Head of Primary (P-6)

It is hard to believe we are at the end of Week 3 of Term 4, and soon, we’ll be marking the close of another eventful year at Del Monte and Gioia House.

Though Term 4 is always on the shorter side, our dedication to fostering growth never wanes. Our mission is consistent in promoting continuous learning, assessing, refining our teaching practices, preparing our students for the next grade, and celebrating year-end achievements. Teachers are working hard on writing the Semester 2 reports, which will be released to parents in Week 9 this term. We are committed to providing your child with a holistic education, teaching them the skills that are needed in order to be committed, courageous, resilient and inclusive young people who exercise respect for themselves, others and their world.

Year 4 and the St Dominic the Adventurer Award

On Saturday 21 October, Ms Nicotina and I travelled to Tallong for the conclusion of the St Dominic the Adventurer program. We watched with pride as 23 Year 4 students successfully navigated their way through the course. Throughout the day, they faced various challenges, enhancing their outdoor and problem-solving skills, and building resilience. These experiences aligned beautifully with our Dominican Pillars: Community, Learning, Prayer, and Service. The day’s highlight was the Award Presentation at our beautiful outdoor Chapel, commemorating a significant day of accomplishment and personal growth. Read more and watch the highlights video in Chris Walker’s report in this issue of Veritas Voice.

Del Monte Grandparents Day

Pope Francis has chosen ‘His mercy is from age to age,’ a passage from the Gospel of Luke, as the theme for the 2023 celebration of the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly. Join us on 16 November as we celebrate Grandparents Day with an open invitation to explore our classrooms. Coinciding with this special day, our annual Scholastic Adopt-A-Book Program will be hosted in the Del Monte Library throughout the week. Here’s your chance to purchase enriching reads for your homes or donate to our school’s library. In appreciation, every book donated will carry a special acknowledgement with the student’s and family’s name. Furthermore, Scholastic is generously matching our total sales, enhancing our library’s offerings. Payment options include cash, MasterCard, Visa, or QR code. Our library tends to become quite crowded during recess, given our grandparents’ enthusiasm. For a smoother experience, consider visiting us either before school, starting at 8:00am or after school until 4:00pm throughout Grandparents Week. More details will be communicated in due course.

Kindergarten Experience Day

This Tuesday, we had the pleasure of welcoming our new group of 2024 Kindergarten students. Their excitement and smooth transition to the new environment was a sight to behold. The day was filled with activities geared towards fostering connections. We eagerly anticipate our second experience day next week, which will also include a parent information session.

Year 4 Showcase

This event serves as a testament to the students’ evolution during their time at Del Monte. This year, the theme revolves around ‘Communities are an integral part of our life.’ The presentation promises a blend of visual arts, music, and dance, with students bringing concepts such as kindness, connection, and joy to life. Families are invited to join the celebration at 9:15am in the Del Monte Hall and then view the students’ work displayed in their classrooms.

Years 2-4 ICAS Assessment

Forty-eight students completed ICAS assessments in Mathematics and/or English. The assessments provide an objective ranking of our students’ performance against their classmates, school and the country. Congratulations to all these participants. A special mention to the following students who achieved distinctions and credits:

English

Distinction Award – top 10% 

Annabelle Chang, Ashton Chung, Hannah Lue, Xinyue Lu, Jay Park 

Credit Award – top 25% 

Sofia Brodowska-Nidelkos, Kingsley Cheung, Esther Chiew, Andre Jayaseelan, Alfred Jin, Frederick La, Angela Li, Michaela Nguyen, Natalie Sun, Sophia Tadros, Grace Welsh, Audrey Wong, Alicia Wu

Mathematics

Distinction Award – top 10%  

Ashton Chung, Alfred Jin, Xinyue (William) Lu, Renhou Hu, Liam Nguyen

Credit Award – top 25% 

Kingsley Cheung, Esther Chiew, Andre Jayaseelan, Frederick La, Flynn Lee, Michaela Nguyen, Jay Park, Micah Sarayar, Natalie Sun, Sophia Tadros, Grace Welsh, Audrey Wong, Alicia Wu

2024 Years 5 & 7 Experience Day and Information Evening

The Parent Information Session scheduled for 1 November will serve as an introduction for current Year 4 families and new entrants to Gioia House in 2024. 

