Technology - it can be incredible... fun, engaging, efficient and informative. But without boundaries, it can be potentially dangerous and harmful. We need to equip our children to be technologically literate and yet balance this with strong boundaries. Why? Because research teaches us that screen time can affect our basic needs - relationships, language, sleep, play, movement, nutrition and executive functioning skills. Too often we replace our basic needs with screen time, and problems arise (Goodwin, 2021). 

Have you ever noticed that when you ask your child to stop screen time, they become overly emotional? Dr Kristy Goodwin calls it the 'techno tantrum'. It is a neurological response that occurs when you say to your children, 'turn it off'. Us adults also can find it a challenge - how many of you find it hard to have a laptop or phone free holiday? Our bodies want the dopamine hit. Screens can give us that dopamine hit. We can also get that dopamine hit when we have worked hard towards something, such as learning to play a new instrument, learning a language, constructing something for the home. The big difference though, is that these things take time, it requires perseverance, whereas screens are often fast, and the dopamine hit comes too often. As time goes on, we can end up choosing the screens instead of living and experiencing life beyond a screen. 

The pre-frontal cortex in our brains helps us make good decisions. Did you know that our pre-frontal cortex is not fully developed until we are in our mid to late twenties? This is why we have age requirements, such as when we are allowed to drive a car. So when our children use too much screen time, the techno tantrum appears. They do not have fully developed working memory or impulse control. When the dopamine increases, it further impacts the ability for the pre-frontal cortex to function to its full potential. The child’s limbic system has been overstimulated. The adrenaline and testosterone reaction leads to aggression (Goodwin, 2020).

We are not suggesting that we completely ban screen time. However, we must be aware that this is what is going on for our children, so we can be intentional with knowing how to manage it. Researchers such as Dr Kristy Goodwin, Julia Storm and Lindsay Kneteman offer the following suggestions to parents: 

1. 'Green time after screen time'. By encouraging your child to get outside and get involved in a physical activity, they still get their dopamine hit.
2. Negotiate a time frame before using the screen. Often with screens, we go into a 'flow state' and we lose track of time. Set an alarm, use a sand timer.
3. Reframe boredom. This is very important. Often when children are bored, that's when creativity comes alive. 
4. No screens before school.
5. No screens 60 minutes before bed. The blue light will affect their melatonin levels and may cause sleep issues. 
6. Hug your child after they use the screen. Physical touch calms people down. It releases oxytocin. 
7. Don't use screen time as rewards. Using screen time as rewards will not help your child long term, as they will think they can push the boundaries in the future. 
8. Do not implement a consequence such as a ban. In 85% of cyberbullying cases, a trusted adult is not informed for fear of 'digital amputation'.
9. Do not allow your child to use apps or games that are not of the recommended age. Even at 13 years of age, your child will not be psychologically ready, so why allow them to use them when they are in primary school? Why would we want to enhance emotional-regulation problems, self-esteem issues, raise the chance of our children viewing pornography and increase the chance of your child being in contact with a predator? 
10. Hold off giving your child a phone. No parent of a teenager ever says, 'I regret holding off giving my child a phone'. Yes, kids pressure parents with 'everyone else has one, why can't I?' so we suggest parents of friendship groups come to an agreement that they will hold off giving their child a phone for as long as possible. The power of the parent group! 
11. Set boundaries with your child. If they have 'buy in' there is a much higher chance that they will respect the boundaries. Humans have a desire for agency. Let them have some choice. But then stick to the plan.
12. Model boundaries. Set timers for yourself. Be aware when you are using your devices. Conduct a self-assessment of current screen habits and develop a family plan for when, how and where screens may and may not be used. Don’t use phones at the dinner table. 
13. Use parental controls such as familyzone.com and refer to sites such as commonsensemedia.org and esafety.gov.au for age requirements and other helpful tips for parents. 

For more information:

www.familyzone.com
www.commonsensemedia.org
www.esafety.com.au
Goodwin, K. (2016), Raising Your Child in a Digital World: Finding a Healthy Balance of Time Online Without Techno Tantrums and Conflict. Griffin Press NSW
Kneteman, L. (2020), Here's Why Screens Bring Out the Worst in Your Kid. Today's Parent Parenting
Storm, J. (2018), Teaching Children To Self-Regulate and Manage Screen Time.
www.pittsburghparent.com/autho...

