Thank you to the students of Claremont College who put a smile on my face each and every day. I am so very proud of your hard work, determination, effort and enthusiasm for learning. 

The children who attend Claremont have excelled in so many ways. Their academic results, other achievements, behaviour, conduct, attitude, care, kindness and school spirit has been

exemplary. Your flexibility, good humour, determination and positivity through this COVID-19 crisis has inspired me each and every day.

This photo says it all

Thank you to my entire staff team of 2020. You have especially been inspiring because of your remarkable efforts in dealing with the many challenges of 2020.

Your dedication and commitment to the children and to their education, is nothing short of brilliant. On top of this, you have given of yourselves to care for the children and do all you can, to ensure that Claremont is a safe, secure, fun and happy place for life and learning. You are inspiring!

A special mention to the incredible support of the office and administrative staff, our Teaching and Learning Assistants, music tutors, specialist subjects staff, our School Nurse Mrs Sallie Neville and Mr Tadd Pike for making our school such a marvellous place to be every day.  With just a few days to go, we too are all full of mixed emotions. 

Sadness because we will be saying farewell to many much loved children, especially our Year 6 students, whom we have cared for and nurtured over so many years. We are excited that they have become impressive young people who are fully prepared for the transition into high school and ready for a new and exciting chapter in their lives. This year we say farewell to the following Year 6 students who are heading off to 19 different  schools.

I am looking forward to seeing you tonight at our Valedictory Dinner.

Brigidine St Ives: Eliza LMC

Champagnat Catholic College: Amos W

Cranbrook: Max S

Inaburra High School: Luke B 

Inner Sydney High School: Celeste G

Kambala: Holly H, Akanksha M 

REDDAM House: Bronte M 

Rose Bay Secondary College: Gulliver Y 

SCEGGS: Keira M

South Sydney High School: Joseph M

St Andrew’s Cathedral School: Cassidy J, Jack K, Lewis L, Henry S, Tyson W-E, Audrey B

St Catherine’s: Caitlin C, Asimina C, Victoria D-B, Kaiya H Charlotte M, Arabella R, Ruby R, Sofia S, Scarlett O

St Clare’s: Tessa C, Isabella D-B, Anna L, Lacey M, Ava M, Lilly McC, Chloe T, Eme W

St George Christian School: Austin L

St Spyridon: Dominique K, Nicholas H

St Vincent’s: Sophie A, April S

Trinity Grammar: Joey A, Nathaniel G

Waverley College: Dante F 

Kindergarten Christmas Nativity

How beautiful and amazing is this! Congratulations to our Kindergarten students, and their teachers, Mrs Ko and Mrs Knoll especially, for creating such a stunning presentation. 

CLICK HERE 

Proud and Delighted with our 2020 Academic Results

An article in today's Sydney Morning Herald, provides a reminder of a significant achievement for our school in 2020 - our student academic success. The SMH article sadly indicated that the COVID-19 crisis has impacted student results across NSW. The article states; "NSW students have been hit worse than expected by online learning during COVID-19, with tests showing they have fallen three to four months behind in key areas such as reading and numeracy." 

Contrary to this news item, we are proud and delighted with the results of our students this year, particularly those reflected in our internal NAPLAN testing that was held in Term 3. If you missed the summary of student results (published in the Term 4 Week 1 Newsletter - 16 October), these may be found HERE. These results have been supported by the individual growth we have seen, though the standardised tests that all students (K-6) participate in annually, as well as other assessments and examinations held in grades across the year. Additionally, through Off Campus Learning we were thrilled to see evidenced growth in student's personal dispositions, particularly in what are often referred to as essential and important soft skills including collaboration, empathy, compassion, flexibility, independence and risk taking (to name a few). Despite the challenges of COVID-19, we can be thankful for some of the opportunities and unexpected outcomes that have arisen. It goes without saying that this is also a reflection of the dedicated work of the teachers and the brilliant leadership of Mrs Ford (Deputy Principal) and Ms Brenda Dalheim (Head of Learning Enrichment) both of whom have responsibility for student learning. Need it be mentioned the powerful correlation between student wellbeing and their learning, so thank you Mrs Cameron and Ms McKersie too.

With this, I am also pleased that parents will receive their child's Semester 2 report on Monday via the Parent Portal. As a school, we continually aim to improve the information that we provide to you in your child’s report. A message will be sent via the Claremont App as each year group is available. Please be patient as uploading can take time. 

