Dernancourt School Newsletter

We are very proud of the diversity of cultural backgrounds represented in our school community. 

As a school, we are committed to ensuring an inclusive and connected community for all. Last Thursday, to celebrate International Children's Day, we invited our learners to come dressed in traditional clothes or colours that represents their cultural heritage. We were so proud to see this as we came together at our assembly.  Our hearts filled as we noticed a special sense of pride as children asked each other to share more about their culture, back ground and outfits. A perfect way to achieve the 2021 theme "Children have the right to choose their own friends and safely connect with others."

Special thanks to our Children's Day Committee - Mrs Crompton, Ms Ingrid, Adam and Mrs Kenyon for coordinating a range of activities including a song that we were all able to sing together at assembly. 

This week Ms Ingrid our EALD teacher along with BSSOs Maruthi and Mitra have been teaching us about Diwali. 

We have learnt some new facts including that Diwali is the most important religious festival celebrated by followers of Hinduism. It is also called Divali, Deepavali or Deepawali and is commonly referred to as the Festival of Lights.

The Festival of Lights celebrates the Hindu New Year. It is a celebration of  the victory of light over darkness and the triumph of good over evil. Originally Diwali was celebrated as a harvest festival in India, but today Diwali is celebrated as the Festival of Light by Hindus all over the world. This festival is celebrated with sparklers, firecrackers and fireworks being held in many places. 

 At Diwali it is tradition to decorate and illuminate the homes, visit the local temple for prayers and share meals with families and friends. 

Staff  were treated today with a Special morning tea of small gifts and sweets., including many traditional Diwali foods including the delicious syrupy gulab jamun balls.

What better way to help Mrs Whenan celebrate her retirement than with a whole school performing arts event?? 

We are excited to announce that with the easing of COVID restrictions, we are now able to hold an End of Year Celebration. Of course this will not be as it has been previously due to COVID event management conditions but, it will allow us to have some members of our community in attendance. YAY!!

We want you to keep Tuesday evening 30th November 2021 free! 

Details on ticketing and seating arrangements are still being coordinated by our Concert Committee (Mrs Whenan, Mrs Watkins, Mrs T, Ms Coley, Sharyn and Sandra) and we will notify you of this as soon as they are confirmed. What we do know is that all attendees (most likely 2 / family), will need to wear a mask and maintain the distancing requirements. 

Our excited students are currently rehearsing in preparation to perform to you, and class teachers will share any costuming needs and other details soon. 

There was a buzz of excitement and a flurry of activity at P8’s Small Business stalls today at lunch. Students displayed exceptional commitment, organisation and cooperation skills while selling their products and running their games. They were surprised about how busy they were, with all groups selling out of their products. A highlight was seeing the younger students excited and happy about their purchases and all enjoyed working as a team, even helping other groups when their group sold out. Today’s stalls were the product of a small business unit incorporating HASS (Business and Economics and Civics and Citizenship), English, Mathematics and Digital Technologies. Today they were able to put all their learning together. Stalls included a variety of games including throwing a coin to land on a chocolate, target practice, bottle topple, throw the ball in the cup and roll the dice to win a prize. Novelty and lolly stalls included handmade plush toys, showbags, stress balls, lucky dips and lollipops.

In total, students raised over $500!! This will be donated to Ronald McDonald House. P8 thoroughly enjoyed designing, organising and running their stalls, and hope the rest of the school enjoyed it as much as we did. A big thank you to the school community for their support.

Mrs Salini and Mrs McCade. 

Congratulations to P12 & P14!

Our 6/7 classes entered the Bunnings Spring Art Competition at the end of last term. The classes worked in groups to create the boards below, we are sure that you agree that they did a fantastic job of collaborating and expressing their ideas of what Spring means to them. Bunnings were also highly impressed with our students submissions.

As a result, Dernancourt School has won a $300 prize to spend on Outdoor Education Equipment at Bunnings.

Congratulations to P12 and P14 for your fantastic entries, we are proud of you!

A huge thank you to Bunnings for offering our students this opportunity - we look forward to continued connections..

Thank you for your continuing to support the canteen by ordering lunches on Fridays, and by purchasing items over the counter at recess and lunch breaks.  You can order your lunch via QKR!, orders close at 9:15 on Friday morning.

We have added some new items to the menu - nachos (available with mince or vegetarian), pillow pasta with tomato sauce (vegetarian) and a bolognaise pasta bake.  We would like to be able to offer some fresh salads but due to the volume of orders on a Friday are unable to do this without volunteers. 

If you would like to volunteer, Jodie would appreciate the help so please complete and submit the Canteen Volunteer eForm or contact the front office for further information.