It has been a fabulous week at school and, as always, it is such a delight to be part of the excitement and happiness of the day to day life of Claremont. This week has presented some challenges with many children and staff being sick and we hope that those who are still unwell recover quickly. I was delighted to attend the Year 3 Learning Festival on Tuesday and it was great to have so many parents attend. Thank you for your support, and a huge and special ‘thank you’ goes to the Year 3 Teaching team of Mrs Irwin, Miss Morrison and Miss Lim.

It has also been great seeing the enthusiasm for the dancing which commenced this week in combined K-6 Music and PE lessons. ‘Dance’ is a mandated component of both the NSW Music and PE Syllabi. At Claremont we provide opportunities for dancing through the biennial concert (our next is in 2020) and through other opportunities in the alternate year. This year our International Day will provide opportunities for Years 3 and 4 to learn and participate in traditional Indonesian dance, and the other grades are having fun learning various dances from other nationalities. 

This week has also been a little busier than usual with teacher training and opportunities for their professional growth and development. Our annual budgeted commitment to the ongoing professional development of staff and teachers is significant. Each year our staff have many opportunities for learning including a pupil free day on the first day of each term. In March this year all staff attended a full day professional development seminar with Dr Judith Locke. All teachers participate in job-embedded professional learning days, a weekly curriculum staff meeting, compulsory teacher accreditation pathways, individual courses, compulsory first aid training and so much more.

Yesterday, the entire staff team teachers as well as admin, support staff and music tutors undertook their annual child protection training ‘Obligations in Identifying and Responding to Children and Young People at Risk’. This course will continue with another 2 hours of training next Thursday evening. The school’s commitment to equipping and upskilling the staff in this area, is beyond mandated expectations for the profession and reflects our commitment to ensure for the safety and wellbeing of our students. On Wednesday all of our Teaching and Learning Assistants (TLAs) K-6 participated in a full day Mathematics Course looking at developing and teaching numeracy. Also on Thursday, our two Deputy Principals, Mrs Cameron and Mrs Ford, will be speaking at the ‘Implementing Collaborative Pedagogy’ Conference in Melbourne. Their presentation was titled ‘Assessing the Outcomes of Innovation in Pedagogy and Space’. It is always such a privilege to talk about Claremont College in this way on the national and international arena.

Claremont College continues to be recognised as a leading school in excellence in education. I am most thankful for the dedication of my staff team and their commitment to be their professional best. 

There is much happening for Dads this Term. This Monday night, 19 August, 7pm, our Term 3 Fathering Project Night will be held at the Coogee Diggers. The night will provide an informal opportunity for Claremont dads to have a beer, a steak and to chat around the table about some really helpful stuff. Sean Johns from the Fathering Project will be joining us again and our topic will be on Dads’ Mental Health. We will explore the pressures placed on fathers to be good dads, good partners and good at work. Is it possible to be very active in your child’s life and also be very accessible in a work sense?

I would also like to take the opportunity to talk to the dads about ways you can help me with the Dads’ and Kids’ Camp. I am hoping that a group of about six fathers might be willing to volunteer as a working group to assist and meet with me a couple of times leading up to the camp. I would really appreciate your help.

I hope to see you at the Diggers at 7pm on Monday.

I look forward to seeing many parents tomorrow night at our Trivia Night. Thank you for your support and incredible generosity. Thank you to the P&F and especially to our event organiser, Helen Rodopoulos (Eva Year 3), and the rest of the Year 3 team (Tasha Sukkar (Illiana, Year 3), Maria Giannakouris (Nicholas), Cassandra Anderson (Zara, Year 3 and Sophie, Year 5), Diana Tourgelis (Chrisanthy and Katherine, Year 3), Karen Jackaman (Tasha Kirby, Year 3 and Jack Kirby, Year 5) and Emma Peters (Nicholas, Year 3 and Finlay, Kindergarten)), for what I am sure will be a fabulous event.

Have a fabulous weekend. Be blessed and thank you for your part in making our school a great school.