As reports are released on the final Monday of the school each year, it has not been our practice to organise formal interviews at this time of the year. As you know, interviews are organised following Semester 1 reports. In addition, we have always encouraged parents to talk with teachers whenever they have a concern and from time to time, teachers initiate interviews with parents as they see the need. In this way, communication with parents is far more open, ongoing and meaningful. However, if having received your child’s report you feel it is necessary to speak with the teacher, please contact the school office to make an appointment. 

It’s a Wrap

Thank you also to the many children and families for your Christmas gifts, cards, good wishes, prayers and words of encouragement. Your support has been truly appreciated. Have a wonderful school break. May the fullness of life, hope for all that is to come, along with the joy and peace that comes from knowing Jesus, this Christmas. It is also time for a much needed break for all of us, and I wish you prayers, health and safety for a refreshing summer holiday and a happy new year.

Doug Thomas 
Principal

  Follow me @DougJThomas

LAST WEEK OF TERM @CLAREMONT

School Picnic Details

A reminder that our School Picnic is for children and staff only (not parents). Our venue for the picnic day is Carss Park. Children will catch buses to Carss Park and return to school by 3:00pm.

Plan A – Good Weather

Our venue for the picnic day is Carss Park. Buses will leave the school at 9:00am, so please ensure that your child is not late. Children who miss the bus will not be able to attend and parents will need to take them home.

Plan B – In Case of Wet Weather (The forecast is 23^o at Carss Park)

Should the picnic be cancelled due to wet weather, our venue WILL NOT BE Carss Park. Instead we will spend the day at school and another venue. It will be a great day nonetheless, filled with fun games and activities for the children. [Given that we had buses booked (which thankfully can be cancelled without cost), the children’s transportation fees will instead be used toward another activity.] These activities will be confirmed on Monday morning if it is raining. 

What to Wear

Regardless of the venue (rain or shine), children should wear their sports uniform. They will need to bring morning tea, lunch and drinks. Please ensure that your child is wearing a sunhat and has sunscreen applied prior to school. Additional blockout must be brought to school in his/her bag.  Children will need to bring their raincoats.

Parents of Year 6 students are invited to attend the Guard of Honour for Year 6 at 2:40pm on Tuesday 1 December. Parents will be able to take photos of Year 6 students once all the other students have left the playground. On your arrival, you will be required to sign in and expected to maintain social distancing at all times. During the guard of honour, parents will be restricted to the balcony area.

The third part of our Speech Day celebration will take place virtually on Wednesday 2 December, starting at 10:00am. Students will NOT come to school that day. Speech Day will be viewed from home. This will be an opportunity to celebrate the award winners, reflect on the year of 2020 and be entertained by many surprises, musical items and speeches from our Claremont staff and students. You will receive a link to a password protected page to view this special event. This will be a similar set-up to our School Concert. 

We are looking forward to celebrating the many achievements of 2020.

GIFTS FOR FRIENDS AND TEACHERS

Often at the end of the school year, children like to bring gifts and cards for their friends and for staff. We are happy for this to happen on Monday or Tuesday but no lollies or candy cane please and gifts and cards for other children cannot be brought on Wednesday. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter, and thank you for your gifts.

There is so much to look forward to as we plan for 2021, however I have to say that we have set so much in motion over the past few years, that we plan to continue to grow the programs where we are seeing success through student outcomes, without introducing any new programs.  

In 2021 we will:

• Continue to develop our programs for High Potential Learners, following our whole staff 2-day professional development (Mini COGE, Certificate of Gifted Education) in 2020;
• Remain focussed on our STEM Program in Stage 2 (Years 3 & 4), and spread this into Year 5 and 6, as well as within the Infants grades;
• Focus again on the ‘Challenging Learning’ work of James Nottingham, with a colleague of his joining us for our staff PD Day on 22 March, where we will continue to concentrate on ‘The Learning Pit’, ‘Challenging Learning Through Feedback’ and ‘Challenging Learning Through Dialogue’;
• Utilise the staff technology expertise as the majority of our staff are now accredited as ‘Apple Teachers’, to continue to develop the students’ IT skills using their iPads, to further enable technology assisted learning;
• Continue to utilise our Home Learning Program, with a focus on ‘Preview Learning’; and finally
• Each year we focus on a specific Key Learning Area, while all are important our focus helps us to revise and consolidate our teaching practices. In 2021 our focus will be the English syllabus, where we will continue to implement the Fountas & Pinnell Literacy Continuum, which is a tool for assessment, planning and teaching. For many years we have used Fountas & Pinnell for reading assessment, however in 2020 we began utilising the continuum for reading as well, rather than just the syllabus documents, and in 2021 we will introduce other aspects of this Literacy Continuum.