Compassion - Empathy in Action 

This is Maya and Indigo.
Maya and Indigo are compassionate.
Maya nominated Indigo to receive a 'You Can Sit With Me' wristband for being sympathetic towards her.
Maya and Indigo are thoughtful and grateful.
Be like Maya and Indigo.

Staff News

Baby news! Congratulations to Mrs Herborn and to her husband, who are expecting their first baby towards the end of the year. We are looking forward to meeting their ‘little one’ in the future. 

--oOo--

As we come to the end of another big week, we would like to congratulate all our students and staff who continuously strive to do their personal best and also their best for our school. We wish you a relaxing and lovely weekend. 

“Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.” Psalm 127:3

Larissa Cameron
Co-Principal

Follow us

Website: www.claremont.nsw.edu.au
Instagram: @claremontcollege
Twitter: @claremont2031

With COVID restrictions extending to Monday 17 May, the decision was made to postpone Bubbles & Bites until Friday 28 May. Thank you to our P&F for your flexibility with this situation. After a few postponements, this event is certainly going to be a fabulous night to come and connect with one another. 

We will continue to inform you of any COVID updates. Thank you for your ongoing support with this.

Congratulations to our Year 3 and Year 5 students who completed NAPLAN this week. It was wonderful to see the effort, focus and resilience of our learners who took on NAPLAN with positivity and enthusiasm. You should all be incredibly proud of yourselves!

Mrs Alanna James
Acting Deputy Principal

The next The Fathering Project Dads’ Dinner will be held on Monday 7 June at Coogee Diggers. 

To assist us with the booking at the Coogee Diggers, could you please register HERE

More details to follow. 

Doug Thomas
Co-Principal

May is the Mega Manners Month!

Yes, manners should be year round, but let's spend the month of May using MEGA MANNERS! Manners are powerful - they show kindness and respect - the values and beliefs that we hold dear here at Claremont.

Staff will be on the lookout for manners such as:

'Excuse me'
'Thank you'
'How are you?'
'Good morning!'
'After you'
'Please'
'May I please...' 

Larissa Cameron
Co-Principal

Congratulations to the following students who received their Gold Certificates or Pennants on Monday. 

Gold Certificates

Teddy G, Oliver K, Ella F, Sean L, Amelie L, Zachary L, Rafael G and Connor T

Pennants

Finn T and Yvan J

Congratulations to Chloe B (Year 1) who recently participated in one or more of the programs run by Kids Giving Back.

Kids Giving Back is a charity whose mission is to create the next generation of generosity. The programs are delivered for children 6-18 years old and their families, and they offer opportunities to assist vulnerable people in the community.  Embracing the concept of making a contribution back into the community, their programs deliver a range of volunteering experiences to assist students to develop empathy, experience altruism and achieve a sense of belonging.

Well done Chloe!

Term 2 2021

Term 3 2021

Term 4 2021

School Bus - Parent Survey

Mathematical problem solving is an important life skill, and an integral activity in our classrooms at Claremont College. All students are provided with multiple opportunities to engage as problem solvers and to think critically, as they learn Mathematics across a variety of content areas and disciplines. Essentially, students learn to (a) understand a problem, (b) devise a plan, (c) carry out the plan, and (d) look back to evaluate the reasonableness of their solutions.

Problem Solving falls within the Working Mathematically strand of the NSW Mathematics Syllabus. In Kindergarten to Year 2, students use a range of objects, actions, diagrams, technology, and trial and error, to explore mathematical problems. As they transition to Years 3 and 4, students begin to select and use appropriate mental or written strategies, or technology, to solve problems. Finally, students in Years 5 and 6 select and apply appropriate problem-solving strategies, including the use of digital technologies, in undertaking investigations.

As a parent, you can support your child’s success in mathematical problem solving by involving your child in problems at home, for which mathematics is relevant. These may include, for example, problems relating to shopping within a budget, cooking, home improvement, transport, and time constraints. In such contexts, your child is likely to exhibit critical thinking related to specific mathematical concepts, and engage in rich discussions that deepen their mathematical understanding as they justify solutions and strategies.

We hope you enjoy learning about how students at Claremont are developing their ability to interpret, model, and investigate problem situations, and communicate solutions effectively.

