2023 Term 4 - End Term Newsletter

Principal’s Report

Another eventful term, which brings us to the end of the year. This period is significant as Advent is that time of the year when we prepare to welcome Jesus into the world and our lives again. It is a season of waiting and a time to prepare ourselves for the coming of Jesus. Advent represents the birth of Jesus Christ and the anticipation that comes along with this. We could not think of a more fitting time to share the good news that we have been anticipating for some time, the announcement of our new name – ST DOMINIC’S CATHOLIC COLLEGE! The announcement of our new name moving forward also coincides with our new crest and uniform. Our school crest is contemporary and modern yet retains our more traditional elements in keeping our motto, Veritas meaning truth, and the four Dominican pillars- Prayer, Ministry, Community and Study. The ellipses of the intertwined pillared circles depict a modern-coloured cross, with the purity of white at the centre representing Jesus. This central configuration corresponds with the Catholic Schools Office vision statement- "At the heart of all we do is Jesus Christ". The shield represents our strength, stability and longevity as a school, a community, and a family. We thank the Catholic Schools Office for their support and look forward to entering 2024 with our new look. Thank you to all our families who joined us on Monday to celebrate the unveiling, and as importantly to celebrate your children and their achievements this year. Our students are always extremely excited in sharing their successes with you, and having you visit the school. We aim to do this more often next year. Thank you for your ongoing support and enthusiasm.

I also would like to take the opportunity to thank our staffing community. It really does take a village to raise children and our St Dominic’s village does this with tremendous nurturing and care. I wish all the St Dominic’s staff a relaxing and restful holiday period. I look forward to working with you next year.

We also farewell four staff members, Mrs Lina Piccione, Miss Lilli Kingdom, Miss Laura Collins and Miss Samantha Trajanovska. We thank our departing staff for the personal gifts they have contributed to our school during their time with us and wish them well on their new journeys. You will be missed by students and staff alike, and you will be a hard place to fill in our school and also in our hearts. As we move into the new term, new staff will join our school and we look forward to them joining our community.

With the hint of a warm summer this week, I would like to wish you all a happy and holy Christmas period. May the season be jolly, your belly full, and your loved ones close.

May God bless you,

Rachel

Assistant Principal Report

Congratulations to all our staff (teachers and support staff) and the students on a wonderful year of discovery, fun and hard work. As I reflect on the year, below are some of my highlights:

• PLD Literacy- every class adapted and modified their programs to suit the class and made huge gains.
• Play – students have all shown growth in their play and turn taking with peers. I especially loved watching the imaginative play games and soccer matches.
• Sensory regulation- we filled the movement room, sanctuary and individual classrooms with new equipment that has helped students co-regulate and many develop the skills to self-regulate independently.
• Community access – our students have had wonderful opportunities to access the community; including libraries, swimming, parks, museums, Fighter World Cafe and shops, just to name a few.
• Incursions – our staff have looked for a variety of opportunities for our students to have experiences at school to enhance learning and developments, Healthy Harold, Water Safety and Science, Camps and a variety of sporting events (Gymastics, Tennis, Sailing, Swimming).

And on top of this, lots of learning takes place in our classrooms each and every day.

Social Stories:

At the end of the holidays, you should receive an email with a social story from your child’s teacher or an executive. This social story welcomes them back to school, introducing their teacher, classroom, peers and just some friendly reminders about being at school. Please take the time to read this to your child in preparation for a successful start to the new school year.

Reports:

Semester 2 reports are available via compass at the end of this week. It is a hightlight of each semester to look over each students report. I am always amazed by the growth and achievements made by students in all social, emotion and academic areas. If you have any questions about your child’s report, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s class teacher. Happy Reading!

Have a safe and restful break and we look forward to doing it all over again in 2024.

Coordinators Report

Primary have taken to the water like fish this term and it has been such a pleasure seeing all their beaming smiles when they return from their swimming sessions at Balance Mayfield each Friday.

Special congratulations to the award recipients from primary - Heath Maslin and Juliet Mallett (The Siters of St Dominic’s Encouragement Award), and Mateo Wilson (Tim Crakanthorpe presented the Community art award).

Primary have had a busy term with many other activities including Tennis, Swimming, Sailing, Fighter World, Blackbutt reptile show, just to name a few. A busy but brilliant end to the year, and we hope all primary students and families have a well-deserved break and see you all in 2024.

Secondary are to be commended for their great work right through to the back end of this term. It has been full of activities, outings and programs which they all rose to the challenge.