We are all hoping, as we are sure you are, that teaching and learning is on-site all year in 2021, however from a teaching and learning point of view we are all so impressed and proud of how well the students have done this year. Don’t listen to anyone who says student learning has suffered because of Off Campus Learning. Yes we had to think of new ways to deliver the curriculum, yes the students had to learn new technology skills at a faster pace than ever before, yes the students had to learn to be more independent and resilient, and YES Off Campus Learning put staff and students ‘in the pit’…often, but it’s been an amazing year of learning. When students became more independent, resilient, and tech-savvy so much 21^st Century learning flourished as a result. 

We will never go back to thinking ‘they can’t do that yet, we’ll wait til later in the year’, we will now be thinking, ‘how can we get from A to B as quickly as we can so that C can happen’, because children are far more adaptable, determined and robust than we often think they are. What would Judith Locke say? ‘Step back so they can step up’ and this is exactly what we have seen this year… so much to be proud of and so much to be grateful for. 

Have a wonderful Christmas break.

God Bless,

Janelle Ford
Deputy Principal

Congratulations to our students in Years 3 to 6 who participated in the Quest facilitated by BRAINways Education. The Quest provides opportunities for students across Australia to engage with complex, abstract, multi-disciplinary programs, designed to challenge students to work in teams and stimulate higher order thinking skills.

Our participating teams were all highly successful in the NSW Preliminary Challenges.  Here are the results in summary. 

Year 1-3 team (Billy, Ned and Audrey):

2nd overall
3rd in Maths
2nd Science
1st Humanities

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Year 4-6 Team 1 (Maya*, Sarah and Taka)
*Maya V in Year 3 participated in the Year 4 - 6 Team with her Year 4 partners.

4th overall
4th Maths
4th Science
2nd Humanities

Year 4-6 Team 2 (Gia, Simona, Caitlin)

5th overall
6th Maths
3rd Science
5th Humanities

This means that two of our teams have been successful in progressing to the National finals, as the finals are open to teams in first to fourth places, in the overall scores:

Years 1-3: Team 1 (Billy, Ned and Audrey)
Years 4-6: Team 1 (Maya, Sarah and Taka)

The QUEST 2020 National Finals are this coming Saturday 28 November. Our students will be participating online, as the borders are not open to NSW.

The children are all so proud and excited about their achievements so far.
We wish our students all the best in the Finals!

Brenda Dalheim
Head of Learning Enrichment

The following programs are offered by The University of NSW, in January 2021 and registrations opened this week. 

Years 3-6 Workshops

Years 3-4: The Games People Play with Tim Huang

Years 3-4: Magical Muggle Studies with Nathalia Velez

Years 3-4: Another workshop to be announced

Years 5-6: Public Speaking and Debating Skills with Patrick Fisher

Years 5-6: The Science of Earth's Changing Climate with Aaron Macleod

Years 5-6: Odd Maths with Daniel Judd

Click here for more information on the workshops.

Claremont College has entered the Kingsford Smith Saltwater Art Exhibition. The Eastern Suburbs Aboriginal Education Consultative Group and the office of Matt Thistlethwaite MP are running this community initiative exhibition. The exhibition will be at the Prince Henry Centre, Randwick City Council.

The aim of the initiative is to give students the opportunity to express their understanding and appreciation of the NAIDOC Week topic. ‘NAIDOC’ originally stood for ‘National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee’ but is now known as the ‘National Aboriginal and Islanders Days of Celebration’. 

The 2020 theme is – Always Was, Always Will Be.

This year’s theme acknowledges all the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nations from which we come. Every part of this land will always have significance. There is not one tree, animal, waterhole, cave, or river that doesn’t have a sacred meaning to Aboriginal People and there is not one that wasn’t someone’s totem or skin. NAIDOC is all about hearing, seeing, and listening, learning about Aboriginal Culture and respecting the truth.   

Please show your support for our talented group of Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 students who have worked with Miss Rachel Shiels to create this years' entry.