On 3 November, we will welcome Year 5 2024  students to Gioia House. They will meet their peers and Year 6 buddies, participate in team-building activities and learn about the senior campus. The experience will provide opportunities to make new friends, ask questions and become confident about starting school in 2024. Our current Year 5 students are excited to welcome new students to Gioia House and step into Year 6 on the day. Students should wear their College sports uniform, complete with the College hat. They should bring along their recess, lunch, and a water bottle. The girls are to arrive at Del Monte as per their regular timing and will then be escorted to Gioia House by our teachers. Post the day’s activities, the teachers will accompany the girls back to Del Monte for their usual dismissal.

The Year 6 girls are ready to move to Year 7, meet their peers, and establish new connections. We are confident that they will welcome and look after our new students.

Year 6 Allwell Testing

Year 6 students will be involved in the online Allwell testing on the morning of Thursday 2 November. There is no special preparation needed for the test as it is not likely to improve student’s results. The best preparation is to be relaxed and refreshed on the testing day. A good night’s sleep is very important. If your child is sick on the day please let us know via the usual procedure in Parent Lounge. There will be a catch-up day in Term 1 next year. 

Gioia House Maths Olympiad and Challenge Games

This year 60 students from Years 5 and 6 entered the Junior Maths Olympiad and Maths Challenge program. The program is specifically designed to stimulate and challenge students, teaching them major problem-solving strategies. Furthermore, it strengthens students’ mathematical intuition prior to starting high school.

The main aims of the program are to:

  • introduce students to important mathematical concepts
  • teach major strategies and develop flexibility for problem-solving
  • foster creativity and ingenuity and strengthen intuition
  • stimulate enthusiasm and enjoyment of mathematics
  • provide for the satisfaction, joy and thrill of meeting challenges.

We congratulate all students for their hard work and commitment to the program. The following students are commended on their excellent results in the competition. 

Maths Olympiad Top 10%
Kyra Gomes (absent in photo)
Julie Zhu

Maths Olympiad Top 25%
Chloe To
Cadence Wong
Madison Taouk
Wynn Hu
Emilia Srdanovic
Alicia Bouantoun

Calendar dates – Del Monte

A detailed letter regarding important events will be sent to families in due course.

  • 27 October Postponed Prep and MBH Athletics 9:30am – 10:30am 
  • 1 November Year 5 2024 Parent Information Session 6:00pm – 7:30pm
  • 2 November Week 4 Assembly (Year 2)
  • 2 November Kindergarten 2024 Experience Day 2 and Parent Info session
  • 3 November Year 5 Experience Day
  • 7 November Year 3-4 Sydney Catholic Schools Oztag Gala Day
  • 9 November Remembrance Day Gathering Liturgy (Year 1)
  • 9 – 10 November Year 3 Outdoor Education Experience
  • 15 November Year 4 Showcase 
  • 16 November Grandparents Day Assembly and Open Classrooms 
  • 21 November Prep 3 day Experience Day
  • 23 November Prep 2 & 5 day Experience Day
  • 24 November K-2 Splash & Dash Carnival
  • 28 November K-2 Dominican Awards
  • 29 November K-4 Mass of Thanksgiving and Graduation Mass
  • 30 November Years 3-11 College Speech Night 
  • 4 December Year 4 Big Day In
  • 5 December Community Carols
  • 6 December Term 4 concludes

Calendar dates – Gioia House

A detailed letter regarding important events will be sent to families in due course.

