At Claremont College, we actively teach our students about how to care for their wellbeing. We believe that when we take responsibility for our own wellbeing, we can have a positive impact on others' wellbeing too. We teach our students the ‘5 Ways to Wellbeing’. This approach comes from the Royal Melbourne Hospital, who conducted a meta-analysis of articles from 400 researchers across the world. They identified five behaviours that people can undertake to stay emotionally, socially and psychologically healthy. These include:

1. Be Active
2. Be Helpful/Give
3. Keep Learning
4. Be Aware/Take Notice
5. Connect with Others

In class, your child has recently revisited their Learning, Digital Wellness and Wellbeing goals. These have been documented in their School Diary under the section of 'Term 2 Goals' on page 43. We encourage you to have a chat with your child about their revised goals, and to discuss which of the 5 behaviours above they have chosen for their Wellbeing goal.

Car Line

A reminder that no child is to be dropped off to school before 8:15am, unless your child is booked into TeamKids or a before school pre-booked activity. Staff are involved in Professional Learning or Planning Meetings before school each day, and are therefore unable to supervise your child before this time. If your child arrives before 8:15am they will need to attend TeamKids and you will be charged for this additional service.

Please do not line up in the car pick-up line until after 3:10pm. We must be respectful to the neighbours who need access to their driveways and to drive safely on the streets. Arriving early creates an unnecessary long, stagnant line of traffic and increases the safety risk for all.

A New Season

As we enter this new season, we pray for our families who are going through a particularly challenging time. It is heartwarming to hear of people in our school community who have reached out to others in times of need. Thank you for your kindness and compassion. Never underestimate the impact your actions make to those who are in a challenging season. 

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

“God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.” Hebrews 6:10

Be safe. Be kind.

Mrs Larissa Cameron
Co-Principal

Follow us

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

On Thursday 9 June we will be hosting our 140th year Claremont College Open Day. With the restrictions and disruption COVID-19 has presented over the past two years, it will be very special to have parents and visitors onsite. This Open Day is an opportunity for prospective parents, current parents, alumni and former staff to visit our school and see student learning in action. 

The day will run as follows: 

9am - 10:30am: Prospective parents 

11:30am - 1:00pm: Prospective parents 

2:00pm - 3:00pm: Current parents, alumni and former staff

As parents, you are welcome to come along and enjoy a tour of the school by our Year 6 leaders. This tour will include a walk through the learning spaces where you can observe the teaching and learning taking place. To minimise distraction and interruption for our learners and teachers, we ask that you wave to your child/ren as you walk through their learning spaces. There will be an opportunity for you to be more involved in your child’s learning as each grade holds their Learning Festival throughout the year. 

If you would like to attend, please complete the registration form linked below. 

Mrs Alanna James
Acting Deputy Principal 

As we head into the Winter months, we are seeing many children experiencing a variety of cold/flu viruses, not only COVID-19. For the health and safety of our community, please keep your child/ren home if they are unwell, or display any COVID-19 symptoms. Here at school, we continue to implement the following safety measures to manage both Covid-19, and other viruses in our community:

• Ventilation in all learning spaces
• Mask wearing where required
• Good hand hygiene

If you are a household contact, it is critical that the requirements below are followed correctly. If not, it creates an increased risk for our school community. If any students or staff are classified as household contacts, they no longer need to self-isolate, but must adhere to the following requirements, should they wish to attend school.

1. Notify the school ([email protected]) that they are a household contact.
2. For those aged 12 and above, they must wear a mask at all times when indoors. For students under 12, the wearing of a mask indoors whilst they are household contacts is strongly recommended.
3. They must perform a Rapid Antigen Home Test (RAHT) each morning prior to attending school, for the entirety of household contact’s 7 day (5 school days) mandatory isolation period. You do not need to notify the school of a negative test result, only a positive result.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Mrs Alanna James
Acting Deputy Principal

Thank you to the many parents who have registered expressions of interest in our possible future Claremont high school campus. Thank you also to so many others who have enquired about whether there is any news or further developments. I am sorry that up until this point of time I have not been able to provide you with any definitive information, and I hope that my newsletter updates from time to time have been helpful. 

