Dernancourt School

                                                 PUPIL FREE DAY THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 4TH   

                                                 SCHOOL CLOSURE  FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 5TH

What a great celebration last week for Children’s Book Week. The week started with the fun of the dress up parade, lots of special activities in the library and in classrooms, and it finished with a wonderful visit from author/illustrator, Nell Harris. Thank all for the effort put in to organising costumes for all of the students for the parade. It certainly was a highlight!

This week we celebrated SSO Week, with our amazing support staff receiving cards form classes, and enjoying a special lunch on Tuesday. It was a great way to come together to acknowledge all of the work that our support staff do to support our students and school community.

We are beginning our planning for 2026, and currently confirming enrolments for our new receptions. If you know of anyone who is wanting to enrol their child at Dernancourt School for 2026, please encourage them to contact us as soon as possible. You may have also noticed that we are asking families to let us know if their children will not be returning in 2026 (other than year 6 students). This is to help us to confirm numbers so we can start to plan for staffing. Please do not hesitate to reach out to Julie or the office staff if you have any questions about this.

This term has been filled with school sport and SAPSASA opportunities for our older children. A successful athletics carnival was held last week with many of our students in attendance. We have more opportunities coming up later this term. Special thanks to the parent helpers, coaches and Mr Ryall for supporting our students to try these activities.

The school crossing has been a busy place over the last few weeks. It has been lovely to see so many families crossing in the designated crossing on Parsons Road. Our student crossing monitors take great pride in their duties of helping to keep everyone safe. I encourage you to use the crossing and say hello! A friendly reminder that our kiss and drop parking zone is a two minute parking space only, and drivers must remain with their vehicle. We are again receiving an increasing number of complaints about cars parked for lengthy periods of time, and cars undertaking U-turns across a solid white line. Thank you for helping our children to get to and from school safely, it is appreciated.

Last week, our Festival Choir attended their big rehearsal at the Entertainment Centre in preparation for their concert later in September. It was a long day for all involved, but students very much enjoyed singing on stage with hundreds of other children. I look forward to attending the final performance.

Today the Parent Association held a Father's Day Stall. Each class visited the stall and the children were able to purchase a gift for their dad, grandpa or that special person in their life. Thank you to the volunteers who organised the stall and helped the children on the day.  Special thanks also to the wonderful helpers for our Father's Day breakfast this morning.  It was wonderful to see many Fathers and Grandfathers attend and enjoy a delicious pancake.

Next week we have our Pupil Free Day on Thursday and School Closure on Friday. On Thursday, staff will be working with the Department for Education’s Literacy Guarantee Unit on reading and phonics. Thank you for your support of this day. There will be no school staff on site on Friday. OSHC will be open on both days – bookings are essential.

Wishing you all a wonderful (and dry) weekend – see you next week,

Julie

EVERY DAY COUNTS! Missed school adds up to a lot of missed education. Attendance rates since Covid times have not yet recovered to pre Covid (normal) rates across South Australia. We are working to have children at school every day. Every day matters. Please let the school know via the Audiri app, a phone call or Seesaw message if your child needs to be away and if it is for sickness or for family reason. All unexplained absences require follow up by teacher/school. An exemption signed by the Principal is required for family holidays of 3 or more days. Every day counts!

On Monday 18th August, 2025 Dernancourt School held their Book Week Parade. This years theme was "Book An Adventure". The quadrangle was alive with colourful characters.

Thank you to the parents/caregivers for your support. A lot of fun, happiness and joy was on display. See a variety of photos below. 

At Dernancourt School, we recognised the National Day of Action Against Bullying by taking part in activities suggested by classes through their SRC reps. Students watched videos on how to deal with bullies, helped create a whole-school book called Be a Buddy, Not a Bully, and made colourful flags with positive messages to hang around the school. Together, we sent a clear message: bullying is not okay at our school.

On Friday 8th August, a group of Year 6's enjoyed a fantastic STEM opportunity at Modbury Highschool. Students toured the different STEM labs and took part in a Science lesson investigating bottle rockets. It was exciting to see the different projects on offer through Modbury Highschool's Special Interest Innovative Technologies and Engineering Pathway Program. 

The following students received class awards at Assembly in Week 4. The awards were presented for showing Respect. Congratulations to our recipients.

Congratulations to the following students who were winners in the Book Week Competition.

Lollies in the Jar - Nicolas (P8) and Rory (P14)

Emoji Competition - Samriddhi (P10) and Sami N (P12)

Colouring R/1 - Archie (J3)

Colouring 2/3/4 - Swasa (J5)

Runner up - Yuki (P2), Inayat (P4), Eddie (J6), Leo (J7)

Congratulations to the following students who have completed the 2025 Premier's Reading Challenge.

J4    Eden, Wyatt, Elainia, Riley, Henry, Ikmeet, Rachel, Layla, Mingze & Maddison

P2    Lucas & Owen

P3    Vihasa, Maanit, Abi, Amali, Noah, Toby.S, Aarna, Thomas, Evan & Henley

P5    Oliver

P7    Avneet, Tia, Amir, John, Naysa & Paige

P8    Chloe, Jude.P, Elijah, Alice, Alija, Aarav, Kishin, Aadyaa, Bailey, Kawdhi, Natik, Nicolas, Alex, Jude.E, Kashvi, Edward, Preruet, Araina, Ellie, Agam, Maci, Violet, Gowri & Jordyn 

P12    Noah & Hugh

P14    Declan, Luca, Charlize, Noah & James

Last week our Garden Club helpers were Dominic J2, Archie J3, Fotimaa P3, Jude E P8 and Alice P12. In Garden Club, we planted new seeds in the flower pots near the front office, adding some fresh colour to the space. We also weeded the garden beds and gave the broccoli and lettuce a good water — they’re growing really well! The children did a fantastic job working together and showed great care and enthusiasm in looking after the garden.

Term 3 - 2025 Crossing Monitors