Doug Thomas       
Principal

  Follow me @DougJThomas

Next week our positive behaviour focus will be: 

'Play time on the playground is fun. Remember to only kick the balls only up to waist height. Be active: play, walk and jog but be aware of others around you.'

Larissa Cameron
Deputy Principal

UNIFORM

It is expected that all students will wear correct full school uniform whilst travelling to and from school as well as while at school. When children come to school and leave the school they must wear their full school uniform, including the formal hat or cap. This means that the full school uniform must be worn when walking to and from school or travelling on public transport, if they attend an appointment or if they go to a shopping centre. Essentially, whenever a child is in his/her school uniform, it must be the full school uniform including the formal hat or cap and in winter, the blazer or full tracksuit.

It is essential for children to develop a pride in their appearance. Clean and well-presented uniforms, including polished shoes, are essential. Please ensure that your child’s uniform is in a good state of repair at all times.  Attention should be paid to tunic length, blazer sleeve length, attached buttons and the like.

The school badge and the house badge are important parts of the uniform. Girls must wear both badges on the tab of their summer tunic. There will be regular uniform checks by the staff and prefects. Please refer to the uniform list in the school handbook (All About Claremont) for further details regarding uniform rules.

Minimal jewelry is to be worn, only a watch for girls and boys, and plain gold or silver studs for girls with pierced ears.    

HAIR

Children are expected to have their hair kept neat and tidy and in keeping with the School Uniform Requirements. ‘Bali beads’ and tight multiple braids and plaits are not permitted following vacations. Boys are required to have conventional, above the collar hair styles, and they are not to have a long fringe. If a girl’s hair is long enough to touch her shoulder her hair must be tied up.

HATS

In the playground, we have a ‘No hat - No play’ rule. This means that children must wear the school sun hat or cap at all times in the playground and at sport. Children with no sun hat will be directed to sit in shaded areas.

TERM 3 

The following items require immediate action.

Year 2 - Ceramics Incursion - 20 August - Parent Portal

Junior & Senior Choir Performance at POWH - 4 September - Parent Portal

Year 5 & 6 - Drumming Incursion - 10 September - Parent Portal

Epic Fun at Collaroy! Year 4 Camp 2019

Beach walking, whale watching and learning a lot. That was all just the first day! Year 4 camp was full of excitement and entertainment with games to play and songs to sing. The suspense was rising as everyone was busting to know what cabin they were in as we all walked down to the beach.

The first day of camp was packed with eagerness from everyone, as we all wanted to start all our activities after the bus trip to Collaroy and meet our new Cru Leaders.

First we went on the bush walk, where we learnt about how we impact the Earth and what we can do to stop it. We learnt about man made structures that can impact our environment for example the footpath we were walking on. Before it was there it would have been either grass or bush but it is good because if you want to walk through the bush making your own path and you might possibly destroy the habitat. One of the facts we learned is that the Banksia tree needs extreme heat like fire to open the pods to produce seeds which lets new Banksia trees grow. Back at camp, we enjoyed dinner with Mr Thomas and we got to sing a whole bunch of songs. 

We hope we can introduce some of these in Chapel. At night, we learned about space and played some NASA based games. We all got a bit of sleep in our awesome cabins and our Cru Leaders woke us up early for the next days events.

On Thursday, we started with a navigation activity where we learnt to find the leaders by reading the map of Collaroy camp site and talked about how to keep our environment safe.

We had an insightful session with Isaac, the Aborginal leader from Wiradjuri Country and Ryan who helped us make our own totems and journey stones based on the traditional Aboriginal symbols. We even got to create some paintings for Claremont College. He played us the didgeridoo and we had a welcome to country and a smoking ceremony.

After dinner, we had a dance party followed by spotto! The teachers and Cru Leaders had to dress up in ridiculous costumes and ‘spot us’ with a flashlight. If we moved we had to go back to the beginning. If we didn’t we could sneak past and collect 100 cabin points!

Friday morning, everyone was starting to get ready and pack for home. We found out who won the cabin points competition- Cabin 5! And completed our camp reflections and went home on the bus.