They have made great progress with their skill development and game sense through their tennis program through ‘Tennis for All’, which we hope to continue in 2024. 

We would also like to congratulate those secondary students who received special awards at our awards day, Shaun Garton Principal’s award, Ruby Schwager (Artistic excellence award) and Hannah–Rose Winner, Tim Crakanthorpe Medal (Community Social Justice Award). They have proven themselves in these areas time and time again and we want to thank them for being such wonderful students at St Dominic’s.

From all the St Dom’s team, have a wonderful break and we look forward to seeing you in 2024.

Ministry Coordinator and Religious Education Coordinator

Advent 2023: Anticipation and Joy

During this holy time to wait with anticipation knowing the joys of what is to come with the arrival of Christ. With Anticipation and Joy is a Newcastle-Maitland Diocese resource that invites all of the community to gather a circle of people-family, friends, colleagues, ministry teams to reflect mystagogically on the Advent Gospels and associated artworks.

This is an opportunity to encounter Christ where we are, to pay attention to what Christ reveals in the scripture and the living tradition of our faith, to share this, to connect it to life now and to be changed by it.

To access the resource go to:

Advent 2023 Activities for Families

To help you along your Advent journey here are some ideas you could do as you walk through Advent.

1. Pray the St. Andrew Prayer https://acatholicmomslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Calender-5.pdf
2. Read the Gospel of Luke — Luke has 24 chapters, so this is the perfect way to get closer to Christ. Simply read one chapter a day from December 1 until Christmas Eve.
3. Put up a Jesse Tree-The Jesse tree is a popular tradition. To do this, get a small tabletop tree. Each day, you will put a small ornament on a tree until Christmas Day.
4. Light an Advent Wreath — The Advent wreath is one of the oldest and most popular Advent traditions. All you need is one wreath and a set of 4 candles: 3 purple and 1 pink.
5. Offer Something Up — Advent has historically been a time when we wait in darkness for the coming of Christ. Traditionally, Catholics would offer something up or fast.

Wishing you a joyful and peaceful Christmas.
Pasqualina Piccione Ministry Coordinator and Lil Maher Religious Education Coordinator

Yellow

Yellow Class have had a great term! I have really enjoyed getting to know the students and their unique learning styles. All of the students in Yellow love the new swing in the classroom and spend time in the swing each day.

During our English lessons, Yellow Class have been learning their sounds through Heggerty’s program and continued with daily PLD Lessons. Everyday the Yellow Class reads to the teacher, which has resulted in our reading ability improving. We are continuing to work on our fluency and comprehension skills.

This term we have learnt all about characters in story books. Some of our favourite characters that we have studied have been Hairy Maclary, Thelma the Unicorn and Fearless the puppy dog. We have listed adjectives describing the main characters appearance and personality traits.

The clever Yellow Class mathematicians have been learning all about division, through sharing concrete materials, collecting and representing DATA, and made 2D and 3D shapes. Yellow Class have loved displaying our shapes around the room.

Our Religion lessons have seen us learn about “The Holy Family” and the importance of our own families as we prepare to celebrate Christmas. We have combined Religion and art, making beautiful candle artworks and nativity scenes.

Yellow Class have been busy making lots of delicious foods in our cooking lessons including cakes, cookies, pasta and lots and lots of playdoh that we have used in the classroom.

Our PDHPE lessons have seen Yellow learn about keeping safe around the school and at home, people we trust, and how to ask for help if we need it.

Congratulations Yellow Class! You have all had an amazing term and a great end of the year. Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a safe and happy 2024!

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Aqua

What an amazing term Aqua have had! We have had a lot of changes this year, but the students in Aqua have done a wonderful job embracing and learning from them. Miss Hall and I are impressed with the progress all our class members have made and feel very fortunate to have watched these wonderful students grow and learn.

In English we have worked hard on our Promoting Literacy Development (PLD) program, continuing to focus on identifying sounds/letters and developing spelling, reading and writing skills. Our morning session also incorporates a story and activity based on a story. Students have been learning to sequence the story, identify the characters and setting, and recognise the difference in the beginning, middle and end. We have particularly enjoyed listening to a range of Julia Donaldson stories and getting creative with art related activities.

In Mathematics we begin every lesson with counting videos focusing on numbers to 100 and skip counting by 2, 3, 5 and 10s. We also enjoy engaging in many interactive maths games on the smartboard and showing our understanding of concepts using hands-on materials. This term we have focused on addition and subtraction, multiplication and division, length, area, comparing numbers, place value and positions.