At this stage, the planning has continued with much effort by many people, especially from me. I am passionate and committed to making this happen. 

As you are probably aware, we certainly will not be in a position to commence a Year 7 intake in 2024. It may be, if all goes well and subject to approvals, we may commence Year 7 in 2027. I am sincerely sorry if this is not the news you were hoping for.

I want to take the time to provide you with some further information about the project that I have been working on. While much of the current project is confidential, I at least wanted to give you the opportunity to ‘hear it from me’ and for you to ask any questions that you might have. For this I invite you, and others in our school community to join me for a Zoom chat next Tuesday 7 June, 2pm to 2:30pm (or longer if required). My Zoom Link is 

https://tascmeet.zoom.us/j/8724270937 

To help to know the number attending, please click HERE to register your attendance. 

As a further update and to keep you informed with what I am doing, next weekend I will be heading to New Zealand to visit about 12 schools in Auckland and Christchurch. This is my third attempt at trying to travel for this study leave as my plans had to be cancelled in both 2020 and 2021. Whilst visiting those schools I will be working alongside principals, their architects and other school leaders learning from them about the physical design of their campus as well as investigating successful models of both primary and secondary education. I will certainly be sharing what I learn and applying it to ongoing improvement of our school. 

Doug Thomas
Principal

When we walk around the school, we must do so safely and respectfully. Walk quietly, keep your hands to yourself and walk at a safe pace. Let’s all be mindful of other learners around the school who are concentrating and engaged in their activities. 

Larissa Cameron
Co-Principal

Parent/Teacher interviews will be held on Tuesday 21 June 2022. To streamline this process, these interviews will be held for all classes from 1:00pm - 8:00pm, except for Mrs Eu and Mrs Davis who will hold their interviews on Thursday 23 June from 8:00am to 4:00pm. We will be offering both face-to-face meetings and Zoom meetings to cater for the needs and requests of all parents. 

Tuesday 21 June

Bookings for face-to-face meetings only will be between 1:00pm-4:00pm and held in the school hall. Bookings for Zoom meetings will be between 4:15pm-8:00pm only. 

Please note, these students will be engaged in learning activities from 1:30pm to 3:10pm, supervised by the Specialist Staff, Learning Support Staff and Teaching and Learning Assistants. Home time will be as normal.

Thursday 23 June (for meetings with Mrs Eu and Mrs Davis only)

Bookings for face-to-face meetings only will be between 8:00am-11:00am and held in the school hall. Bookings for Zoom meetings will be between 11:30am-1:00pm and 2:00pm-4:00pm only.   

Please note, these students will be engaged in their normal Thursday learning activities throughout the day. Home time will be as normal.

All interviews, which will be 15 minutes, will give you an opportunity to discuss your child’s report with the Class Teacher. 

Please note: Children do not attend these interviews.

What to do:

Go to www.schoolinterviews.com.au (Event Code w3f3m) and follow these simple instructions: 

• Enter your details.
• Choose your child’s ‘go-to’ teacher.
• Choose your times. 

When you click finish, your interview timetable will be emailed to you automatically – please check your junk mail folder if you do not receive your email immediately. If you need to change your interview time, please contact the school office.

To celebrate the school’s 140th Anniversary, we would like to offer the school community the opportunity to purchase a commemorative 140th Hoodie and/or corduroy cap.

This is a once in a 140 year opportunity to purchase a special birthday, Fathers’ Day or surprise present.

The items are only available to order for a very limited time. Orders will need to be placed by Monday 6 June at the latest.

The cost of the items are as follows:

Hoodies 

Child - $45
Adults - $55

Caps

One Size - $25

If you would like to place an order please CLICK HERE to complete the order form. 

There are two payment options available:

• The items can be charged to your Term 3 account; or
• You can charge your credit card.

Our School Concert is always a special and significant event in our school calendar. One of the biggest jobs is sourcing and organising costumes for the concert. Thankfully our wonderful P&F, along with the staff Concert Committee, are helping to organise costumes for each item on the night.