  • 10 October Term 4 commences
  • 3 November Year 5, 6 and 7 2024 Experience Day
  • 17 November Fra Angelico Festival
  • 30 November Years 3-11 College Speech Night 
  • 6 December Gioia House Liturgy of Thanksgiving followed by a picnic
  • 6 December Term 4 concludes

Stella Azizian 
Head of Primary P-6

Enrichment

This term Ms Ruster will be supporting students in Year 4 with ‘Showcase’. Students in Year 4 will be learning and researching about communities and will have creative choices with their final product. They may choose to produce an artwork as part of their final product. Ms Ruster will be guiding students who are focusing on environmental communities – specifically those in water to create an artwork that connects to sustainability, responsibility or conservation of the ocean. We are aiming for these artworks to also be entered into the Litterarty Competition for 2024. 

We know that social and emotional learning has an interconnected importance with academic learning and is equally important in a child’s overall development.  This term Ms Ruster will also be working with some gifted and high potential students in groups to support them in an area of need. The area of need will be determined through teacher and student input. This area of need does not necessarily link to one particular Key Learning Area, it may be a social or emotional need such as ‘learning from mistakes’, ‘working collaboratively with others’, ‘ organisational skills’ or ‘research skills’. From the information collected, some students will be grouped according to a similar need and activities will be created to support students to develop their skills. These sessions will take place on a Monday and will begin in Week 4. If your child is to be included in these sessions you will be notified via email. 

Caddie Ruster
Gifted Education Coordinator P-4

STEM at Gioia

The girls were involved in creating digital content for their online game with professional film crew, which was then viewed by the audience at the Awards evening. Guests included companies such as Microsoft and Questacon as well as professors and scientists from UNSW. On numerous occasions throughout the night, our girls held themselves with pride as they attempted to convince the guests to vote for their game. 

While they did not ‘win’, the Santa Sabina community is so proud of them for taking a great leap in their learning and confidently shaking the world, one step at a time. 

Religious Education News

A Short School Prayer

Almighty God We give you our school. 
We give you all the teachers and staff who work here, 
We give you all the children who study here. 
We pray our school would be place of great discovery, adventure and creativity. 
May it be a place where we love to learn and where we learn to love, 
A place where everyone is respected and all are deeply valued. 
We ask all this through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen.

 (A modern prayer from www.lords-prayer-words.com)

Welcome back to Term 4, We begin our term in the month of the Rosary. October each year is dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary. The month begins with the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary celebrated on October 7. The Rosary is a devotion in honour of the Virgin Mary. The Rosary is a sequence of prayers intended to help us grow in our faith as we come to understand more and more about the life, the death, the resurrection and the Ascension of Jesus Christ, and about the Church and who we are in the Lord. The Rosary can be prayed in its entirety or just 1 decade at a time. Take time to pray the Rosary this month. 

Sacramental Program of First Communion

In the sacrament of Holy Communion, we remember what Jesus did for us in his life, death and resurrection. We remember particularly the Last Supper, that final meal Jesus shared with his disciples. At that meal, Jesus gave us the Eucharist so that we could remember him in a special way. When we receive Communion, we believe that we receive the person of Jesus into our very beings. We become one with him, and we become one with each other. As a community, we become ‘the body of Christ’

 We pray for our students who have received the Sacrament of First Communion during the last few months. 

Tina Nicotina
Religious Education Coordinator P-6
Acting Co-assistant to the Head of Primary Campus P-4
Year 3 teacher

Year 3 Outdoor Education Experience

Year 3 Students have met with Mr Chris Walker (Coordinator of Outdoor Education and Experiential Learning K-12) and Year 10 Outdoor Education Leaders in preparation for their Outdoor Education Experience. The sessions were focused on sharing information about the activities and program. Students had the opportunity to ask any questions. Everyone is extremely excited to undertake this outdoor experience. 

We invite families to review Year 3 Outdoor Education Experience slides and reach out if you have any queries. 

Reneé Andrews
Instructional Leader
Acting Co-assistant to the Head of Primary Campus P-4