During Religion lessons we have explored the history of the Church in Australia and the people who have shaped its identity. We also explored the seasons of Advent and Christmas, focusing on God’s special gift of love to the world with the birth of Jesus. We reflected on ways that we can experience God in our own lives and see signs of God’s presence in our world during Advent.

It has been a pleasure to spend Term 4 with these fantastic students!
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy holiday with your families.

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Green

We have had an amazing Term 4 in Green Class, showing great resilience and determination in completing our work. This has led to some amazing improvements for all students, especially in Literacy, as we implement the school-wide phonics program (PLD - Promoting Literacy Development). Writing and comprehension have been a focus to support our students in building fluency in reading and setting goals for real-world applications. I heavily anticipate seeing the continued improvement of our Green Class boys in the future as they develop as passionate readers and writers.

In Mathematics, we have used various learning methods to make our lessons fun and engaging. Using technology and concrete materials has given us a more practical sense of outcomes. The Green Class boys have shown a terrific attitude towards their Maths work as we complete our activities inside and outside the classroom. Cooking has been a highlight in Maths as we measure ingredients to create the students' chosen food.

A highlight has been the Bee-Bot Stem Program, which introduces students to coding in digital technologies. Using arrows on the back of Bee-Bot, students must create a sequence of commands to direct them around mazes they create out of Lego and natural materials they found, such as sticks, leaves and rocks. This integrates Mathematical outcomes into our Science lessons as students develop their critical and creative thinking skills to solve problems.

Our off-site opportunities have been a lot of fun as we practice our swimming technique at Balance Mayfield. We have also built resiliency skills in facing problems we would not usually face in the classroom, such as meeting new leaders who guide us through challenging swimming techniques. The Green Class boys tried their absolute best each week, improving their swimming skills and enjoying being in the water along the way.

It has been a pleasure and an honour getting to know all the Green Class students this term and seeing their consistent social and academic improvements. I look forward to their continued growth in 2024 and onwards.

Lime Class

Wow, what a fantastic term we have had in Lime Class, and what a great way to finish 2023! It has been a pleasure to observe the significant growth of all the students in Lime Class and to be on this journey with them before they transition into High School.

This term has seen the continued efforts in learning, and the students’ social and emotional understanding and development bloom. Students have enjoyed trying out new writing approaches in English, connecting our Mathematics learning to everyday life through hands-on activities like Minecraft and social activities, and evolving ideas around creating their own video games through our Digital Technologies subject in Science. This term also saw Lime Class students involved in Tennis and a Learn-to-swim program each week and learning about positive relationships and connections with others through PDHPE and Creative Arts studies. We are grateful to bring our year to an end with an Advent and Christmas focus in Religion studies.

As the year finishes, we reflect on the amazing experiences that Lime Class has had in 2023. In reflection, the students recalled some of their favourite moments which included playing prodigy, going on excursions specifically Fighterworld, Blackbutt and Tennis, learning in different ways and spending time with peers.

Each student in Lime Class has so much to be proud of, and the strive they have continued to have throughout the year. It has been my absolute pleasure to have these awesome students in Lime Class this year. I wish them all the best, as they move into High School for 2024.

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Secondary

Class Teachers          

As the term progressed secondary students and classes were a hive of activity with many excursions and activities that extended and enriched our students' understanding and social engagement.

Stage 4 Orientation

One of the key objectives of a successful Year 7 transition is helping incoming students develop connections with their peers and fostering a strong sense of belonging within our school community. One of the strategies used at St Dominic’s to achieve this goal are the Year 7 Orientation Transition Visits during Term 4.

During Weeks 7-9 students have participated in team building experiences that will help shape the students’ time at St Dominic’s with the aim that the bonds they have begun to forge will continue to grow even beyond their time at St Dominic's.

Work Experience

The Stage 6 Workplace Learning Program has been a valuable opportunity for students to explore career options, develop employability skills, maturity and self-confidence. Work experience was also about increasing student understanding of basic workplace skills, with students placed with employers primarily to observe and learn. Students are to be commended for their ongoing participation in this program and we look to expand their work opportunities in 2024.

Community Access

Term 4 has seen students continue their Community Access Program which provided students the opportunity to participate in real world experiences and complemented learning undertaken at school. It was an integral part of students' individual education plans and involved students leaving the school grounds to develop knowledge and skills in the wider community.