In order to manage this job, we need your help! Please complete the Google Form HERE to enter your child/ren’s measurements and sizing for costumes. This form needs to be completed by Friday 10 June. Thank you for your assistance. 

The School Concert Team

Next Wednesday is ‘Thank a First Responder Day’, when we show our appreciation for the selfless work First Responders do for the community. We acknowledge the sacrifice made by first responders and their families - we thank them for everything they do for us individually and collectively as a whole.

Term 2 2022

2022 Term 3

Term 4

Click HERE for 2023 Proposed Term Dates.

Year 5 - Excursion to The Rocks - Permission required

Whole School - Concert Costume Sizing Form 

Thank you to Fiona P, Shireen C, Lucy M, Priya L and Hanvy Y for helping the Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 Teams on Thursday. They organised over a 1000 home readers for the new K-2 English Syllabus for 2023. These ladies did such an amazing job helping us. It was a big job with a few more boxes to go. We are so grateful for their help and support this week. 

Mrs Emily Eu
Head of Infants

Claremont College will be participating in the world renowned ICAS competitions in Term 3. International Competition and Assessments for Schools (ICAS) is developed by UNSW Global, a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of New South Wales, with over 35 years of experience in educational assessments. 

Each ICAS assessment celebrates students’ accomplishments by providing opportunities for

recognition. Every student will receive a certificate and an online result report. Top performers will be eligible for medals. ICAS assessments are optional, and suitable for students wishing to extend themselves academically and take up the personal challenge of competing in a rigorous, international assessment. Your child will be presented with high quality, expert developed questions, allowing them to apply their learning without the need for prior study or revision. ICAS assessments are online, allowing greater accessibility for students and faster delivery of results. 

Your child has the option of sitting ICAS assessments for English and/or Mathematics, under exam conditions at school, with sitting windows as follows: 

ICAS English - Monday 15 August, 2022, to Friday 19 August, 2022

ICAS Mathematics - Monday 29 August, 2022, to Friday 2 September, 2022 

Payment and Permission Information

Each test incurs a charge of $19.25 per student. ICAS registration and payment is online and closes on Monday 1 August, 2022. Should you wish for your child to take part in one or more of these assessments, please follow the steps below: 

1. Visit the online Parent Portal https://shop.icasassessments.com/pages/pps
2. Enter Claremont College’s unique access code: CQG685
3. Select the assessments your child would like to sit
4. Make a direct payment to UNSW Global 

After payment is made via the Parent Payment System, you will receive an order confirmation email. Please keep this for your records. You and your child can access the results once released via the Reports Portal using the TAP ID and pin found on the back of the ICAS certificate. 

Renee De Rossi
Head of Learning

Event Note - Excursion to The Rocks (new date)

History Showcase

In History, Year 6 has been focusing on researching and investigating the variety of reasons for people immigrating to different countries. We have explored topics such as ‘The Gold Rush’, and the reasons for why individuals and families migrated overseas during and after the Vietnam War. Year 6 has been working hard to research and learn more about ‘Significant Immigrants’, understanding their stories and their reasons for coming to Australia. 

On Tuesday 14 June, students will be showcasing and presenting their research tasks to other year groups. We would like to invite parents to come and see Year 6 ‘in character’ from 2:40pm and hear some of the fascinating stories and experiences of our immigrants. 

We look forward to seeing you then. 

Year 6 Photography Exhibition

Throughout this term, Year 6 students have been experimenting with a number of different photography techniques and categories. They have produced some amazing photographs which they have collated into their individual portfolios. These have formed their Visual Art Photography Assignment. 

To showcase some of their amazing work, we will be hosting a Photography Exhibition on Friday 17 June, in Week 8. We would love to invite Year 6 parents and friends to view the exhibition. It will start at 2:15pm and conclude at 3:00pm. 

Year 6 students are very excited to showcase their hard work and we look forward to seeing you there! 

The Year 6 Teaching Team

New Titles To The Collection

Last week I attended the Sydney Writers Festival with Year 5 and Year 6. It was wonderful to listen to the writers speak about their passion for storytelling and illustrating.

