Dear Parents

As I look out of my office on this blisteringly hot day, I see a group of girls in the shade of one of our an-

cient trees in the rose garden. They are gathered in a circle listening intently to a teacher. The serenity

and calm of this image says a lot about what we strive to achieve at St Dominic’s: gentle, but firm encour-

agement; academic rigour; respect for knowledge.

Congratulations to the Water Polo girls who participated in the St Peter’s and Shaun Fuchs tournaments.

It was gratifying to see just how much they had improved both in their stamina and technique since the

beginning of the season. More importantly it was gratifying to see them gelling as a team, reading each

other’s positions, looking for openings, assisting each other; in short to use a well-worn, but nonetheless

true cliché – there is no i in team. The swimmers face their greatest challenge this Saturday at the

Prestige Gala at Ellis Park and we are all rooting for them.

St Dominic’s Drummies marched in its first competition hosted by St Dominic’s last weekend. Both Prima-

ry and High school teams marched exceptionally well. The level of complexity demonstrated by the girls

was most impressive. Watching our girls march under the floodlights in our beautiful grounds made me

very proud to be part of St Dominic’s.

Culturally, the House Plays are under way and we look forward to their offerings at the end of the term.

The Steel Band is performing at Emperor’s palace next week (see Communicator for details). My sincere

thanks to the English department for mentoring and coaching the girls through the Public Speaking Com-

petitions these last few weeks. The results are exceptional and St Dominic’s is securing its reputation in

this arena.

If you get a chance to visit the school, please have a look at the developments around the Grandstand.

The Board of Governors has approved developing the space under the Grandstand into a new tuck-shop

with designated seating area, as well as new change rooms and toilets, as well as two new sports offices.

Regards

Sharon Fitzgerald

SENIOR

NEWSLETTER

8 MARCH 2016

Inside this issue:

Squash & Water Polo News 2&3

Public Speaking & English

Olympiad

4

Drummie Competition

Results

5

Marian House Tea, Outreach

and St Francis Care Centre

6

Maths News 7

Hike 8&9

PTP Mix and Mingle 11

Dates to Diarise 13

ST DOMINIC’S SENIOR NEWSLETTER

One School, One Family, One Spirit

Congratulations Mr and Mrs Smith on your beautiful princess,

baby Mikayla. Born 3 March, weighing 3.4kg.

Wishing you and your family many years of love and happiness!

The future home of our tuck-shop

Page 2

Sport News

Squash

We have a B and C Team entered in the school Squash league this year. The B team

played on 5, 12, and 26 February against Woodlands, Hans Moore and CBC. Well done

to Megan who played incredibly well and won her match with a score of 36-26.

The C League played on 12 February against Germiston. Well done to Tyra-Ann

Muraour and Caitlyn de Bruin who won their matches and placed exceptionally well.

Friday, 26 February the Squash Results were as follows:

The girls in the B- league played against CBC:

Megan Webber, Chane Lotter, Simone Nagiah and Nabeelah Lambat played CBC on

Friday. Megan Webber in grade 6 won her game. The other girls played very well.

The B team will be playing again on 4 March against ShangriLa and again on 11 Febru-

ary against Kempies and the last match on 18 March against Veritas.

The C league will play their next match on 4 March against Shangri-La and again on 11

March against Kempies and the last match will be played on 18 March against Veritas.

We wish them all the best.

Ms Naidoo Squash Coach

Page 3

One School, One Family, One Spirit

Water Polo

Over the mid-term our Water Polo teams took part in two prestigious tournaments.

The under 15s played in the Shaun Fuchs tournament at Crawford Lonehill, and the

First Team played in the Old Pet’s tournament held at St Peter’s College.

Water Polo – Under 15 tournament

(Shaun Fuchs)

The results were as follows:

St Peters we won 18 – 0

Pearson we lost 6 – 3

Collegiate we won 4 – 3

Reddam we lost 10 – 0

Invitational we won 13 – 1

Pretoria Girls we won 12 -1

Stirling we won 7 – 1

We placed position 13 out of 22 schools

Water Polo – 1st

Team (Old Pets)

The results were as follows:

Thomas Moore we won 6 – 3

Stirling we lost 10 – 3

Westerford we lost 7 – 2

Crawford we drew 4 – 4

Somerset College we won 4 – 3

Rustenberg we won 3 – 1

We then made it to the quarter finals

for the Bowl Trophy where we beat St

Annes 4 – 1, and then in the semi-

final for the Bowl Trophy we lost to

Reddam 7 – 2

Diving:

The Senior Diving Team

Participated in a competition

at St Andrew’s on Saturday

the 27th of February.