We hope everyone had an awesome trip and can’t wait until we get to go again in Term 4.

By Ned Siemsen, Ollie Webster and Miss Rees

Favourite moments from Year 4 camp:

‘Spotto and seeing the teachers in their costumes.’ Georgia Breakspear

‘Going to the beach. It was fun.’ Fraser MacDougall

‘Seeing the shark jaws after our beach excursion.’ Jack Francis

‘Painting the journey stones and sleeping.’ Ivy Boyle

‘Seeing the reef and the sea creatures. I even found a lobster head!’ Archie Martin

‘When we were discovering the fish and learning about the shells they live around.’ Costantia Galanos

‘When we went into the water and we got to climb up the hill and see the cool view.’ Elijah Chetwynd

‘Spending time with my friends.’ Sienna Leyshon

‘Playing all the NASA based games with all my friends.’ Bryce McCarthy

‘Sleeping in the cabins with all my friends, meeting the Cru Leaders and painting the journey stones.’ Xanthe Summerfield

‘The beach walk on long reef bay.’ Tom Burke

‘Rolling down the hills at recess.’ Emma Li

‘Soccer games with the Cru leaders.’ Oliver Koch

Blast from the past! 

This week Claremont has had the pleasure of ex student James Jenkins completing his week of Year 10 work placement. He has had the opportunity to assist in every class throughout the week and work in different groups with teachers and students. 

In Year 4 on Tuesday, he got to reconnect with his Kindergarten buddy Henry Fitzpatrick, after 5 years. Have a look at the photos, I don’t think they have changed a bit. Kindergarten Buddies picture 2015 and Year 4 and Year 10 2019. We hope you enjoyed your experience again at Claremont College James! 

“Earlier this week I came in to see my new teacher because Mrs Ward was sick and we had a teacher in learning and he was once a Claremont student. Anyway, I saw him and thought do I know him? So I asked him what his name was and I was astonished. HE WAS MY KINDY BUDDY! I was so happy that he was working with my teacher and I got to see him again;)”  Henry Fitzpatrick

National Science Week is just coming to an end and once again we have been reminded of the many benefits that studying Science and Technology brings to our lives and the world in which we live. This year focussed specifically on past space programs and missions to the Moon, but also the new and innovative space programs, operations and missions of today, and those planned for the future.                                   

The New Syllabus

Claremont implemented the new Science and Technology k-6 Syllabus this year, and our staff have received several hours of professional development to ensure they are confident and excited to deliver the content to our students.

Science and technology are pedagogically linked and through their practical application promote genuine learning opportunities for students. The application of Working Scientifically, and Design and Production skills enables students to develop a sense of accomplishment and enhance their skills in inquiry and manipulating tools and materials to produce solutions. These skills are important in preparing students to succeed in a rapidly developing technological world.  

NESA Science & Technology K-6 Syllabus Rationale

The ‘Design and Production’ element that has been introduced to the new Science and Technology syllabus has replaced what used to be called ‘Working Technologically’. Design and Production provides students with the opportunity to plan, organise and manage projects to completion. They are taught to plan for the sustainable use of resources and to identify the benefits and potential risks of situations.                    

So why learn Science?

Summarised from the Science & Technology K-6 Syllabus

A Peak at Science at Claremont

Science units at Claremont aim to provide students with hands on experiences, opportunities to think using the help of their five senses, time to collaborate with others and experiences where they investigate phenomena using an inquiry approach. Rather than teaching children what to think and giving them the answers, we want to upskill our students to question deeper and think for themselves, because every child is a scientist. People are born curious (just think of the chaos babies and toddlers cause their carers because of their curiosity!). Sometimes we need to remember to get out of their way and instead give them the tools to help them explore and question.

At Claremont we teach the five Science and Technology content strands across every stage:

• Living World
• Material World
• Physical World
• Earth and Space
• Digital Technologies

This will look differently in each year group. For example some year groups will cover a different unit each term, others will cover one unit a semester, with a third unit (commonly Digital Technologies) integrated into both.

