Dernancourt School

Thursday	December 12	Term 4, Week 9	Year 6 Graduation
Friday	December 13	Term 4, Week 9	Final Assembly

I can hardly believe that we are nearly at the end of the term.  It has been a wonderful year watching our students grow and learn. Thank you all for your support.

It was lovely to see so many families and friends at our school concert last week watching our amazing students perform and celebrate together. A highlight for me was hearing the students support each other on stage with little reminders as they were setting up. The microphones across the front of the stage helped us to hear this. It certainly made me smile. I also very much enjoyed wandering and chatting to families before the concert. The Dernancourt School Community is a fabulous place to be, and I am proud to be part of it. Special thanks to Juliette Barry, our Performing Arts teacher and her helpers for all of their work on the organisation of the concert. There are some photos further down in the newsletter, I hope you enjoy them. Thank you all for making the time to celebrate with our school community.

Our Year 6 Graduation is coming up on Thursday night, and I am looking forward to celebrating this occasion with students, staff and families. It is an import milestone for our students, and I know they have all been looking forward to the evening and the final assembly on Friday.

Our staffing is almost confirmed for 2025, and a staff list is shared further down in the newsletter.  There is only one class with a teacher still to be confirmed, and as soon as we are able, we will post an update to Audiri. Today, students spent time visiting their new classes. There were many excited and some nervous students as they met their teacher and classmates for 2025. Teachers spent considerable hours carefully considering the placement of each child, taking into consideration academic and social and emotional needs.  If you have any concerns regarding class placement, please speak with your child’s current class teacher in the first instance. Official notification of class placement is recorded on student reports that have been sent home today.

At the end of the week, we will farewell teachers Andy Thomas, Georgina Watkins and Belinda Holmes. Staff had the opportunity to farewell them officially on Tuesday after school and we will also acknowledge them at assembly on Friday. We thank Andy and Belinda for their work with our students and school community in their time at Dernancourt and we wish them the best of luck in their 2025 adventures. We wish Georgina all the best as she heads off on Maternity leave.

As you may have read on Audiri, our Grounds Shed has been the target of several break ins over the year. This has been both sad and disappointing for our school. I ask that in the holidays, if you see or hear anything suspicious, please make a report to SAPOL on 131 444. Thank you for helping to keep our students and school safe.

Thank you everyone! I wish you all a fabulous holiday with your families, I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and I look forward to seeing you in the new year.

Julie

2025 Leadership

Principal  Julie Raggett

Deputy  Kym Dinedios

Student Wellbeing Leader Shannon Leonards

2025 Teaching Staff

J2  Tatum Ryan and Sharon Robinson (Alternate Friday’s)

J3  Amelia Travis

J4  Adam McCaskill

J5  Georgina Nikolopoulos

J6  Nikki Pellegrini

J7  Kaye Coley, Victoria Crawford (Friday)

P2  Catherine Cunningham (Mon and Tues), Emma Salini (Wed, Thurs, Fri)

P3  Myf Spencer Smith

P4  Rose Crompton, Catherine Cunningham (Thursday)

P5  Nishu Khanna

P7  Karen Bell

P8  Niki Kenyon

P10  TBC – (Monday to Thursday), Laura Toland (Friday)

P12  Scott Barabas

P14  Amy Farquharson

Health and Physical Education   Kieran Ryall

Performing Arts   Juliette Barry

Japanese   Meryl Jing, Shannon Leonards, Sera Gagliardi

Special Class NIT   Victoria Crawford

Autism Inclusion Teacher   Kaye Coley

Aboriginal Education Teacher   Shannon Leonards

EALD   Ingrid Molnar

Reading Leader   Tom Kibble

2025 Ancillary Staff

Business Manager   Lisa Harker

Front Office   Caroline Travis, Sharyn Beckwith, Mary Spagnoletti

Student Support    Jodie Dorsey, Sandra McInnes, Jacki Roupas, Julie Williams, Sue Thornton, Rachael Osborn, Tammy Jones, Ida Icolaro, Jane Adamson, Nikki Wharfe, Laura Visentin, Michelle Flannigan, Mary Theodorou, Sienna Garstka, Mel Garstka, Erin Piro

IT Support  Va Phung

Grounds Tom Giordano, Yusuf Kavlakoglu

Canteen Tracy Jones

OSHC Director Tom Kibble

Music in Education Gaby Freer

How can you help your child navigate worries about the end of the school year?

As the school year comes close to an end, many children feel a mix of emotions—excitement for the holidays, but also anxiety about saying goodbye to friends, teachers, and the familiar school routine. They may start to worry about what is going to happen next

year. Moving to a new class, a new teacher and new classmates. Here are some ways to support your child through these feelings:

 

1. Listen and Acknowledge Their Concerns

Let your child express their feelings about the school year ending. They might worry about missing friends, their favourite teacher, or simply feel uncertain about the changes ahead. Validate their feelings by letting them know it’s okay to feel nervous or sad.

