Media Statement - 25th March 2022

It has come to our attention that our recent newsletter sent to all DMC families as a means of communicating information, has been leaked to the media, with particular concern / attention being placed on the section about early drop off / late collection of students.

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Several media outlets have immediately chosen to use this as another opportunity to misreport and mislead the situation to the public.

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Our recent newsletter message pertained mainly to a small group of parents who repeatedly dropped off students at the front school gates well before school commences and staff are even on site to properly supervise them. On occasion, these students have been as young as 5 & 6 years of age and are left as early as 7am in wintertime, when it is often cold, dark & wet. We deem these actions as inappropriate and potentially dangerous. Conversely, on occasion young primary school students are left waiting for parents several hours after school has concluded, in most cases without a phone call or an email to the school to indicate that they will be late, the reason for the lateness, or when the children might be expected to be collected.

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Despite numerous messages to these parents, some have continued with this practice which is why, in the interest of the safety of their children, we stated that in serious situations and as an absolute last resort, we may consider reporting the matter to the DCP. Thus far we have never taken this step, and hope to never do so.

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DMC, unlike most schools, provides supervision 45 minutes after school and 55 minutes before school without charge, to provide safety and care to the students. Up until now, for 27 years, we have not charged a single dollar to any parent for the hours of additional supervision we have provided.  It is well known that many childcare and education providers choose to charge parents an appropriate rate, where their children must be supervised outside of the usual hours.

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We have made it known to parents that there are many suitable childcare centers in the area which do provide after-hours care, including one immediately next to our college. Many of our students use this option daily.

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The measures mentioned in our recent newsletter are intended only to ensure the safety and well-being of our students, who otherwise would be neglected.  

Ideally, our hope was that the extremely small minority of parents- many of whom are choosing to use the school’s sense of responsibility for our students as an excuse to not make arrangements of their own- would take this as an opportunity to be more diligent in arriving on time.  

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Regardless, DMC always endeavors to work with parents who are experiencing difficulty with dropping off and collection of their children on time.

We trust that moving forwards the entire DMC community can work together to always ensure the highest level of safety and security of our students.

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God bless

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Adam Zydek

Principal

Terms Dates 2022

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Term 1

27 January, Thursday to 8th April, Friday

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Term 2

26th April, Tuesday to 1st July, Friday

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Term 3

25th July, Monday to 23rd September, Friday

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Term 4 

10th October, Monday to 15th December, Thursday

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DMC Mother's Day Photo Competition 2022