Holiday care

We are closed during school holidays, with holiday care available to children enrolled in the full-day option. Children enrolled in the half-day option can attend at an additional cost, pending interest. The activities still support early childhood development, but you don’t have to worry about your child missing out on any core developmental aspects.

Lunch is included

Our full-day option’s school fees include lunch and an afternoon snack. These meals are freshly prepared in our on-site kitchen and are delivered to class in time for snack time or meal time. We also carefully accommodate allergies and other dietary requirements, although we might request a medical letter for severe dietary requirements. This is just to ensure that our kitchen staff can correctly interpret and prepare food for your child.

Teachers have assistants

Our classes are divided by age and each teacher has one or more assistants, depending on the group and the number of children in the class. This ensures that each child gets the care and attention they need, and that they can optimally benefit from our preschool programme. There are often more assistants for the younger ones and babies, as they have needs that are unique from any other age groups.

Teachers have first-aid training

Children wholeheartedly run, play, climb, and jump, which may sometimes lead to minor bumps and bruises. This is why all our teachers are trained in first aid. Please note that national regulations prohibit teachers from dispensing any medicine, even over-the-counter or herbal tonics, without a valid prescription signed by a medical doctor. Therefore, when a child needs medicine during the day, our first-aid officers dispense medicine in class only if a valid prescription is provided.

Indoor and outdoor play areas

Children learn by interacting with the world around them. That is why our classrooms themselves are considered to be inanimate teachers of sorts. They allow maximum room for play and movement while being stimulating on a visual and tactile level. By involving the classroom in the learning experience, your child is engaged in early childhood development even when simply enjoying some lounge time with their friends. Our outdoor play areas include jungle gyms, playhouses, shaded areas for creative and sensory play, and more. These areas are designed to encourage physical play, and generally have synthetic grass to prevent allergic reactions.

What else your child can enjoy

We offer you a slew of special benefits that set us apart from other schools. Here are just a few:

• On-site kitchen
• Strict pickup permission protocols
• Music appreciation
• Tennis lessons and other inhouse sports
• Automatic enrolment in our primary school
• 130 years of academic excellence

Have a look

St Dominics Newcastle has a preschool in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal. We offer a preschool programme designed by Curro that grants an excellent early childhood development for children from 12 months to 5 years. We form part of the Curro school group and carefully control the number of children per class to ensure that they are all cared for and entertained.

Watch the video below to see what your child can enjoy with us throughout their school journey:

Our history

St Dominics Newcastle was founded by the Dominican Sister Mother Rose Niland in 1891. We have a rich heritage and our proud history and tradition form the ethos that is an integral part of our school. Our current site, off St Dominics Street, has been our home since 1908 – when Mother Rose Niland bought the property from Dr O’Grady Gubbins, who left Newcastle to join General Louis Botha’s cabinet.

Much of the construction work took place between 1908 and 1918. The Pavilion, which is located on the campus of the school, was designed and built in 1912 and was declared a national monument by Dr Piet Koornhof in 1977. The construction of the graceful bell tower, with its clocks and bells imported from Germany, was started in 1912, but because of World War 1 it was only completed in 1919. Originally a girls’ school, boys were admitted to the school for the first time in 1986 and currently as many boys as girls attend the school. In 1988 a board of governors was created to take over the running of the school from the Dominican Sisters. The school was then purchased from the Dominican Sisters in 2006 and registered as St Dominics Newcastle.

The chapel, which is still used for assemblies, boasts magnificent stained-glass windows that were imported from Dϋsseldorf, Germany, in 1906. The swimming pool (complete with individual changing cubicles) was built in 1915 and was the first school pool to have been built in KwaZulu-Natal – it is still used regularly by the learners. Today we are proudly part of the Curro school group with more than 130 years of academic excellence from which you can benefit.