all families the very best over the school holidays period and hope you are able to find some time together as a family. In Week 4, 7 November we will be celebrating Dominican Family Day. This day is our Grandparents day. The value we have aligned to St Dominic is Kindness. St Dominc was a kind man who gave away many of his possessions to travel the world on foot spreading the word of God. Grandparents have a special relationship with grandchildren which is often seen as kind, patient and supportive. During this week we will hold the school book parade and the book fair. That way if grandparents travel especially for this event they can attend two different school events in one. We look forward to celebrating with families for this occasion.

Staff Development Days

Monday 14 October is a staff Development Day. On this day the staff will be diving deeper into embedded assessment in Mathematics. There will be no school for students on this day.  Students return Tuesday October 15.

Friday 20 December is our last Staff Development Day. Students will finish on Thursday 19 December. Please note that many schools are taking two days at the end of the year. This means most schools in the area will have students finish  on Wednesday 18 December. We choose to use one of the staff development days earlier in the year where it is more productive for staff. Students are required to attend school on Thursday 19 December.

End of Year Formalities - Save the Date:

Year 6 Mass and Supper with families Tuesday 17 December 6pm

End of Year Assembly Wednesday 18 December 9:30am

End of Year Mass Wednesday 18 December 12:00 noon

Year 6 Pool Day Thursday 19 December

Year 6 EOY slideshow and Clap out Thursday  19 December 2:30pm (Approx)

Last Day of School for Students Thursday 19 December.

Parent Pick Up

Thank you to our families for making pick up time such a safe and seamless process. Please note that families cannot take other children home unless arrangements have been made and communicated through our office. We thank you for your understanding in this.

Hall Fence

Please note that the fence has been fully installed. Entry to the Hall for assembly and other school events in the Hall during school hours will be through the school office and when leaving after assembly through the school office if school has not finished or through the side gate with the walkers after the main buses have gone. Parents are encouraged to park in Innes Road, walk around and then leave via the back gate on Assembly afternoons. We thank you for your cooperation in keeping our community safe and following these procedures.

Australian Parents Council

Australian Parents Council hopes this message finds you well.  We are reaching out to invite you to participate in an important survey, and to join APC for a special event in Melbourne.

Survey participation

Your feedback is invaluable to us.  We are conducting a short survey on  the recent NAPLAN testing, now that it has ended and the dust has settled.  We would love it if you could please take a few minutes to complete our survey by clicking the link below:

https://austparents.schoolzineplus.com/survey/6

APC Connect invitation

We are very excited to invite you to an exclusive event in Melbourne featuring a keynote address by Dr Jodi Richardson.  This event will be a wonderful opportunity to connect with other parents and gain insights from our esteemed speaker.

Event details

Date: Saturday, 21 September 2024

Time: 4:00pm - 7:00pm

Venue: Double Tree by Hilton Melbourne, 270 Flinders Street, Melbourne 3000

About Our Keynote Speaker

Dr Jodi Richardson is a renowned expert in the areas of anxiety and wellbeing.  With a wealth of experience and a passion for supporting parents and teachers to understand anxiety, she has inspired many through her work.  See attached brief bio and photo of Jodi.

National Parent Survey

The CSPA 2024 Parent Survey on Student Wellbeing and Learning is seeking your

perspective as parents/carers of children who attend a Catholic School in Australia.

You are invited to share your views on existing and emerging affirmations and/or

challenges in relation to your child/children’s wellbeing and learning. Please consider

completing this anonymous, confidential, and completely voluntary online survey.

More information about the study, how to participate, and how to have questions

answered, can be found here. Thank you for your interest.

If you acknowledge that your child meets the criteria for a  given sport, you are asked to complete a nomination form using the following link: https://forms.gle/2jfuUemnfyWVKbun9 or SCAN the provided QR code.

Please note this process is NOMINATION ONLY, once nominations are received and close on  Friday 27th September 2024, all individual sports trial nominations will be: 

1. Reviewed and approved by the School Principal and/or delegate 

2. Reviewed by the sports convenor and selection committee based on criteria (students must meet the criteria of the given sport to be eligible)

3. Required in some cases to host a school based trial to determine most suitable athletes to attend the Wollongong representative trials. 

4. After this review, school sport coordinators will be notified of successful nominations, and these students will be provided with a trial information letter by the school and be permitted to attend the 2025 trial date. 

Thank you,

Only medication that is prescribed by a doctor is permitted to be dispensed at School upon completion of a “Consent to Dispense Medication” form which is available from the office.  The form and the medication are to be given to the office staff in the original packaging with the student’s name and dosage.  We are not permitted to administer Panadol unless prescribed by a doctor and the necessary form completed.  Thank you for your cooperation with this.

If your child is Asthmatic or Anaphylactic please ensure the necessary plan has been forwarded to the office along with any medication so that it can be processed.  We also need a "Consent to Dispense Medication" form to be completed.

Student Injuries

If a student has sustained an injury please inform the school office as we have to do a care plan and risk assessment.  Please also forward any ED report or doctor letter as well.

Withdrawal

If you intend to withdraw your child from the school, the withdrawal form is available from the office.  We currently have a waitlist, so advance notification would be appreciated.

Students on Visas and Residency

You also need to inform the school office if your child has gone from a Temporary to Permanent Resident of Australia or if they have become a Citizen (we do require a copy of the Citizenship Certificate).

Mary Lou Claremont

Diverse Learning Support and Instructional Coach