The results are as follows:

Under 15:

Kayla Richardson 4th posi-

tion with 65.75 points

Bianca Ferreira 5th position

with 64.70 points

Ashley Richardson 7th

posi-

tion with 62.15 points

Under 16:

Tegan Hurst in 6th position

with 79.30 points

Page 4

One School, One Family, One Spirit

Public Speaking

Grade 8

The Grade 8 public speaking competition was hosted at St Dominic’s on Wednesday,

10 February. Our two teams did us proud.

Team 1 consisting of Karen Kaparipari, Jenna Bishop, Kiara Schutte and Madeline

Scrase received an A+ for the topic, “Breaking Bad”.

Team 2 consisting of Chloë Farinha, Thato Kalagobe, Anastasia Pesic and Margaret

Lee received an A for the topic, “How Do They Do It?”. Well done!

Grade 9

The Grade 9 Public Speaking

team took part in the competition

at St Dunstan’s on 17th February.

Both teams were awarded an A.

I was very proud of their dedica-

tion and the effort they put in to

the preparation for the speeches.

Amy Meewes was the 8th mem-

ber of the team and was away

when the photo was taken.

Mrs Jones

English Olympiad Camp

On the 23rd of February 2016 at 12pm, the time had come for the Olympiad girls to

change and board the bus to inspiration. In this case inspiration was Parnassus Farm

in Magaliesberg where the girls enjoyed enough food and enlightenment to sustain

their already abundant talent and passion. The nights were long and the coffee

flowed, but the spirit at the camp never wavered. The girls debated, performed,

analysed and, most importantly, they wrote. They wrote with the determination to be

heard through the words they placed on paper and on the 25th of February they re-

turned with high spirits and a better understanding of "The Darkness in Man's Heart” -

this year's anthology. A huge thank you goes out to all the involved parties who made

the camp possible, especially Mrs Fanucchi who has fulfilled the roles of teacher,

mentor, philosopher, critique and the overall backbone of the Olympiad.

Mrs Jones

Mrs Fanucchi

Page 5

Drummie Competition, 5 March 2016 Results: High School, Small Drill Elite: Leader 1st Eldoraigne 2nd Sir John 3rd St Dominic’s Sub Leaders 1st St Dominic’s 2nd Sir John 3rd Eldoraigne Squad 1st St Dominic’s 2nd Eldoraigne 3rd Sir John Display 1st St Dominic’s 2nd Eldoraigne 3rd Sir John Overall 1st St Dominic’s 2nd Eldoraigne 3rd Sir John Flag Group 1st St Dominic’s Solstice 2nd Eldoraigne 3rd Sir John 4th Edenglen 5th St Dominic’s Equinox

Page 6

Marian House Tea

On Monday, 15 February, the Charity and

Ethos Committee hosted a tea for the sis-

ters at Marian House. A lovely afternoon

was spent chatting to the sisters and en-

tertaining them with items from the choir

and our brilliant solo singers.

Thank you to a very special committee for

the memorable occasion.

Mrs Els

Outreach

On Saturday, 27 February, the Charity and Ethos Committee went to a children’s

home with other volunteers from the High School. The St Dominic’s girls and the chil-

dren had a fun morning learning about parables and telling their own stories. Thank

you to the volunteers for giving up their time to show the children how loved they are.

Mrs Els

St Francis Care Centre

On 13 February, St. Francis Care

Centre held their annual Valen-

tine’s Tea. The St. Dominic’s girls were asked to waiter at

this function. The day was a great success and St. Francis

Care Centre raised a well deserved R25 000. Well done to

Mrs. Cynthia Dicks for organising this event and a big thank

you to our girls for a job well done. You made us proud!

One School, One Family, One Spirit

Mrs Els

One School, One Family, One Spirit

Page 7

Celebrate Pi Day on Monday the 14th March

The earliest known official celebration of Pi Day was in 1988. On March 12, 2009, the

U.S. House of Representatives recognized March 14 as National Pi Day.

Last year (2015) Pi Day had a special significance, since 3/14/15 (mm/dd/yy) at

9:26:53 represented the first 10 digits of .

Due to a pun based on the words “pi” and “pie” being homophones in English, Pi

Day is often celebrated eating pie and throwing pies. Pi Day is also celebrated dis-

cussing the significance of this amazing irrational number.

St. Dominic’s will be celebrating Pi Day with our annual Pi Digit Challenge. Memorise

as many decimal digits of Pi as you can. The girl who memorises the most digits, in

the correct order, will win R1 for every digit!!

Since the Tuck Shop will also be selling Pizzas on the day, you know how you can

spend your prize money.

Last year’s winner, Dayna Mc Clean,

memorised more than 250 digits!

Who will be crowned this year’s Pi

Queen?

Enjoy Pi Day ... enjoy Maths!