The exhibition will be displayed for one day only, on Saturday 5 December at the Prince Henry Centre. 

Brenda Dalheim
Head of Learning Enrichment

The school policy to date has been that a COVID-19 test is required where a student or staff member displays fever or cold or flu symptoms.

Students are required to remain at home and isolated until their negative COVID-19 results return. Test results should be provided to the school prior to returning.

However now, unless siblings are also showing symptoms, they may remain at school. This policy will be changed whenever the school feels it necessary.

We fully appreciate the imposition placed on busy families by asking that siblings remain at home. However, in the interests of keeping staff, students, and our wider community safe, these measures were necessary to put into place at the time.

To support students (and their parents) who are kept at home due to long term health reasons, we will provide work for at-home learning.

The school office will close on Friday 18 December and will re-open on Monday 18 January.

The following events are scheduled for Term 4 and and Term 1 2021 and will proceed depending on advice from the Australian Government, NSW Health and the Department of Education in accordance with the current COVID 19 situation.

Term 4

Term 1 2021

Whole School - Student Details and Permissions Form 2021

School Bus Registration for 2021

In preparation for the 2021 school year, we ask that you complete the Student Details and Permissions Form using the link below by Friday 27 November. This will ensure a smooth transition for your child/ren into the new school year. 

If you should have any questions regarding this form, please do not hesitate to contact us in the office. We are here to help.

Student Details and Permissions Form 2021

If your child uses the school bus, or you would like to register to use the school bus for Term 1 2021, please complete the registration form by CLICKING HERE. Please note that the buses are only able to carry 24 passengers each, and also service certain areas.  If you have any questions in relation to the school bus service, please email bus@claremont.nsw.edu.au

Don't forget if you are in any position to donate to Movember, it would be greatly appreciated and every cent makes a difference. 

https://movember.com/m/angusry... 

Kind Regards,
Mr Ryan Year 6 Teacher 

What an amazing year we have had in Kindy! From the first day, right up until the end, the students have not only made progress in their reading, writing and counting, but they have also learned how to be resilient, challenge themselves, and use new technology to help them learn. 

Despite it being a different first year at school, it has been full of learning and fun! Here are just some of the things that we have enjoyed this year... 

From the teachers...

“I have particularly enjoyed watching Kindy love learning and making many new friends this year. It was fun seeing all the students dress up for Book Week and show off their wonderful costumes at the parade.” - Mrs Vula 
“I loved seeing all the creative pieces the students’ made for Project Day each week during Off-Campus Learning. They really blew my socks off! - Mr Ko 
“I have enjoyed seeing each child develop a love of learning and grow in their understanding of the world around them.” - Mrs Hitchen 
“Watching them grow and flourish in confidence to become the amazing little people they are today.” - Mrs Giles 
“I have enjoyed seeing the children open up and become more confident in their abilities both in the learning space and the playground.” - Mrs Nunn

 From the students...