Students visited locations and services such as local libraries, museums and art galleries, shopping centres, tennis courts, parks and restaurants. They have thoroughly enjoyed these experiences and will look forward to new adventures in 2024.

Cafe Club and School Canteen

Students across the School have had the opportunity to engage in the School Canteen Program with secondary students leading by example with Cafe Club. In this program students learnt how to prepare great coffee, handle food in a hygienic manner, create a variety of other drinks and prepare basic café food. This skill set provided valuable life experience, confidence, increased engagement in the school community, setting them for senior study, next year and beyond.

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Speech and Occupation Therapist Information

This year we have been engaged with external therapists. 3 hours each day, a speech and occupational therapist worked with a class to support the whole class and the class teacher in supporting the language development, fine and gross motor skills as well as the emotional regulation of students within their class. Below are two articles to support students, especially going into the holiday break.

 Ice blocks or Ice cubes can be used to support regulation!

 How can they help?

• Ice can activate various sensory receptors. This physiological reaction to cold exposure can trigger a calming response in the nervous system.
• This natural calming response can lead to a reduction in stress and anxiety levels, such as reducing the heart rate. Ice can also have an alerting effect, meaning that students who need increased arousal and attention could benefit from this.
• Ice can help to regulate their temperature, which then helps to regulate their emotions

How to use Ice throughout the day?

• Cubes of ice for crunching (oral stimulation)
• Pre-made ice blocks from the moulds (oral stimulation)
• Ice cubes to be held in the hand (tactile stimulation)

When to use ice?

• Regularly throughout the day to provide sensory input and assist students to remain well-regulated.
• In the lead-up to challenging events (e.g., transitions, toileting, challenging subjects).
• Following a distressing situation to assist with calming and regulating emotions.

 Movement and Brain Breaks

 Movement and Brain Breaks provide the kids with a much-needed opportunity to reset throughout the day. They can be as little as 2-3 minutes long. The purpose is to get the attention of the whole class, activate their bodies and provide stimulation to support learning.

 Classroom Movement Interactive Videos

• Cosmic Yoga - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f3_OFyyuSU&t=229s
• Mario Run - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EiqDikaJZY
• Freeze Dance - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6scH3zCnr-w
• Go Noodle Videos https://www.youtube.com/@GoNoodle
• Just Dance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1csN2kEgSDI

Classroom Movement Games:

• Simon Says
• Charades
• Would you Rather i.e. ‘Hands on your head if you would rather a pet dragon, hands on toes if you would rather a pet tiger”
• Musical Freeze
• Animal Walks

Regulation Brain Break Videos:

• Dragon Breathing - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2x8uFMxtog
• Melting Meditation - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTzXFPh6CPI
• Everyone has feelings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uzend67vKc

We look forward to continuing with this partnership in 2024.

Administration / Finance

Thank you for another wonderful year! I look forward to seeing you all in 2024.
From my family to yours, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

School Starting Dates for 2024 Reminder

Please note that the first day for Years 1 - 12 students is Thursday 1st February.
Pupil Free Day Tuesday 30/1 - Teachers Return - Curriculum Planning
Pupil Free Day Wednesday 31/1 - Teachers only - School Governance Day

Uniforms

Fundraising

This term has been extremely successful for fundraising here at St Dominic’s. The Bunnings BBQ was so well supported by all members and friends of our community, and the generosity of the general public on the day was amazing. Of course, the success was due to our hard-working staff, families and carers, who gave so generously of their time, as well as the many, many people who donated vouchers, sausages, bread and drinks. We have an incredible community! Staff have compiled a wish list, and we are currently making final decisions as to how the funds raised will be spent.

Our final two fundraisers for the year are with Tamburlaine Wines and Thompsons Pies. Details of both these have been sent home and posted on compass, and the links to both price lists are below. Both these fundraisers close soon, so stock up for Christmas!

Details for any Thompsons orders are as follows:

Our code: SDC1223

Our Thompson’s Pies Coupon Code will be available:

Monday 4^th December through to Sunday 24^th December 2023.

NOTE: All orders will be delivered to your door. You can order ANYTHING available via Online Orders on the Thompson’s Pies website. Orders must be placed by December 24, but can be scheduled for delivery AFTER the New Year.

We are so grateful for the ongoing support our school receives from our families, carers, staff and the general public. All monies raised go towards items that support the educational and social needs of our amazing students.

Thankyou and Merry Christmas!