Every unit taught will address some of the Working Scientifically skills and some of the Design and Production skills so that by the time a student leaves Claremont at the end of Year 6 they will have been taught to:

(Working Scientifically)

• Pose relevant questions to initiate a scientific investigation and make predictions relating to outcomes to unfamiliar situations;
• Individually and collaboratively plan investigations to fairly test predictions and find answers to questions;
• Process and analyse data, using reasoning to describe patterns and relationships; and
• Communicate their observations, understandings and ideas in a variety of ways by using appropriate technologies.

(Design & Production)

• Identify a need and define problems that need solving;
• Research and plan for materials, tools, equipment etc to achieve intended design solutions;
• Implement digital solutions and produce products, services or environments to meet specific purposes; and
• Test and evaluate their design ideas, processes and designed solutions.

Mrs Melanie Stewart
Head of Science

Faith at Claremont is a vital part of our Core Values as a school. We are striving to be a school in which we ‘Have faith in Christ and follow His word in our lives.’ Teaching each child about Jesus’ love and the fundamentals truths of the Bible is therefore a vital part of Scripture at Claremont.

During Semester 2, each grade will be focusing on a new unit of work. Each fortnight will be a combination of lessons based around stories in the Bible and/or key questions and ‘Going Deeper’ lessons in which students ponder and apply what they have been learning about.

Below is an outline of each grades focus for Semester 2:

KINDERGARTEN – BEGINNING WITH GOD

Kindergarten will continue to learn about God’s love for us through Jesus’ ministry this semester. They will listen to stories and passages from the Bible and think about what they mean for our lives. Kindergarten will learn to thank God for the way he loves us and ask him to help us through prayer. They love asking curious questions about God's world  and singing worship songs.

YEAR 1 – TRUSTING GOD

This Semester in Year 1, we will be following the Israelites through the book of Exodus. Students will learn that all through the Old Testament, God wants to see His people in His place under His rule. Each week, students play active roles in the 'performance’ of the Bible story. We pause the stories at points to discuss important questions about the stories and the subsequent implications for our lives.

YEAR 2 – TRUSTING AND FOLLOWING JESUS

In Scripture this term, students have begun looking at what it looks like to have faith in Jesus. By exploring the meaning of faith, we hope students will better understand how to trust and follow Jesus in their own lives. Students will learn about the Holy Spirit, and how he changes people's lives, by examining different Christians from the New Testament. We want the children to understand what Jesus meant when he said 'Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples' and how they too can tell others about Jesus love.

YEAR 3 – GOD’S BIG PROMISES

Starting from Abraham, students will be exploring the promises that God makes in the Old Testament and how he fulfills them through Jesus in the New Testament. We will be learning a memory verse “God doesn’t tell lies or change his mind, God always keeps his promises” Numbers 23:19 and considering what it looks like for us to trust God’s promises in our daily lives. The students will be plotting out the stories of the Bible, and drawing and acting out different stories to help them understand what happens and how it connects to the meta-narrative of the Bible as a whole.

YEAR 4 – GOD’S PROMISE FOR THE WORLD

In Year 4 scripture, students have been learning about God's promises for His people in the Old Testament. This semester, we will be unpacking how God continues to keep and fulfil His promises for the world. The topics are taught through a variety of interactive activities and each lesson, students engage with bible stories, digital technologies, role play or craft (students created their own wall of Jericho in one of our lessons!)

YEAR 5 - PRAYER

In Scripture this semester, Year 5 have been looking at the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) with Marty, the Youth Minister from St Jude’s. Our lessons have been structured to be discussion based to give students the freedom to share their ideas and questions. We have also had the privilege of Mr Blevins coming to talk about the significance of Prayer which is linked with our weekly Chapel talks.

YEAR 6 – BIG QUESTIONS

In Year 6 we have been working through the ‘Big Questions’ about God’s nature and what His plan is for us today. The students have been being proactive in doing their own research, sharing their thoughts with others and discussing it collectively in class. We look into God’s Word for new discoveries and draw insights that can be applicable in our everyday life.

