Dernancourt School

This term we have welcomed 21 new receptions and their families to our school. 10 students have joined both J2 and J4 and 1 student has joined J6 and they have all settled in well to their new learning environments. We are looking forward to getting to know the students and their families as the term and year move on.

Congratulations to Scott Barabas, and his wife Kara, who will soon be welcoming their first child to their family. Scott will be taking some parenting leave from Monday August 17 until the end of the term. We wish Scott and Kara all the best on their new adventure! This exciting news means that we will be welcoming two new staff members to P12 while Scott is away. Janine Preece will be in P12 on Monday’s and Laura Toland will be the teacher from Tuesday to Friday until the end of the term.

On Tuesday August 4, we hosted the North East District Hiragana Competition. The competition was attended by students from 13 different schools, and they competed against each other in reading and writing the Japanese Hiragana. Special thanks to Ms Meryl, who played a big part in organising the day. Our students competed well, and we came away with a second placing overall. A very good effort! There are some comments and photos of the students further down in the newsletter.

Tuesday August 4, also saw us have a visit from Professor Martin Westwell, the Chief Executive of the Department for Education in South Australia. Martin spent time speaking with Kym and I about the learning and work we do at Dernancourt School, but most of his time was spent visiting classrooms and speaking with children about their learning. It was a great opportunity for our students to show case and talk about their learning and about what they enjoy at Dernancourt.

Thanks to the families who were able to attend our Movie Night on Friday Night.  It was great to see so many families in the gym, enjoying the movie and supporting the school.  A great night was had by all - including me!

$330.00 was raised by the SRC for casual day. This money will go to the Jeans for Genes Day.

Thank you to everyone who donated.

Our Values journey at Dernancourt School continues to grow in exciting ways. Our students have taken an active role in designing logos to represent our key Values of Respect, Kindness, and Teamwork. The creativity and thoughtfulness shown in their designs have been outstanding. After thoughtful review, we have narrowed down the options, and now both children and staff are voting for their favourite designs. Soon, the winning logos will be on display throughout our school as a proud reminder of the Values we live by every day.

Dernancourt School was excited to host this year’s North Eastern Hiragana Competition! Our Year 4 students put in lots of practice and had a fantastic time on the day. We’re so proud of their amazing effort, coming in second—even while competing against Year 6 students from 12 other local primary schools. Congratulations to Yuki, Sascha, Kyra and Aviana for representing our school so well, and a special thank you to Meryl-Sensei, Maanit, Harriet, Reyansh, Ziyi, Lucas, Aarna, Evan and Monique who helped make the day run smoothly. Well done to all involved!

Here are some reflections from the four students who represented our school in the competition.

Yuki – I was proud of our team because we lost by 1 point but we know the same amount of hiragana as Year 6’s.

Sascha – It was such fun competing against all the other schools and everyone did a great job.

Kyra – I was really proud of our team that we came second because next time we might come first.

Aviana – I was impressed that all of my team mates worked together so well.

Congratulations to the following students who have completed the 2026 Premier's Reading Challenge.

P5    Leon. Eddie, Joel, Oliver, Ayaan, Japheth, Olivia, Nyra, Degmen, Diyan & Dakota

P7   Emery, Lucas & Maanit

P8    Owen

P10    Orion, Mikayla & Kit

P12   Charlotte, Kyle, Ella, Kayode & Azambir

P14   Owen, Jordyn, Will, Preruet & Ethan

Dernancourt School OSHC uses the Primary Playground between 3:15pm and 4:00pm, and the Early Years Playground between 4:00pm and 5:00pm. To assist with our duty of care commitments and supervision requirements, we would appreciate if families could please use the alternative playground during those periods. Thank you for helping to keep our students safe.