Renee DeRossi
Head of Learning

Problem Solving in Kindergarten

How Do You Know?

In Kindergarten, we have been offering opportunities for students to engage as problem solvers and critical thinkers. When approaching questions, we encourage students to listen carefully for key information in word problems. Once they have grasped what the problem is asking them, they devise a plan. This means they need to consider what strategies they have been taught in class and evaluate whether their chosen strategy would be useful in helping them to solve the problem. Strategies that Kindergarten students may use include:

• drawing the problem out on a whiteboard
• using concrete materials such as unifix cubes, their fingers, counters and blocks
• using a number line
• writing a number sentence
• Once students find a solution, we often ask  ‘how do you know?’. 

To challenge their thinking, we ask students to use another strategy to represent their answer.

‘I like drawing pictures to solve problems.’ - Lana R 
‘I like to use blocks in Maths.’ - Scarlett M 
‘I like to use the whiteboard to draw my answer.’ - Alana L

Kindy News Term 2 Week 4

Miss Carter, Mrs Hitchen, Mr Ko, Miss King and Mrs Durek
Kindergarten Teaching Team

Problem Solving in Year 1

A highlight of the week for many Year 1 students is Maths Investigation Time (aka Problem Solving). It is not unusual for the introduction of these lessons to be met with a cheer of excitement from both students and teachers. Students enjoy working at their own pace with learning buddies to find solutions to a variety of mathematical problems using hands-on materials and mental strategies. Usually they are having too much fun to realise they are also building the ‘working mathematically’ skills of communicating, reasoning, understanding, fluency, and problem solving. Teachers enjoy seeing the students engaged, so willing to help and learn from their peers, and so eager to see how many solutions they can possibly find within the time frame. It is also exciting for us to see the many lightbulb moments after students have wrestled with the problem and been in the ‘Learning Pit’ for much of the lesson. The satisfaction and pride on their faces when they ‘get it’ is priceless, and part of the reason we love doing what we do.

Solving mathematical problems involves much more than processing skills. Students need to do the following: read the question, understand the problem, think about what they know about mathematics and pick the appropriate strategies to solve the problem, apply the strategies (processing), and check they have answered the question appropriately. In Year 1, students have been introduced to a problem solving strategy known as Newman’s Prompts to help them work through these steps necessary for solving written mathematical word problems. Back in 1977, Anne Newman explained the difficulty involved in knowing whether students have a problem with their processing, or whether they made a mistake at some other point in the problem solving process. She devised 5 prompts to assist students to overcome the common errors she identified students making when attempting to solve problems:

The students work on using these prompts with a variety of word problems that have one correct answer, as well as open ended questions, which can provide for more differentiated learning.

Here are some photos of some of our Maths Investigation times:

Mrs Vula, Mrs Stewart, Mr Smith, Mrs Breakspear, Mrs Giles & Mrs Nunn
Year 1 Teaching Team

Problem Solving in Year 2

Problem solving is all around us. Open-ended problem solving activities can promote deep, thoughtful and creative responses. Mathematics can seem very black and white or right or wrong to children, and even adults. Students love engaging in problem solving activities where there is more than one possible answer. 

In Year 2, we incorporate a range of problem solving activities within our Mathematics lessons throughout the week. Students enjoy completing Number of the Day warm up activities to allow them to manipulate and think critically about numbers. What is 10 more than the number? What is 10 less? Is it an odd or even number? What are some different ways that you can expand the number 273? Some of our students came up with: 

Amery: 100 + 100 + 70 + 3 = 273
Louis: (300 - 100) + 3 + 70 = 273
Isabel R: 100 + 50 + 50 +30 + 20 + 20 + 2 + 1 = 273
Lucas: 200 + 70 + (6 - 3) =  273
Sofia: (400 - 200) + (74 - 1) = 273
Hamish: 200 + 60 + 10 + 3 = 273

Here is another problem that we posed to some of our Year 2 learners. It does not require complex mathematical ideas that are beyond simple and addition. All it takes is perseverance to stick with a trial and error approach, combined with some systematic working.