Mrs Van der Merwe

Tour de Maths

On Thursday 25 February a group of Grade 8, 9 and 10 girls

went to Tour de Maths at St John’s. As always, the questions

were most thought-provoking and a huge challenge, but fun and

entertaining.

Two of our Grade 9 girls, Mufaro Dangwa and Nomathemba Sibisi, were lucky win-

ners of silver Casio calculators from the lucky draw. Casio sponsors this event

every time!

The next Tour de Maths will be held at St Mary's on 17 March. Mrs Donly

Mrs Van der Merwe

One School, One Family, One Spirit

Mountain Goats Hike to Sanctuary Park, Magaliesberg

Sunday, 28th February 2016

At 6.15am 23 eager hikers were ready to set out on our first day hike of 2016. The 2 hour journey went very

quickly with lots of chattering and eating going on.

We kitted up and started out for the slide pools where we enjoyed our breakfast. The trail then took us up

the side of the hill amongst the most amazing rock formations. Our tea stop was at the GROTTO. Here we

were able to observe a variety of plant and animal life. The panoramic view to the north includes the beauti-

ful Buffelspoort Dam.

We then took the alternative route from the top of the plateau down into the river bed and out the other

side. This took us to our lunch stop at WEST POOLS where we enjoyed a swim in the cold refreshing

mountain water.

After lunch it was a leisurely walk back to camp where we all enjoyed another swim in the beautiful re-

sort pool. All too soon, it was time to hit the road again and we arrived back at school at 5.30 pm.

The letter chosen by the new hikers for this hike was the letter ‘A’ and was everyone's contribution:

Amazing Rock Formations, Alternate routes thanks to Mr Kevin

Ape Rock, Akkedisse, Amphibians, Aloes, Adventurous

Agile Mountain Goats, Ants, Ambulance and Amputate → Kutloano’s ‘big’ wound, Acrobat →

Armand, Antoinette on her A…….

Thank you Mr Kevin for being our driver and guide and to everyone else for a happy. Relaxing fun filled

day which was food for the soul.

Looking forward to the next hike

Mrs Gous

PTP Mix and Mingle 27 February 2016

In line with St Dominic’s motto “One

School, One Family, One Spirit” our PTP

hosted their first Mix and Mingle on Satur-

day 27 February. The hockey field was

filled with anticipation as new and current

parents were spoiled by the St Dominic’s

PTP with a lovely finger supper while

their children were entertained by the Ac-

tive Education Team. Parents, teachers

and children got to mix and mingle, get-

ting to know one another and forming

new friendships. Mr Loring and Mr Flinn

addressed the audience welcoming all to

our St Dominic’s Family. This event suc-

cessfully replaced the PTP’s New Par-

ents Morning that was held annually. To

add the cherry on the cake the evening

closed with a spectacular performance by

our Saints Drummie Squad, demonstrat-

ing why our school is reigning National

Champions. We would like to thank the

PTP and all involved for hosting such a

memorable evening.

Mrs Dolman, Mrs Smuts , Mrs Lotter.

One School, One Family, One Spirit

Dates to Diarise

8 – 11 March Grade 10 Babanango Tour

Tuesday 8 March Grade 8 Retreat

Grade 9 HPM Aptitude Tests

Friday 11 March Grade 11 HPM Personality Test

Saturday 12 March Open Day 0800 – 11h00

Drummie Competition

Inter-High Gala (Premier) Ellis Park—Grade 8s to support

Cultural Committee Fame Production

14 and 15 March Sounds of Celebration, Emperor’s Palace

Saturday 19 March Grade 8 Scholarship Exams

Monday 21 March Human Rights Day (Public Holiday)

23 - 27 March St Dunstan’s Easter Festival (1st Team Netball & Hockey)

Thursday 24 March School Closes at 12h00

Friday 25 March Good Friday

Monday 28 March Family Day

29 – 1 April Grade 11 Camp, Spirit of Adventure

Wednesday 30 March Matric Literary Afternoon

Thursday 31 March Grade 8 and 9 reports go out

Friday 1 April Grade 10 to 12 Reports go out

Drummies Wheels Night

31 March – 3 April St Andrew’s Netball Festival

Drummie National Training Camp

Monday 4 April Grade 8 & 9 Parent’s Evening

Wednesday 6 April Grade 9 Banango Traders

Blood Bank

7 – 9 April Roedean U14 Netball & Hockey Tournament

Thursday 7 March Grade 10 – 12 Parent’s Evening

PTP Meeting

Friday 8 April SCHOOL CLOSES at 12h00

Au Pair Required

Boksburg and Benoni Area

The au pair will work afternoons to fetch and

drop at after school activities and then home.

Please contact:

Sonia Moi 082 888 0248