Oh my goodness, what a week! We were very excited to see our Kindergarten and Year 1 students return to school on Monday. It felt like the first day of school again, and boy, was it great. It was lovely to see their smiling faces and to witness the children catching up with their friends. The few that were a little teary quickly cheered up once they joined their teachers and classmates. With such a positive start back at school, we cannot wait to have Year 2 to Year 6 students join our youngest students onsite next week.

The time has come when we begin the formal process of selecting the Claremont College Student Leaders for 2022. This week we opened applications to our current Year 5 students. The announcement of our 2022 Student Leaders to our school community will be on Speech Day in December.

Claremont College has a long and proud history of developing each student’s leadership potential. We are committed to preserving this rich heritage by ensuring every endeavour is made to support and encourage students in the development of their leadership.

Our Student Leadership process was reviewed last year in response to feedback from students, staff and our parent community, and to reflect and align with contemporary leadership in our ever-changing world. The changes made to the appointment process aimed to provide greater clarity and transparency, and to focus on a wide range of leadership skills and attributes.

In 2022, Claremont College will have the following formal Student Leader positions:

• School Captain (x2)
• School Prefect (x2)
• House Captains (2 per house: Austin, Hyland, Storey and Wearne)

We believe leadership encompasses many qualities and skills. Student Leaders need to grow and reflect these in their everyday lives. Applicants are measured according to 10 Leadership Markers. These markers include:

1. Interpersonal and Communication Skills
2. Organisational Skills
3. Problem Solving Skills and Initiative
4. Integrity and Social Justice
5. Resilience, Grit, Reflectiveness and Growth Mindset
6. Servant Leadership
7. Claremont College School Values of Collaboration, Innovation and Compassion
8. Community Involvement and Contribution of Co-Curricular Activities
9. Commitment to Learning
10. School Code of Conduct

DEFINITIONS OF THE LEADERSHIP MARKERS

Some of our Year 5 students may decide they do not want to apply for a formal leadership role. We respect that decision, and we will continue to provide informal leadership opportunities for all students in the coming year. A formal leadership position is only one of the many opportunities for leadership within the school – other informal positions include leading Chapel, Assemblies, Library, Eco Warriors, Kindergarten buddies and most importantly, upholding our core values and leading by example every day. We believe everyone has leadership potential, and we are dedicated to explore this in each student, whether students hold a formal position or not.

At Claremont, we aim to encourage, support and challenge the development of every student’s leadership, no matter how young they are. Yes, that's right - we believe that even in Kindy, students' leadership skills and attributes can be nurtured and fostered. We encourage you to have a conversation with your child about what it means to be an effective leader.

For more detailed information, please refer to our new Student Leadership Positions Policy here.

As we come to the end of learning offsite for many of our families, I would like to thank you, the parent community, for your continuous efforts to help your child/ren with Off Campus Learning. Thank you for your dedication, and for everything you have done to support both your child/ren and our school. Thank you for the kindness and compassion you have shown to others within our community. What an incredible Claremont family we have. 

Wishing you all a safe, social and special weekend. 

"Be kind, compassionate, and forgiving to each other, in the same way God forgave you in Christ." EPHESIANS 4:32

Larissa Cameron
Co-Principal

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

It has been a wonderful week here at Claremont with our Kindergarten and Year 1 students returning to school. We cannot wait to have the rest of our students back onsite next week!

Term 4 Events 

We understand that many of our students have missed out on events and special occasions throughout this lockdown period. Despite the fact that Greater Sydney is ‘opening up’ and restrictions are easing, here at school we remain under Level 3 Plus restrictions which do not allow for events and gatherings onsite. As the term progresses, restrictions may ease. We will update you with the latest information.

Sport 

Under the current guidelines, we are unable to do Sport at Grant Reserve. We have been working closely with Mr Geering to create Sport opportunities that are safe and in line with the Health advice. Starting this week, each grade will continue with Wednesday Sport on the playground with Mr Geering, as well as their regular PDHPE classes. If restrictions begin to ease, we will of course aim to resume our regular Sport program.

Facemasks

In our communications last week, we mentioned students wearing facemasks for their return to school. The NSW Health guidelines ‘strongly recommends’ students wearing facemasks. Understandably, there are differing views on this topic among our parent community. We would like to reiterate that wearing masks is not mandatory, and our staff will be reminding students to put them on if they have them. We will continue to foster an environment of respect and understanding within our learning spaces. 