“I like phonics because it helps me to learn and read.” - Amelie G 
“I loved watching Chapel each week.” - Stella L 
“I loved dressing up as an angel for the nativity and singing ‘Jesus loves me.’ - Amelia H  
“I liked learning on the iPads.” - Aston T 
“I have enjoyed having my teachers this year and I will miss them when I’m in Year 1.” - Imara R 
“I have made so many new friends and I get to learn.” - Rose U 
“I loved being in the nativity.” - Patrick S 
“I really liked learning to read and spell.” - Archie S 
“I liked doing PE with Mr Geering.” - Hartford A 
“I like to do Sport because we play a lot and do fun things.” - Alexander P  
“Sport because you get to play very fun games.” - Carter J  
“Using the Teacher Monster app on the iPad.” - Jackson F  
“I love Golden Time!” - Rafael G  
“I love doing phonics.” - Jayden T  
“Going on the iPads.” - Lucas S  
“Going on the iPads and having fun and playing with my buddy.” - Micah A 
”Playing with my buddy and going on Matific.” - Evie Y 
“You get to have Golden Time!” - Sophie L  
“I like phonics and using the Teacher Monster app.” - Aidan P  
“My favourite thing has been doing Art.” - Zara R  
“I really enjoyed phonics and when Mr Ko does tricks.” - Archer L  
“I have loved it when people make me laugh.” - Chloe B  
“Maths because it is fun.” - Matilda L  
“Learning how to divide and multiply.” - Scarlett Y  
“Phonics groups and fun activities.” - Lennox C  
“Playing on the playground at recess and lunch.” - Daniel L  
“I like going on the iPads and playing with my friends.” - William L  
“I like it when the teachers help us to learn.” - Isabella H  
“The greatest thing about this year is that we have learned so much and the funnest thing is playing with our friends.” - Tex R  
“I like it when Mr Ko does funny tricks.” - Yasmin E  
“The best thing is making new friends.” - Tom H  
“I loved performing in the concert.” - Camille C 
“I like Sport.” - Chelsea J  
“I have loved making Christmas things.” - Cole G  
“I love doing Art and Science” - Tahlia P  
“I like doing Indonesian and Art.” - Maelyn G 
“I love the weekends :-)” - Isabella G 
“Geography because it teaches me about places.” - Alice C  
“We get to learn.” - Mae W 
“I'm going to miss someone who is leaving soon… my buddy!” - Mason T 
“My favourite thing about Kindy is doing Geography and Art.” - Olive U 
“Playing with my friends.” - Isabella W 
“My favourite thing to learn was phonics.” - Raphael A 
“Learning about 3D objects.” - Florence N 
“I liked being a sheep in the nativity and I am nearly in Year 1!” - Hayden J 
“Geography because I like making maps.” - Jacob L 
“Science, because we are doing coding.” - Charlotte P 
“I like Art because I also like drawing at home.” - Amelie L  
“Meeting Tom and being able to do Pixie Post.” - Ollie H  
“I like Sport.” - Olivia L  
“Maths is my favourite.” - Nicholas S  
“I like phonics and Maths.” - Ella F  
“Meeting my buddy.” - Rosie M  
“My favourite thing has been phonics and my second favourite thing is hanging out with my friends and my teachers.” - Joshua P  
“Doing phonics.” - Oliver T 
“I love Sport” - Thomas H 

From the Kindergarten Teachers,
Mrs Vula, Mr Ko, Mrs Hitchen, Mrs Giles and Mrs Nunn 

Kindergarten Nativity Link

CLICK HERE

Year 1 Wrap Up

Year 1, what a fun year we have had together! We have enjoyed spending time this week reminiscing about our year, and despite things being very far from normal for almost a term and a half, we came up with a list that made our year at school seem jam packed full of fun and interesting learning experiences! 

So here they are, in the students’ own words:

Things that we have enjoyed this year: 

“Making new friends and playing with them outside.”  Sabrina A 
“When Year 1 got to go to Coogee Beach for winning the Nude Food challenge.”
- Charlotte C 
“Art, because we learnt how to draw and how to shade.” - Ernie C  
“Reading groups because we got to do an iPad activity on Phonics Hero.” - Teddy F  
“Painting Christmas trees in Art.” - Juliette F 
“Painting our Christmas tree sculptures and drawing pumpkins in Art.”  - Hamish F 
“Scripture lessons.” - Samantha G 
“The memory verse challenges in Chapel.” - Oliver H 
“When we got to dress up for Book Week.’ - Fynn J 
“Performing in the concert.” - Alexis L 
“Doing science experiments.” - Cedric L 
“PE because it’s good exercise and my teachers because they’re really kind.” - Rose L 
“Chapel because I get to learn about God’s love and Maths because I love doing challenges.” - Esther L 
“Learning different strategies to complete my work in Maths groups.“ - Harrison M 
“I enjoyed Art because I like painting.” - Amber O 
“Painting wooden Christmas trees in Art.” - Aleks P 
“Going to our Specialist lessons (PE, Music, Library and Indonesian).” - James P 
“When we got to do painting in Art.” - Jai P 
“Learning to use Clips for my Project Based Learning task in Geography.” - Isabel R 
“When we made some constellations in Science with marshmallows and toothpicks.” - Lennox R 
“Maths because it is so much fun.” - Joshua S 
“Learning the jump strategy in Maths.” - Cooper S  
“Doing AFL during Sport because we got to kick the ball around the field. - Lachlan T 
“Running around at Sport.” - Lucan T 
“Reading groups because it is fun to read.” - Amelia T 
“Chapel, because of the memory verses and singing.” - Jaymie T 
“Listening to stories in Chapel.” - Wilson W 
“Learning about shading in Art.” - Ava W 
“Painting in Art.” - Amery W 
“Making new friends.” - Esra V  