Nat Amoore is passionate about encouraging kids to read and write and explore their imagination without boundaries. The following new titles are welcome additions to the library collection.

Principal Keiran plans to cut all the art classes at Watterson Primary but when two new friends hear the news they are determined not to let that happen. They decide to bring their secret Broadway appreciation society into the spotlight! 

This is the perfect read for lovers of music and Broadway. 

Nat teamed up with acclaimed graphic novelist Mike Barry to create a graphic novel mashup - basically a mixture of text with some comic strip illustrations. This is a fun story about four kids who live on the same street. When they discover their favourite comic book series is being made into a movie, they know what they have to do. Get to the audition. Get the parts and hopefully stay together. 

Both books are recommended for children aged 9 to 11 years old.

Mrs Susan Kesur
Library Assistant

Key Dates

Important Dates for Term 2 

K-6 Sport: Wednesdays 27 April - 22 June
AFL Gala Day - 15 June
CIS Cross Country Carnival - 8 June (new date) 

Important Dates for Term 3 

See the ‘Upcoming Events’ Calendar above 

Netball Gala Day

The Netball Gala Day was held this week, with around 40 Claremont students from Years 3-6 taking part. Despite the howling, icy cold wind, students had a fabulous time and enjoyed quite a bit of success throughout the day. There was a buzz in the air when they returned to school with all teams excited about how they performed on the day and the opportunity to compete against so many other teams. The feedback from all the coaches was that every team demonstrated excellent team work and team spirit. Each team member happily rotated and shared the positions, and didn't complain when they had to sub out or play in their non-preferred position. When each player had a turn to sit off, they were shouting out encouragement and cheering on their team which was such a delight to see.  Thank you to Mrs James, Mrs Giles and Mrs Breakspear for coaching some of the Claremont teams on the day. We are also indebted to all the parents who attended for generously volunteering to help coach/manage/cheer on teams on the day. Well done, Claremont.

AFL Gala Day

The Paul Kelly Cup gala day will be held on Wednesday 15 June and is available to both boys and girls. Due to the Queens Park gala day being held on the same day as the Young Writer’s Festival excursion, this year we will be heading to Waratah Park at Sutherland for the Gala Day.

The day consists of a number of games of AFL against teams from other schools played on small fields with modified rules to make it more accessible to all participants. It is a fun filled day and a great opportunity to develop some more skills and interest in AFL. Students do not need to have prior experience playing AFL to participate. Students in Year 5/6 were given the opportunity to sign up with Mr Geering in PE lessons this week and those students will be provided with further information in the coming week.

Term 3 Extra Curricular/Morning Skills Sport

Term 3 Sport information and registration form have been made available on the Claremont app. Please remember to register online for all morning activities as soon as possible to avoid disappointment as some sports have limited positions. 

For billing purposes, registrations will close on Thursday 16 June

Programs commence from Week 2, Term 3

Monday: Year 3-6 Tennis (Eastern Suburbs Tennis Centre)
Tuesday: Year 1-2 Tennis (at school)
Thursday: Year K-2 Dance (hip hop), Year 3-6 Basketball (at school)
Friday: Year K-2 Football (soccer) (at school)

Click HERE for the Term 3 2022 Morning Skills and Sport Information booklet  

Mr Joel Geering
Head of Sport and PDHPE

Click HERE to read this week’s newsletter.

We would like to make you aware that the NSW Government has given parents a $500 voucher to use at childcare centres. This is applicable to TeamKids and we encourage you to take advantage of this great scheme. Follow the instructions on the NSW Service website to apply. Then email or bring in the QR code on your voucher so we can scan and redeem it for you. This will be credited to your account to use until June 2023. 

A reminder for ALL families to BOOK & VERIFY their bookings for the remainder of the term. Also, if your child is away or will not be attending a pre-booked session, please assist by contacting Customer Service to cancel your booking on the day. Please note this has an impact on the service’s staffing for each session. 

Please visit www.teamkids.com.au to secure your spot! or call Customer Service on 1300 035 000.

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. 

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]

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 ww.shop.ranier.com.au 

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

CONTACT

Email: [email protected] 
Phone: 9213 0720
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