 

Example:

"I understand that you might feel a bit sad about school ending and saying goodbye to your friends and teacher. It’s completely normal to feel that way."

 

2. Highlight the Positive Aspects of the Year

Encourage your child to reflect on the good moments they had during the school year. Focusing on their achievements, friendships, and favourite memories can remind them of the happy experiences they’ve had, while also helping them process the transition.

 

Example:

 "What were some of your favourite things you did this year? It’s great to think back on all the fun times and new things you learned."

 

4. Reassure Them About the Future

Children might worry about what’s next, especially if they’re moving to a new grade level or classroom. Reassure your child that they’ll have opportunities to make new friends, meet new teachers, and continue learning and growing in the year ahead.

Example: "Next year will bring new opportunities and more fun things to learn. You’ll have new teachers who are just as wonderful as the ones you’ve had this year."

 

5. Encourage Open Communication

Let your child know that they can always talk to you about their feelings, even if they don’t fully understand them. Keeping an open line of communication ensures that they feel supported as they navigate this transition.

 

Example:

 "If you ever feel worried about anything, you can always talk to me. We’ll figure things out together."

 

Supporting your child through the end of the school year involves acknowledging their feelings, focusing on the positive, and creating a sense of excitement for the future. With your guidance, they’ll feel more confident and prepared to embrace the changes

ahead.

We are incredibly fortunate to have Variety the children's charity SA supporting our three special classes at Dernancourt, offering a range of wonderful opportunities throughout the year. This year, they generously donated $10,000 towards transport costs, enabling our special classes to attend weekly swimming sessions through a specialised program provided by the Department for Education. Our students had an amazing time at a festive Christmas Party held at the Adelaide Showgrounds, where they enjoyed party food, face painting, temporary tattoos, live music and dancing, exploring fire trucks and police vehicles, and even a special visit from Santa.Earlier in the year, we visited the zoo, where the children loved discovering the animals and sharing a delightful BBQ lunch. Another highlight was a memorable morning at the movies, complete with snacks and a screening of the Minions movie, which the children thoroughly enjoyed. We sincerely thank Variety the children's charity SA for providing these fantastic opportunities and experiences for our students. These events bring so much happiness to the children, and we love seeing their joy. We are deeply grateful for their ongoing support. Thank you, Variety!

P3 would like to thank all of the classes for being part of our final piece of our Stobie pole learning journey…. Our Stobie pole art project!

The art is complete and will go up on the poles out the front of the school soon. They look AMAZING!

We invite the whole school community to take a walk along the road and be wowed as you meander through the history of communication as explored by P3 in celebration of the 100 year celebration of South Australia’s own Stobie pole, designed in 1924 by James Cyril Stobie.

Each pole even has a beautiful message from some of the classes. Can you decode the Morse Code message?

We also extend a big thank you to Kaz from Bunnings, Windsor Gardens for kindly donating the paint, some brushes and her time for the project.

Our garden club helpers in Week 7 were Ryder J6, Toby J5, Emma P4, Indy P14 and Aaliyah P10. We had to postpone this week due to the rain on Wednesday but had perfect weather on Friday. It was exciting to see our first pink lady apple starting to grow on our fruit tree. Our group was also fortunate enough to pick some baby carrots from our garden beds.

Lucas P2, Ananya P3, Adi P12, Indy P14 and Max P14 were part of our last Garden Club for 2024. Together we cleared out one of the garden beds ready for next year, pulled out some more carrots and watered many of our garden areas in readiness for the hot weather ahead. Thank you to Inoka who helped us today and a big thank you to Nat for being a volunteer at our Garden club all year. With more than 200 children interested in being part of Garden Club this year, we look forward to continuing and expanding our Garden Club in 2025.

Dernancourt School has been building a new connection with the Campbelltown Rotary Club, fostered by Mr Kevin O’Neil. They have kindly donated the Peace Pole in our Butterfly Garden and funds generously donated by the Rotary Club this year have assisted Garden Club to buy much needed garden equipment and storage.

With input from Campbelltown Rotary Club, we have also added to our Graduation Ceremony a new and very special community award using funds generously donated from the club. This community award will be presented by a representative from Rotary to two outstanding students in the form of vouchers from a local bookstore.

We were invited to a meeting of the Campbelltown Rotary club this week to share some information about how their kind donations have benefited our school. Sunny Thomassen from P14 put together a wonderful PowerPoint presentation and gave an eloquent speech on behalf of Dernancourt School. Congratulations to Sunny on doing an outstanding job of representing our school and thank you to the Campbelltown Rotary Club for your support.

Term 4 - Crossing Monitors 

Week 9

Oliver (P7)

Chloe (P7)

Samson (P10)

Term 1 - 2025 Crossing Monitors

Week 1	Thomas (P14)	Aidan (P14)	Ethan (P14)
Week 2	Indy (P12)	Alexander (P12)	Hiro (P12)