Important Reminders

Whilst we are very excited to see our parent community, we are not able to have parents onsite at this stage. Our office staff have worked hard to create a station outside of the school office area to collect, or drop off your child. Please follow the safety protocols we have put in place and ensure you sign in using the QR code and wear a mask. 

Our uniform shop is currently open for click and collect orders only. If you order online, your items will be available at the uniform shop via the side gate, not at the office. 

We will be staggering our recess to minimise the crossover of cohorts. Infants recess will be from 10:10-10:30am, and Primary recess will be from 10:30-10:50am. Our lunchtimes are already split into Infants and Primary. 

For the afternoon pick up, we have engaged with our risk consultant at The Anglican Schools Corporation to develop safety measures around this process. In our context, we are fortunate to have the car line system which minimises the mingling of parents and children at the gates. Our focus is putting safety measures in place for students waiting at the gate to be collected. Students will be separated into their cohorts, and spaced out as much as possible to minimise the crossover of grades.

• KINDY BACK TO 3PM - to support us with our safety measures, Kindergarten parents will be required to collect their child at 3pm (same routines as before lockdown).
• If you have other children in different grades, your Kindy child can wait with their cohort until you collect all children after 3:10pm.
• Please do not arrive before 3:10pm, and please consider collecting your child/ren closer to 3:30pm.
• Please read the ‘Traffic Reminders’ section below. 

CORRECTION

In our communications last week, we mentioned that we were unable to request parents’ vaccination status. This was an error on our part, and we apologise. We are not able to ‘require’ parents’ vaccination status, but we can ‘request’ it through a voluntary and anonymous survey. The results of this survey would help to inform our school’s risk profile and to understand the likelihood of infection and transmission in our Claremont Community. Using this information we can continue to determine the risk mitigation strategies that are necessary especially if restrictions begin to ease. With students returning to school, we will aim to put this survey out to parents in the coming weeks. Thank you for your understanding.

We look forward to welcoming back our remaining students next week. As the week unfolds, we will continue to monitor and analyse the safety measures we have in place and make adjustments if needed.

Thank you for your continued support and understanding. It is greatly appreciated. 

Mrs Alanna James
Acting Deputy Principal

First of all I would like to draw your attention to my article last week that explains how OCL will work once the majority of students return to school, next week. (click here).

This article also has some helpful hints to remember in the coming weeks, so please read this again, especially if your child/ren are returning to school for the first time next week.

Part-Time Off Campus Learning?

In addition, we are starting to have a few requests about whether students will be able to engage in OCL part-time. That is, come to school some days and participate in OCL on other days. Unfortunately for these requests the answer is no. Students are now legally expected to come back to school unless they have a medical reason to stay at home.

If families want to take leave to visit family when they are able to travel beyond Greater Sydney, they will need to apply to the Principal for this leave, in accordance with any leave during the school term. 

Janelle Ford
Co-Principal

This week in Chapel as we further explored ‘compassion’ we focussed on the original Hebrew word ‘hesed’. Hesed (pronounced ‘chesed’) means the love or kindness between people, specifically the devotion we have for God, as well as God’s love and mercy for humanity. The closest translation that we have in English is ‘loving kindness’.  It’s so good to remember that the loving kindness that God shows us is something that can inspire and motivate us to show kindness, mercy and compassion towards others. This week, let’s be people who ‘pay it forward’, as we both strategise, plan and spontaneously show kindness to those who cross our paths.

God spoke to Moses on Mt Sinai, declaring this covenant promise to His people;

Yahweh! The LORD! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion and sin. Exodus 34: 6-7

I encourage you to hold onto the wonderful fact that God’s loving kindness is for you, and with you each and every day.

Doug Thomas
Principal

Our Social Media Team is working to increase connections, especially during lockdown, as it is important for us to all stay connected. We know everyone has been doing wonderful things during this time and we would love to be able to share these with the Claremont community.

In the coming week we would like to focus on:

• Our Year 2-6 students returning to school, getting ready and excited in the morning, and/or
• Some priceless quotes about returning to school. 

If your child would like to be considered to be featured on Claremont College's social media platforms and in the whole school assembly, please send your photos and videos to [email protected] with:

- Child's Name
- Grade
- Quote or Caption

OR, feel free to tag @claremontcollege on Instagram,
or @claremont2031 on Twitter,
or to follow us on LinkedIn Claremont College 

Please feel free to submit any photos and most importantly, have fun! 