Miss Tan, Mrs Monaghan, Mrs Nicolaides, Mrs Durek and Ms Roberts
Year 2 Teaching Team

Problem Solving In Year 3

Mathematics is much more than calculations. Modern society and real life experience are full of problems, big and small. Therefore, it is essential that students develop a toolbox of skills that they can use when faced with such challenges. Our goal in Year 3 is to provide mathematical problem solving opportunities which enable students to explore mathematical concepts, build connections between related concepts and explore Mathematics within a real life context.

We use an integrated approach to teach problem solving in our learning space. Students receive direct and explicit instruction of the various strategies to solve problems. They are also provided with real life opportunities and contexts where they can apply these strategies. Some problems could have one correct answer, while others will be more open-ended. Students are also encouraged to justify, defend and evaluate their mathematical thinking.

Learning how to interpret, investigate and solve problems can be a challenging process for students and sometimes it is hard to know where to start. A strategy that Year 3 has spent a lot of time working on this semester is the ‘RUCSAC’ strategy (outlined in the graphic below):

This strategy is designed to help students approach problem-solving and challenges in a more thoughtful and strategic way. 

In Year 3, mathematical problem solving involves students courageously placing themselves into the ‘Learning Pit’. As our students have become more familiar with the RUCSAC strategy, many have experienced that satisfying “Aha!” moment when they have successfully completed problem-solving challenges. Students rely on this procedure to track where they are in their problem-solving process. 

Here are a few reflections from some Year 3 students regarding their experience with problem solving: 

'I like problem solving because it challenges me to make myself go further with my learning. I like explaining how I worked something out, especially when I know the answer.' - Angus K
'I like being able to use my strategies to solve challenging problems. It's fun when the problem tries to trick you but you need to remember to think more carefully.' Jamie W
'Problem solving is hard and it definitely pushes you into the pit but if you try really hard, you can eventually get out of the pit and figure the problem out.' - Rocco R
'It’s good to have challenges, even though you can get really stuck. I like trying to solve the challenge.' - Lauren T 

Mrs Marquet, Mr Oen, Mrs Parker and Miss Kelly
Year 3 Teaching Team

Maths - Problem solving

Problem solving is a fundamental life skill that is developed through the application of known strategies and skills into solving real life situations. Students are given the opportunity to develop their skills through an integrated approach in Mathematics which will help them to build connections in their learning between the explicit strategies taught in lessons. Often, problem solving will have more than one answer or path to finding the answer and students are given the opportunity to explore which option they find the most efficient or useful to them. 

Mathematics is more than solving number calculations and learning times tables. Problem solving gives students the opportunity to apply their learnt strategies into solving everyday problems. RUCSAC is an acronym that is used for word problems in particular for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division word problems. The students are able to follow the steps below to solve the problems. One of the key features of RUCSAC is to check your answers which allows for students to check for simple errors in their calculations. Students are encouraged to be ‘in the pit’ during problem solving and will often experience a ‘Eureka!’ moment when they pull themselves out.

Quotes from the students about Maths problem solving:

“It was challenging to find the key words in the word problems but after practising I now know how to do it.” - Georgina K 
“It was a challenge trying to find the angle examples that everyone didn’t use. It was fun using the real life examples around our classroom after we learnt about the different angles.” - Marnie L 
“I liked going around the classroom and finding as many angles as I could then sorting them into acute, obtuse, straight and right angles. We had to find our own angles in the classroom instead of in a worksheet.” - Hudson S 
“I like doing problem solving in maths when we use the RUCSAC because the steps are easy to understand and then you check if you get the right answer.” - Stella L 
“I like using RUCSAC strategy in problem solving because you can follow the steps easily like highlighting the information you need to solve the problem. You can tick each step as you go and use lots of different strategies to get the answer” - Matilda N 
“I like the challenge of using word problems. It pushes me into the pit and to the limit and you need to figure out a way to get yourself out.” - Rory M 
“I like to use my whiteboard during problem solving. I underline key words in word problems while I’m reading. I can quickly try a different strategy if I don’t get the correct answer the first time.” - Angus B 
“I like it because you can do the working out using a strategy like the algorithm because you get to choose the strategy you want to use instead of a different one like jump strategy.”
- Alastair LP

History - Two Cultures Excursion to Botany Bay Kamay National Park

Students travelled to Botany Bay and were transported back in time to the days of our explorer Captain Cook. Students put themselves in the shoes of Captain Cook and discover why these explorers travelled such great distances and learn about Australia’s colonisation, travelling through time from pre and post colonisation Australia. Students had the opportunity to investigate first-hand the changes to both the landscape of Sydney and in the lives of Australia’s Indigenous people. Students were able to see the landing spot of Captain Cook on the HMS Endeavour and the sculpture in place to commemorate the spot. After the bush walk and shelter building, students drew sketches of the local plants and trees and got to name them whatever they wanted just like the botanist Sir Joseph Banks who sailed on board the HMS Endeavour with Captain Cook.