Our favourite memories of Year 1 were:

“Watching the chicks hatch out of their eggs.” Jacob A 
“Holding the chicks.” - Lucia B 
“Borrowing books from the Library and Star of the Day.” - Lucas B 
“Earning Golden Time, when we got all of the bubbles on the class whale.” - Isabel C 
“Doing Project Based Learning in Geography.” - Louis G 
“When I had a picnic with Mr Smith at Sport.” - Taylor K 
“Book Week because we could get dressed up as a book character.” - Charlotte K 
“Doing the Cross Country at Grant Reserve.” - Flynn K 
“Watching the chicks grow.” - Avery L 
“The teachers and my friends.” - Charlotte L 
“Doing Off Campus Learning.” - Noah L 
“Seeing the chicks hatch.” - Lily LP  
“When we had the Chicks in our classroom.” - Samuel M 
“Having so much fun and getting so hot in Dance.” - Georgia O  
“The Concert, because I got to dance.” - George P 
“Fun in Spelling Mastery.” - Finlay P 
“When the chicks hatched and one chick had bits of shell and goo stuck on it.” - Marcus R 
“The first day of school because I met my new teachers and made new friends.” - Rosie R 
“When I got a gold certificate in Assembly.” - Rosario S 
“The Year 1 excursion to Elizabeth Farm.” - Cooper St 
“Doing drawing and painting techniques in Visual Art.” - Caitlyn Y 
“Mr Smith, Mrs Stewart, Mrs Kirkland and Mrs Eu because they helped me.” - Isabella Z

Funny things that have happened in Year 1 include: 

“When we watched Mrs Knoll get covered in chicken pox that were actually stickers.”
- Joni A 
“When the class caught the giggles on the floor, and couldn’t stop laughing - even the teachers.” - Charlotte B 
“When we had to learn from home.” - Kobe C 
“One of the chicks pooped in my hand.” - Helena C 
“When the teachers were making up funny words.” - Mariana CL 
“Mrs Knoll made us laugh on the Chapel videos.” - Christian J 
“When we did joke telling during Home Learning.” - Sofia L

Year 1 - it has been an absolute pleasure being your teachers this year. We will miss you when you head off to Year 2, but we will be proudly watching on as you grow and mature. 

2, 4, 6, 8 - YEAR 1 IS GREAT!

From Mrs Eu, Mrs Kirkland, Mrs Stewart and Mr Smith
The Year 1 Team

Year 2 Wrap Up

What a year it has been in our Year 2 Jungle (and in our homes…) There have been so many memorable moments this year and even COVID-19 could not stop Year 2 from learning and having fun amidst the challenges 2020 had brought. It has been such a pleasure watching our Year 2 learners grow in maturity and resilience within this school year. 

Below is just a snippet of all the highlights, precious moments, teamwork and fun that Year 2 has had this year - enjoy!

What has been the most precious memory you have of Year 2?

“Working with new friends this year.” - Bella L 
“Making my Geography PBL presentation on Book Creator.” - Max F 
“Creating a brochure to help people in Coffs Harbour.” - Peter L 
“Learning about vibrations in Science.” - Will K 
“When Miss Tan tried to be angry but ended up laughing.” - Will B 
“I loved whenever we did Art because I like drawing portraits.” - Alexa S 
“Making a musical instrument in Science.” - Xavier G 
“Pyjama party because we got to watch a movie and eat lots of pizza and chocolate!” - Jasmine B 
“When I was at my locker on the first day of school and found out who my Year 2 teachers were. I screamed! With joy of course.” - Valentina S 
“Presenting my Geography PBL about getting tourists to visit Orange.” - Lawrence K

How has our Year 2 community helped you get through COVID?

“I could have food whenever I wanted and I could see my friends on Zoom.” - Harry R 
“I liked how we did show and tell at the end of our Zoom meetings with the class. I showed all my Lego!” - Zac L 
“The teachers were creative with their activities. We didn’t just have a holiday, we were still learning and reading lots of books together on Zoom.” - Mateo H 
“Feeling supported especially on Zoom.” - Jethro L 
“The teachers and everyone were just so supportive and encouraging.” - Roy J

What has made you laugh the most in Year 2?