The Social Media Committee

Follow us

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

Congratulations to the following students who received a Gold Certificate or Pennant Award at Monday’s assembly: 

Gold Certificate Only

Year 3
Baxter H, Lawrence K, Peter L, Georgia G, Claudia M, Harry R, Jonathan S, Aidan S, Joanna Y 

Year 4
Summer L, Noah McC, Billy R, Hudson S, Archie T 

Year 5
Jade J, Taka M, Nicholas P, Caleb S, Ben V

Gold Certificate and Pennant

Year 4
Oliver R

Last week we focussed on sleep. We explained that sleep is very important for memory, emotional regulation and recuperation. It helps us feel good, for our bodies to function healthily and to be able to focus and be great learners. We encouraged you to get enough sleep… how did you go? You may find it hard to wake up earlier to get to school on time. So don’t forget to get to bed early enough so you get 9-11 hours of sleep per night. 

Larissa Cameron
Co-Principal

We would like to remind all parents about the traffic procedures we have implemented which help to make our school as safe as possible for the children, parents, staff and community. Children should be dropped off and collected in the SCHOOL ZONES on either Judge Street or Coogee Bay Road where teachers will be on duty from 8:15am to 8:45am and from 3:10pm until 3:30pm.

You are also reminded of the 40kph school zone speed limit. The streets surrounding the school are quite narrow, so please slow down to ensure the safety of residents and of children. In order for us to get children safely into cars, it is imperative that all drivers comply with the following:

• Please delay your arrival until after 3:15pm as queuing before 3:10pm causes major congestion. We often experience our worst problems with traffic because parents arrive early. Please allow us to get the children to the gates first to enable the traffic to flow more smoothly and to avoid us from having to ask you to move on. If your child is not at the gate upon your arrival be prepared to be directed by staff to go around the block.
• Please consider arriving closer to 3:30pm.
• Do not choose to park directly in front of the school gates. Follow staff instructions by moving forward to the front of the zone to the furthest available numbered cone, to enable as many cars as possible to pull up behind you. Please do this even if you are the only car in the zone upon your arrival.
• Do not jump the queue of traffic. We consider this to be very bad manners!
• If your child is not at the gate when you pull up, you will be asked to drive around the block again to keep the traffic moving and to comply with our traffic management plan.
• Please do not get out of your car as teachers will assist children if this is necessary.
• Despite the fact that we wish to move things quickly, please ensure that your child’s seat belt is securely fastened before pulling away from the curb.
• Please display a clear sign with the family name. This request is not only for new families. You can always request a laminated family name sign (or signs) at the office.
• Do not do U-turns anywhere within the vicinity of the school.
• Do not double park across the road on Coogee Bay Road and escort your child across the road.
• If you are in a queue do not move into the school zone until you know for certain that space is available. If you end up stopping in the ‘No Stopping’ zone, by law you are liable to be booked AND lose demerit points.
• Only drive along Judge St if you are collecting your child at the Judge St gate, not at Coogee Bay Rd gate.
• Do not park across the school or neighbours’ driveways if you are visiting the school or attending events or functions.
• Please be patient with each other.

Please inform Grandparents or carers of these expectations should they collect your children. The cooperation and patience of all parents and carers, (Grandparents, babysitters and others) is essential if we are to make both our school pick up and drop off zones and the surrounding streets, as safe and efficient as possible for everyone.

Please remember that strict penalties apply in all school zones. In addition to a fine, demerit points also apply. 

A reminder that parents must report their child’s absentee reason.

While we greatly appreciate an email or phone call on the morning that your child is absent, we also require you to complete the absentee reason via your Parent Portal.

There are 2 ways you can do this - by using a desktop computer, or by using the Claremont App on your mobile device. 

1. If you report the absentee reason using your desktop computer, please do this after 9:15am when the roll has been marked. You have 7 days to report the absentee reason.
2. If you report the absentee reason using your mobile device, you will receive a notification via the Claremont App at 5:00pm on the day of your child’s absence to action. You have 7 days to report the absentee reason. 

Please note:  On the Claremont App, there is the Absentee badge. When you click on this badge there are 2 options - Access Absentees and Request Advanced Leave. The Request Advanced Leave option is only to be used for extended leave requests. If you use this option to let us know your child will be absent that day, you will still need to report the absentee reason using the 2 options listed above.

If you have any questions regarding reporting an absentee reason for your child, or require any assistance at all, please contact the office on 9399 3217 or [email protected].

Term 4 2021

Term 1 2022

Please CLICK HERE for information for students sitting the ICAS English and ICAS Mathematics tests.

Once again, Claremont will be holding the AMAZING ME Sex Education Seminar to support our families. The evening, which will be held in Term 4 via Zoom on Wednesday 3 November, aims to provide information to children and families in this important area of personal development. Feedback from past evenings has always been overwhelmingly positive with many parents commenting on how appreciative they are that the school provides the opportunity for positive family discussion in this area. 