Quotes from the students about the excursion: 

“I enjoyed making the huts in the bush walk.” - Marnie L 
“The bush walk teaches you a lot of stuff like the names of the trees and which plants were used as tools for the Aboriginal people.” - Evie J 
“I enjoyed the bush walk because I learned about a lot of new things. I thought the boat sculpture of the endeavour was a whale at first, not the bottom of the ship.” - Sean L 
“I enjoyed drawing the trees like the botanist Joseph Banks did when he was back in 1770 at Botany Bay.” - Chris S 
“I like the bush walk because I liked finding out the Aboriginal people used to use before Captain Cook came.” - Alexis L 
“I enjoyed making the guts after the bush walk and finding materials around us to use.”
- Harry B 
“I love drawing and really enjoyed drawing the plants and naming them whatever we wanted like Joseph banks did.” - Anya K 
“I enjoyed learning more about Captain Cook and seeing all the things where he landed.”
- Stella L 
“It was interesting learning about where Captain Cook landed and what the side of his ship would have been.” - Noah M 

Mrs Herborn, Miss Mackay, Mrs Vula, Miss Campbell and Miss Kelly
Year 4 Teaching Team

Problem Solving in Year 5

In Year 5 this semester, our students have been engaged in learning opportunities which strengthen their problem solving skills and their ability to think critically about real world problems involving mathematical computation.

Through the teaching of Addition and Subtraction over the last two weeks, students have been using their skills in unpacking problems by employing the RUCSAC method to help  explore the meaning of complex word problems.  Students then problem solve to identify the calculation required before using inverse operations to explore and think critically about their answer.  

Working mathematically is integral in genuine mathematical activity and develops the skills for students to become flexible, critical and creative users of mathematics. It underpins all areas of our mathematics teaching and learning. Higher order thinking skills including justifying and communicating responses allow students to think critically and creatively about mathematics. 

In Science, students use digital technology to record data on the time taken to melt or heat up a piece of food in their individually constructed solar ovens and then bring this data together to construct a table which communicates their results. They have used their mathematical problem solving skills to analyse results and make future recommendations.

This term students have also engaged in the Australian Problem Solving Mathematics Olympiad. All students had the opportunity to learn valuable problem solving skills and challenge themselves with maths games. 

Ms Shiels, Mrs Ireland, Mrs Speranza and Mrs Breakspear
Year 5 Teaching Team

Problem Solving in Year 6

In Year 6, one of our biggest focus areas is preparing the students for a successful transition to high school next year. The ability to solve problems and to think critically about a specific problem is something that is integral to this process. Throughout their journey through not only high school, but life in general, this is something that they will face constantly.

Problem Solving in Year 6 has a number of different faces, all aiming to add to the students ‘toolkit’ of strategies that they can use to find a solution to a problem. Within each topic area we cover within Mathematics, we provide students with the opportunity to apply their knowledge and skills to solve real world and word problems. These problems, specifically relate to each topic being taught, and allow students to begin to identify what skills are needed to solve the problem at hand. It is also an opportunity for them to apply their knowledge in a more abstract way. 

Throughout the term, Year 6 students are also provided with the opportunity to participate in the Australasian Problem Solving Mathematical Olympiad (APSMO). APSMO provides both the Mathematical Olympiad papers, but also offers Mathematical Games papers, with all Year 6 students participating in one or the other. These papers provide students with a different avenue to develop their problem solving skills, drawing on prior knowledge to apply a variety of skills to word problems on a wide array of topics. 