“When an Elf on the Shelf came to visit our classroom!” - Bella R 
“When my friends do silly dances and tell jokes.” - Lauren V 
“Buddy the Elf makes me laugh because took lots of selfies and he brought a snowman from the north pole. It was melted!” - Jamie W 
“When my friend always says jolly good show!’ - Eadie P 
“Buddy the Elf! He has a good sense of humour and he is cheeky.” - Aidan S 
“My friends always make me laugh.” - Georgia G

Miss Tan, Ms Roberts, Mrs Nicolaides and Mrs Breakspear
The Year 2 Team

Pixie Post & Year 3 Wrap Up

This Week, Year 3 organised Pixie Post for the whole school. Pixie Post is a great time to write lovely Christmas messages to students and teachers. Each morning Year 3 students stood at the fishpond with a huge red box labelled ‘PIXIE POST’, a giant Santa head, reindeer ears and lots of bells. Students placed their Christmas cards into the red box for Year 3 students to sort and deliver.

At the beginning of the week Year 3 made predictions about which grade would receive the most cards in the week and how many cards in total would be delivered to the whole school over the week. Each day in our Mathematics lesson, Year 3 would sort the cards and then count them. We collected all the data and put it into a table for us to work on throughout the week. 

Here are some interesting facts about Pixie Post: 

• Year 2 received the most cards this week.
• The office received the least number of cards this week.
• The total number of cards delivered in the week was 6,344!
• Year 3 delivered the least number of cards on Monday.
• Eddie, our Elf on the shelf, received 10 Christmas cards this year.
• Tuesday was the most popular day to post cards. 

Here are some of the reflections from Year 3 about Pixie Post this week.

“Pixie post was fun because we got to collect cards and sort them. People wrote really nice cards to each other.” - Scarlett C  
“It was fun to ring our bells and wear Christmas hats as we delivered letters. The infants' kids really liked receiving letters.” - Stella L  
“It was fun to write letters to my friends before they go on holiday.” - Evie J  

We cannot believe that this year has come to an end. We have had the most amazing year of learning and fun in Year 3. We have taken the opportunity to ask some of our students their highlights from the year.

“I have had the best teachers in the world.” - Abbie H 
“My highlight was who I was sharing the space with - my teachers and my friends.”
- Maya V 
“It was fun learning at home. You can wear your pyjamas all day and wake up whenever.” - Alastair LP 
“We are so blessed to have such a great school family.” - Clara K  
“I really liked learning about stop motion in Photography.” - Hosea W 
“Doing the Quest was the highlight of my year. I enjoyed the challenge and working with other people in my group.” - Audrey F  
“STEM was so much fun. I liked learning how to code the Dash robots and seeing what I could get them to do.” - Angus B 
“I enjoyed making earthquake proof towers during STEM this year. My tower was able to withstand an earthquake.” - Oliver R 
“I loved how we had many challenges to do, a limited amount of items and limited amount of time. It was fun to challenge ourselves and I learnt how to persist when I felt like I was in the learning pit.” - Dion T 
“I loved learning how to take really good photos during Photography in Visual Art this year. I liked learning about the app ‘Pixlr’.” - Harry B 
“My highlight was learning how to effectively collaborate with others during STEM challenges.” - Evan H  
“It was fun to end the year doing different escape rooms.” - Jez C

Miss Morrison, Miss Duff, Mrs Parker and Miss Kelly
The Year 3 Team

Year 4 Wrap Up

What an interesting and challenging year this has been for all of us! 2020 will be one we will remember for a long time to come.

It has been a fantastic year of introducing new technologies and apps like the Sphero and Mindstorm robotics in Year 4. We have been exploring STEM challenges such as making the largest tower out of marshmallows and raw spaghetti. The activities were great to build their resilience and determination when the first attempt didn't work and try again. 

What our teachers enjoyed:

“I have enjoyed teaching the students for a second year and seeing how much they have grown. I loved learning about STEM and using all the new robotics.” - Mrs Irwin 
“I enjoyed creating a restaurant in the classroom during our Thai-riffic incursion in Term 3. I loved teaching and learning about our class novel of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in Term 2.” - Mrs Herborn 
“I have enjoyed ‘Business in a Box’ in Term 4. It has been great seeing all the students work together on their products and run a mini business.” - Mrs Speranza

Here are some reflections from Year 4’s favourite parts from the year.