So far we’ve covered topics such as:

• Who is God?
• How do we know God really loves us?
• Does God exist?
• Why are there so many other religions?
• Why are we His children?
• Why do bad things happen?

With more topics to come, our goal is to ensure our students know that God loves each of them so dearly and that they too can share this love with others.

Mrs Hayley Irwin
Head of Christian Education

Book Week

One week and counting…

We are SO excited for all that is in store for Book Week next week. While the whole week will be a celebration of quality Australian literature, our major events will take place on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday, all students will take part in an author visit, and then on Friday, we will have our parade and other school-wide literature activities.

We would love to invite parents to attend our parade in the MORNING. This year we are trialing doing our parade in the morning. One reason for this is that a number of the students wear costumes that include props and equipment. By having the parade in the morning, you are able to take these “extras” home after the parade. Students can wear their costumes for the rest of the day, or something else weather appropriate. Children on the day can dress up as either a literature character of their choice OR as something connected to the theme, reading is my secret power. Please note that these costumes do NOT need to be purchased. In lessons, we have been encouraging students to think outside the box and challenge their creativity with their costumes. The morning’s agenda is as follows: 

8:15 - 8:45 - Student drop off

8:45 - School open for parents to arrive. Please do not arrive earlier as students will need to vacate the playground, for us to have time to set up

9:00 - 10:20 - Parade

10:20 - 11:00 - Morning Tea. We would love to invite you to stay to enjoy Morning Tea with your child. You might also like to take up this opportunity to purchase a book from our book stall.

Book Stall

This year, Claremont College is excited to partner with “Read On” books, in Eastgardens, to arrange for the books on this year’s Children’s Book Council of Australia shortlist to be available for students to order on the day. Read on have very generously offered a 20% discount for all books purchased on the day. You can see the amended prices of the books that will be available in the attached information sheet. Please note that if you desire, books can also be purchased to be donated to your child’s class library, as we would love to have new books in each of the learning spaces.

There will also be a Christian book stall, generously organised and overseen by Mrs Vivian Yang (Elsie Y6). A range of Bibles, Devotionals and other Christian literature will be available. This might be particularly helpful if your child is in Primary and attending a Cru camp later in the year. It is a requirement for these camps that students bring with them a Bible.

Mrs Stephanie Affleck
Teacher/Librarian

Author Visit

Author and illustrator Christina Booth, will be presenting to all grades next Thursday. Christina is an award-winning author/illustrator of over twenty books. She was awarded a CBCA Honour Book Award for book, Kip, numerous notable Book Awards and the Environment Award for Children’s Literature for her story, Welcome Home. Her most recent book, released in June 2019, One Careless Night, tells the story of Tasmania’s last thylacine in captivity.

Trained as a teacher and painter, Christina has always loved books, art and reading. She works from her bush studio in Tasmania surrounded by amazing native animals and colourful birds.

All students will be given a book order form on the day. The order form can also be downloaded HERE. Please return completed order forms to the Library or class teachers by Friday 30 August.

Mrs Susan Kesur
Library Assistant

Upcoming Events

Monday 26 August - IPSHA Athletics Championship @ Homebush
Tuesday 24 September - Years 3-6 Cricket Blast Gala Day
Friday 27 September - Claremont Cross Country Carnival

Cricket Blast Gala Day

The annual Cricket Blast Gala Day will be held on Tuesday 24 September at Coral Sea Park for boys and girls in Years 3 to 6 wishing to take part. This is always an extremely fun and well run event by Cricket NSW. Students will have the opportunity to sign up for a team next week in PE lessons, and parents will be notified of the event details and asked to provide permission in the coming weeks. Please email the office if you have any other queries about the day or about your child participating.

IPSHA Athletics Training

Our IPSHA Athletics Team began training this week for the IPSHA Athletics Carnival and will continue working on their individual and team skills. A lot of fun was had while working on fitness and sprinting technique, with more event preparation to follow next week.