An aspect of problem solving that can sometimes be forgotten is the ability to justify and refine a solution to a problem, thinking outside the box and considering a wide variety of variables. In Year 6, we have found that Fermi Questions are an excellent way to develop and promote creative and fluid reasoning skills. The idea of Fermi questions came from physicist and Nobel Prize winner Enrico Fermi, with the questions aiming to promote students to use estimation, numerical reasoning and logic to find a solution to a problem. In these questions, the exact solution is often near impossible to find or unknown, but to promote questioning and critical thinking, students are given small amounts of information and then asked to consider different variables that might impact their solution. The emphasis with these questions is then placed on the process rather than the solution, encouraging students to articulate and communicate their thinking and justify their numerical reasoning. 

Problem solving is not only an integral part of Mathematics to gain further mathematical understanding, but is also a key life skill that needs to be taught and nurtured through all levels of schooling. The ability to think critically about an issue, consider variables and different viewpoints as well as being able to articulate how you have come to your solution are all important skills that can be used in a number of situations. These are the skills we are aiming to equip our Year 6 students with, not only to flourish this year in their final year at Claremont, but also take forward with them on their journey into high school.

Mr Ryan, Miss Valdeck, Mrs Nunn and Miss Kelly
Year 6 Teaching Team

New to the Collection

The following authors presented at the Sydney Writers Festival and we now have signed copies of all the books in our library collection. 

Emily Rodda is one of Australia’s best-known children’s authors. She has written over one hundred books, including the internationally best-selling Deltora Quest and Rowan of Rin series, and has won the Children's Book Council of Australia’s Book of the Year Award for Younger readers a record six times. 

Monty’s Island is an adventurous and entertaining new series from Emily Rodda. Monty lives on a perfect little island in the middle of a magical sea. Monty shares the island with some animal friends but the adventure begins when traders and pirate ships arrive on the island! There are plenty of fun illustrations throughout the book by Lucinda Gifford.

Recommended for ages 6 years and older.

Milly Dynes lives with her father in Tidgy Bay cabin park and life hasn't been much fun for Milly lately. There seems to be problems everywhere she looks. Life changes when Eliza Vanda turns up to rent a cabin. Eliza  brings plenty of fun and magic with her!

Recommended for ages 8 years and older.

The real pigeons series is all about a variety of crime-fighting pigeons. This series is full of adventure. Every page has action packed illustrations that add plenty of fun to the text. We have all seven books now in the library collection.

Recommended for ages 6 years and older. 

Mrs Susan Kesur
Librarian Assistant

Key Dates

Important Dates for Sport 

K- 6 Sport 
Wednesday 21 April - 16 June

3-6 Netball Gala Day
Tuesday 25 May

NSWCIS Cross Country 
Thursday 10 June 

Claremont Athletics Carnival
Wednesday 28 July

Netball Gala Day 

Netball NSW Schools Cup will be taking place on Tuesday 25 May for students in Years 3-6. The Schools Cup Competition was introduced to help give students of all abilities the opportunity to participate in local gala days. This is a great chance for students with lots of netball experience, as well as those with limited experience but who want to give it a go, to get a chance to have some fun with their peers! Students will be invited to register their interest on Monday and further information will be sent to those students next week. There will be opportunity for parents to assist with umpiring/coaching/team management on the day. Please contact the office if you would be available to fulfil any of these roles. 

Mr Joel Geering
Head of Sport and PDHPE

We wish to gauge the interest in a third bus route, focussing on Alexandria, Beaconsfield, Green Square, Mascot, Waterloo and Zetland areas. 

If you would be interested in utilising this service in these areas, could you please complete the survey by clicking HERE.

The survey will remain open until Monday 17 May.

Due to the current COVID 19 restriction, tonight’s P&F Function, ‘Bubbles & Bites’ party has been postponed to Friday 28 May 2021.

The evening will be a great opportunity for new parents to be welcomed into the school community, and for Kindergarten parents to connect with the parents of their Year 6 buddy.

Canapes and drinks will be served.

Dear school community,

As your local bus operator we are writing to inform you that from today, Thursday 6 May 2021, community consultation has commenced on proposed bus changes in the South East of Sydney, which are being led by Transport for NSW.

There are no impacts to dedicated school bus routes as a result of these proposed changes. However, we know students rely on regular route services on their travel to and from school that are proposed to change.

An integrated network plan for Sydney’s South East has now been developed to provide much extra capacity for customers, as well as to support existing and emerging travel patterns. The new light rail has changed how customers travel into and out of the CBD.