Our AMAZING ME educator will again be Rowena Thomas. Rowena is a primary school teacher (and Mr Thomas’ wife) who has had many years experience in this area. Rowena’s talks are always lively, informative and lots of fun. There will be two separate seminars that are optional for students in Years 3 to 6 to attend with their parents. The first seminar will begin at 6:00pm. This talk will focus on the difference between girls’ and boys’ bodies and how babies are made. This session is recommended and aimed for students (and their parents) in Years 3 and 4, but other years are welcome.

The second talk (7:10pm to 8:10pm) will focus on puberty and some of the emotional and physical changes children can expect at this stage in their lives. This seminar is recommended for students in Years 5 and 6. Parents have the option of attending one or both sessions, regardless of whether your child is in Year 3, 4, 5 or 6. Whilst the sessions are not aimed for Infants children, some parents have asked if they can bring their child who is in Year 2, along with his or her older siblings. This is suitable but the decision to attend, however, is entirely up to parents as you may feel that you would like your children, and your family as a whole, to have this knowledge. This is not a compulsory event, rather a resource to parents who wish to take up this opportunity. Children in Kindy or Year 1 do not attend.

The cost of the sessions is: $33 per family for one session or $46 per family for two sessions.

AMAZING ME will take place via Zoom.

Please follow the links below to register. 

Booking for Session 1 only: Years 3 & 4 - Bodies and Babies - $33 per family

Booking for Session 2 only: Years 5 & 6 - Bodies and Puberty - $33 per family 

Booking for Sessions 1 and 2: Bodies and Babies & Bodies and Puberty - $46 per family

All orders that were placed online in Term 2 will be carried over to the new date. 

ONLINE ORDER CODE: 537 6V3 2EM

Online Order link: https://www.advancedimage.com....

School photographs are scheduled to be taken by Advancedlife on Monday 22 November. Whilst an envelope and flyer was sent home with students, it is our preference for ordering to be completed online. This is to reduce administration and potential security issues related to the return of cash and envelopes on photo day.

Orders for packages and sibling photographs can be placed securely online at www.advancedlife.com.au using our school’s unique 9 digit advanced order code (537 6V3 2EM) or by clicking the link above. Portrait and group package orders are due by photography day. 

Should you wish to purchase a sibling photograph online, the order must be placed no later than the day before photography day (ie Sunday 21 November). Sibling photographs will only be taken if an order has been placed. 

Should you have any queries concerning school photographs or online ordering, please contact us at www.advancedlife.com.au/contac... 

Important Information:

• School photos purchased online DO NOT require envelopes to be returned to school*
• Don’t forget to order your sibling photos now
• Late fees/additional charges will be applied for purchases after photo day
• Photos will be returned to your school for distribution approximately six weeks after photos are taken
• Past years’ photographs including sports, co-curricular and representative groups are available at school’s advancedlife & your advancedyou photo sites (follow the link above) 
• *Sibling photographs must be ordered either online or by an order envelope prior to the day of photography. A photograph will not be taken without an order. Sibling photographs only apply to children enrolled at the school. 

advancedlife would like to express their appreciation to Claremont College. They offer a 100% money back guarantee on our products to ensure your peace of mind. If you have any questions, comments or feedback relating to your advancedlife experience please contact them at [email protected]

St Andrew’s Cathedral School will offer one full or part scholarship to a Claremont student (boy or girl) for entry into Year 7 2023. This scholarship is in recognition of the relationship between the two schools, and acknowledgement of the high standard of Claremont graduates. The scholarship, and amount of scholarship will be based on the following criteria:

• Results in the ACER Scholarship Selection Test which will be run at Claremont late February or early March 2022 TBC.
• Demonstrated commitment to school life at Claremont through Music, Drama, Sport, Leadership or other school programs.
• School reports and NAPLAN.

Application forms can be downloaded at

https://www.sacs.nsw.edu.au/enrol/scholarships/academic-scholarships/

Applications close on 10 February 2022.

This week, now that we are almost all back at school, we would like to share the term overviews with you, so that you have an insight into the many different aspects of student learning that are coming up during the remainder of term.

Janelle Ford, on behalf of the Teaching Teams.