Claremont Champions

Congratulations to the Claremont  Kindergarten girls (Isabel Rogers, Isabella Ziska, Alexis Larby, Charlotte Brickell, Ava Williams, Juliette Francis and Charlotte Lattin) who played soccer this winter season for Coogee White Tigers. The girls just finished a wonderful first season and were all commended by the Club for their wonderful demeanor, exceptional sportsmanship and overall enthusiasm and dedication to the game and their team. Well done, girls!  

Joel Geering 
Sport and PDHPE

What an exciting Chapel service we had this morning! Our Year 6 students introduced a song that is often played at CRU Camps called, ‘Jesus You’re My Superhero’. Most of the students were familiar with it and continued singing it as they went back to class after Chapel.

Today Mrs Marquet led us in Chapel. She encouraged the students to remember we can give our hearts to God anytime. So often our attention gravitates towards things made by God rather than God Himself. She illustrated this, with the assistance of Mrs Mitchell, with a skit of her interacting with God (Mrs Mitchell) in various scenarios. She concluded by reminding the students that speaking from the heart in prayer is more important than the words we often say. We can speak to Him anytime and anywhere. 

Verse of the Week

(Image by Hannah Gajas)

God Bless!

Charlie Blevins
Chapel Coordinator

Whilst we give priority for enrolments to siblings, placement can not be guaranteed. If you have a pre-schooler who is due to begin school in 2021, please ensure that your application form is lodged or your child might miss out on a place. Additional references are not required for sibling application. 

Should you have any questions or require confirmation that an application has been submitted, please contact Mrs Rochester.

Trivia Night tickets for Saturday are still available on Flexischools and will be sold at the door.

If you can't attend the trivia night on Saturday, you can still be part of the event by participating in the online silent auction. The website is now open to bids and bidding will close on Saturday evening at 10.15pm.  You can view the items that are on offer at www.32auctions.com/claremont2019.  Setting up an account is easy, you just need to provide your name and email address.

As well as viewing the items online, you can also go through the attached Sponsors Booklet which contains all of our generously donated prizes.

This is our major fundraiser of the year. Funds raised will facilitate the purchase of resources for the school, reader books for infants and contribute to the refurbishment of our school playground.

Happy bidding!

Thank you for your ongoing support

P&F Trivia Night Organisers

Please remember to check Flexischool by Tuesday afternoon for the weekly Family Special. 

The Canteen is open 5 days a week. Please place your orders via Flexischools.

A reminder that children who bring their own food to school need to bring their own cutlery from home,  only children who have ordered from the canteen will be provided with a spoon or fork.

Also due to WHS issues, the canteen is unable to heat food brought from home.

All members of the extended Claremont family are warmly invited to come along and pray for our school community. Toddlers are also more than welcome.

The prayer group meets fortnightly on Thursdays at 8:45am. Please sign in at the school office.

The dates for Term 3 are 29 August, 12 September and 26 September.

For those parents who would like to pray for the school but are unable to attend the Prayer Group, you are now able to receive fortnightly prayer points. If you are interested in receiving the fortnightly prayer points or have any questions, please contact Vivian Yang via email vivian@yang.id.au

The Uniform Shop is open every Wednesday fortnight from 8am - 9am. 

The remaining dates for Term 3 are 21 August, 4 September and 18 September.

The Uniform Shop is situated below the School Hall with entry via the small gate next to the units. Whether you can make it at this time or not, parents are encouraged to place online orders (especially if you are purchasing accessories) via Flexischools. Please note, the Uniform Shop does not accept any second hand clothing except for Claremont school uniforms. It is very inconvenient if you leave other items. Thank you.

Please note that all communication should be through the email address: clothingpool@claremont.nsw.edu.au

Please refrain from calling or texting Roxanne Fielding directly. 

School holidays are just around the corner. Our partner, TeamKids have a wonderful mix of excursions, incursions and in-house days planned that promise to keep the kids engaged and having fun. Download their program here. 

Special Bonus – 40 Boredom Busters for kids to do at home to help keep them off screens.