Key benefits of the proposed bus and light rail network include, light rail services operating every four minutes, more frequent bus services across the week and new routes to better connect customers to their destinations or other modes of transport. 

The proposed changes will simplify the bus network by:

• improving access to key destinations with more frequent services to Bondi Junction, new and enhanced connections to UNSW/Randwick, Newtown, the University of Sydney, Eastgardens, Green Square and Redfern     
• Providing better east-west and north-south connectivity with new and enhanced links based on customer travel behaviour
• Using the buses and drivers where they are needed to provide more services across Sydney, while still ensuring adequate capacity to plan for growth. 

To help shape the final plan, you can provide feedback until 18 June, 2021 on the proposal. Please visit www.mysydney.nsw.gov.au to find out more and to have your say. It is important all feedback be provided in the survey at the link above so TfNSW can consider it.

State Transit will contact schools from today regarding the changes proposed by TfNSW.

TfNSW will provide updates on the outcome of community consultation following a review of the feedback received. Changes to bus services are set to be introduced in late 2021.

Kind regards,

Brendan Rabbitt
Director Customer Operations, State Transit

PLEASE UPDATE YOUR CHILD’S GRADE ON FLEXISCHOOLS

Could all parents please update their child/ren’s year level in Flexischools. This is to avoid your child/ren’s order being delivered to the wrong year group.

The canteen operates Monday through to Friday offering a large selection of hot and cold items. The canteen menu has been designed in association with the Healthy Kids Association.  We offer online pre-ordering as well as over the counter sales for children to purchase items at both break times.

Some of the daily specials at the moment are: • Penne Pasta with Bolognese Sauce • Homemade Lasagne • Homemade Beef Nachos • Good Old-Fashioned Sausage Sizzle • Fresh Sushi Rolls • Greek Salad with Chicken • Garden Salad with Chicken • Carrot and Celery Sticks • Carrot, Celery Sticks, Hummus & Wrap Bread • Vegetarian, Vegan and Gluten Free Options available 

Ordering

Orders can be placed for both recess and lunch through an online ordering system called Flexischools (www.flexischools.com.au). You can also download the app and order from any smartphone or tablet device. Orders are required to be placed by 8:30am on the day the order is required, however, you can place orders up to four weeks in advance.

Details to setup your account,  how to place an order, how to change my child’s class, how to get a refund etc are listed on the Flexischools website:  https://community.flexischools.com.au/s/parents

Recess orders are collected from the canteen by each child who has an order, lunch orders are collected by class lunch monitors from each class and brought back to the class, each child’s order is placed in individual bags with their name and ordered item on the bag. 

If frozen items are ordered, your child will receive either a separate slip from the canteen  or a stamp on their brown bag and will need to collect it from the canteen. The slip or bag will need to be presented to the canteen staff.

IOUs

If for whatever reason your child does not receive a meal with the class bucket, ie your order didn’t go through, or was put through on the wrong day etc., we offer IOUs. This will involve your child letting the teacher know they don’t have their food order, your child will need to collect an IOU form from the office. The office will call you to confirm the food to order. They can then present this to the canteen and receive their meal. This IOU will then be sent home to you to arrange payment. This can be done through the Flexischools app. 

If you have any concerns with your orders or would like to discuss anything with the canteen staff, please feel free to email us at [email protected] 

James Anthony

TeamKids Term 2 Week 4 Newsletter

All parents are asked to confirm their TeamKids bookings for the term so that the service can arrange to be adequately staffed each day.

If you haven't booked yet and require a booking or would like to just confirm your arrangements, please contact TeamKids Customer Service on 1300 035 000.

The Uniform Shop is run by Ranier on the school premises during school terms on the following days:

Monday: 2:30pm-5:30pm 
Wednesday: 8:00am-11:00am

Methods of Payment: Cash, EFTPOS, MasterCard and Visa. 

For new students, fittings are by appointment. Simply book online at www.shop.ranier.com.au 

The Uniform Shop is located within the main body of the School. Please access the Uniform Shop via Coogee Bay Road lower side gate.

CONTACT

Phone: 9213 0720
Email: [email protected]
Responses will be provided during opening hours.
Note: The website can answer most of your questions at www.shop.ranier.com.au

For more immediate assistance, head office details are 

Online: ranier.com.au/contact
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 02 8337 7290