Kindergarten Term 4 Overview

Year 1 Term 4 Overview

Year 2 Term 4 Overview

Year 3 Term 4 Overview

Year 4 Term 4 Overview

Year 5 Term 4 Overview

Year 6 Term 4 Overview

New Graphic Novels To The Collection

Kayla Miller is the author of this popular series of graphic novels. She is a New York Times bestselling author and illustrator living and working in New York. Kayla writes stories that are genuine and inspiring about evolving friendships and supportive family relationships. Her earlier books Click and Camp have both been very popular with our students. The female protagonist Olive navigates her way through life and relationships but ultimately determines that she can find happiness both within herself and in her different group of friends. The bright, pastel-toned illustrations make this series of books visually enjoyable.

Olive is excited to start sixth grade and enjoy new teachers, new experiences and a field trip to the big city with her best friends! But when Olive discovers that a school policy is keeping some students from attending the trip, she decides to act. Oliver enters herself in the school council election. The campaign is intense and emotions are running high and Olive wants to keep her friends. This story suggests that we all have the power to make a difference.

A new student called Natasha joins the sixth grade. From the moment she arrives everyone wants to be her friend, including Olive. Watching as Natasha gets closer with some of her friends, Olive begins to worry that they’re starting to like Natasha more than they like her! This book is about navigating school friendships and the importance of both empathy and respect.

These books are recommended for ages 8 - 12 years old.

Book returns

Please can we remind all returning students to return all school library books. They are easily identifiable as they are all covered in plastic and have a Claremont Library barcode on the front or rear cover.

Thank you for your assistance.

Mrs Susan Kesur
Librarian Assistant

With the return of all students next week, the only Sport we have currently planned are the normal PDHPE lessons plus Wednesday Sport session for each grade that will be delivered ‘in house’ in the school playground by the Head of Sport and classroom teachers. 

It is worth noting that even though community sport is starting to come back in full swing in the next couple of weeks, the Health guidelines concerning schools are at times much more stringent than the Public Health Orders. These can sometimes appear to be in conflict in regards to what is allowed/not allowed, particularly when it comes to Sport. Please refer to the COVID-19 update in the newsletter for more information.  

Claremont Champions

It is so exciting that community Sport is beginning to start back up. With the various seasons beginning again, it means there are opportunities to celebrate our Claremont community’s achievements on the sporting field once again. 

Congratulations to Sebastian L-P (Year 6) who took part in the rep trials for South East Junior Cricket Association (SEJCA) last weekend. Sebastian has been selected in the initial squad to represent the club in the U/13 team. The squad will continue to be reduced down to 15 players over the coming weeks. Good luck with the trials, Sebastian.

Please continue to pass on any highlights of your Claremont champions on the sporting field to [email protected]  so we can celebrate their achievements. 

Hip Hop Lessons

While we are unable to begin our Morning Skills Program with external providers at school this term, some of the providers we normally use are back up and running in the community. For those students who have been part of the Thursday morning hip hop classes, you might be interested in checking out some lessons run by MOVE Dance studios (the teachers who run the morning skills) beginning Thursday 28 October at 4:15pm, running for 8 weeks. Details can be found at https://movedance.com.au/kids-hip-hop 

Mr Joel Geering
Head of Sport and PDHPE

We hope you and your family are well and safe.

We are so excited to be back at the school and see all the students and staff.

We are offering a limited menu for Term 4, however please keep an eye out when online if there are specials or new additions as we progress through the term.

Please know that the safety of the school community and our staff is paramount, and we are following all covid-19 guidelines as well as the Australian Food Handling guidelines.

If you have any queries at all regarding the school canteen, please contact us through [email protected]

James Anthony and the Claremont Canteen Team

Term 4 Menu

The Uniform Shop will be opened for click and collect orders only during their normal business hours commencing next week as follows:

Mondays: 2:30pm - 5:30pm

Wednesdays: 8:00am - 11:00am

Unfortunately due to the current Health Orders, appointments for fittings are currently not available. 

For online ordering CLICK HERE.

Thank you and keep safe.

Regards

Mandy Hook | Customer Service

2022 School Travel Application Information

Dear parents of our art community,

Abiding by the present guidelines, we will not be offering any in person after school art classes this term. We wish you all good health and kindness, easing back into new routines and look forward to providing art classes in the new year.

Phi Morton

Instagram@artisanathomeworkshops
Instagram@phi_designs

Due to the current COVID lockdown, Sydney Academy of Chess will be conducting our chess class online. When restrictions are lifted and children return to school, we intend to return for face to face coaching as soon as we are given the green light by the school. Our online chess class will be held before school on Friday from 8:00am–8:40am.

See the link on this page to register:

https://sydneyacademyofchess.whereby.com/chesssh