“I enjoyed learning about the First Fleet.” - Cristina S 
“Business in a Box and creative writing.”
- Billie H 
“Camp, Business in a Box and STEM.”
- Katherine T 
“Performing in the virtual Concert!” - Taka M 
“The Apple pencils, science and STEM.”
- Stella C 
“I really enjoyed the creative writing.”
- Sarah B 
“I loved everything about Year 4.” - Simona P 
“I enjoyed participating in different sports each week.” - Victoria G 
“Business in a Box in Term 4.” - William Z 
“Business in a Box and the different sports we played each week.” - Hugo M 
“I enjoyed Tennis for sport and Business in a Box.” - Illiana S 
“Getting an award at Speech Day.” - Ben V 
“Business in a Box.” - Zara F 
“Thai food for our Thai-riffic incursion and Business in a Box.” - Nicholas G 
“Business in a Box.” - Marcus K 
“Apple pens in digital art and Business in a Box.” - Chloe M 
“The day camp when we went to Galston Gorge.” - Maison R 
“The teachers and learning new things.”
- Enzo S 
“STEM and Business in a Box.” - Caleb S 
“Business in a Box and making our products.” - Dion Z 
“My teachers and friends.” - Saskia VG

From the Year 4 Teachers
Mrs Irwin, Mrs Herborn, Mrs Speranza and Miss Kelly

Year 5 2020 Reflections

All good things must come to an end. 

This year has been a memorable one. We have all grown in resilience, flexibility and appreciation for one another. We asked Grade 5 to reflect on their 2020. Together as a grade we enjoyed going down memory lane with photos from throughout the year. Students then answered the questions: 

• Which have been your favourite topics and lessons this year?
• What areas do you think you have most improved in this year? 

We teachers would like to thank our students, their parents and the Claremont College community for their kindness and support throughout 2020. We can say with confidence that it will be a year we will NEVER forget! 

Best Christmas wishes!

Miss Mackay, Mrs Marquet and Miss Shiels
Year 5 Teaching Team

Which have been your favourite topics and lessons this year and why?

"Novel Study, Maths Number (addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, decimals, fractions...), Science (Space - planets, life on Mars), Geography Content (Why do people live where they live?), Dance (Concert Item), PE Lessons (Mr Geering). I like PE lessons because they are fun and we get a choice in what we do for the warm ups. I liked the concert because the dance moves were creative and again fun to do. I also liked Geography because we got to make up our own characters and the teachers gave us freedom to choose them. Science was fun because we got to paint the planets and draw how the solar system works." - Zahra A
"English Narrative Writing (story mountain), English Literary Description (The Island and Fox), Novel Study, Maths Measurement (volume, capacity, mass, angles, time, position, length, area, 2D, 3D...), Maths Number (addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, decimals, fractions...), PE Lessons (Mr Geering), Indonesian (Mrs Shoebridge). They are very fun and educational." Nicolas C
Maths Measurement (volume, capacity, mass, angles, time, position, length, area, 2D, 3D...), Maths Number (addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, decimals, fractions...), Scripture, Drama (Mime), Drama (The Lorax), Dance (Concert Item). Because the teachers made it fun and tried to help us enjoy it, which I did." - Elijah C
"English Literary Description (The Island and Fox), Science (Desert Survivors - Animal Adaptations), Scripture, Geography PBL (bushfires presentation on iPad), Visual Art (Claymation), Drama (Mime). It just felt so nice and fun and I felt proud at my literary description and I can’t explain it! And mime was so fun messing around with your peers pretending to be singing fishes and stuff! And the PBL for Geo was fun because I just got immersed in it and I just didn’t want to stop! And scripture is so FUN! And I loved the desert survivors because you could make your own creature and it was AMAZING!!! I wish time machines were invented so that we could go back and have all this fun again!"
- Micah C
"Spelling Mastery, Science (Desert Survivors - Animal Adaptations), Visual Art (Claymation), Drama (The Lorax), PE Lessons (Mr Geering), Library Borrowing, Space topic. Because they are fun and some of them involved collaboration and I also like spelling mastery."
- Marco D
"History, Geography, Visual Arts, Dance, Library Literacy Lessons (Mrs Affleck), Indonesian (Mrs Shoebridge). Well at the start of the year I wasn’t very good at them but I keep practising and practising and then I thought I really improved." - Ziggy E
"English Literary Description (The Island and Fox), Maths Number (addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, decimals, fractions...), Scripture, Visual Art (Claymation), Drama (The Lorax), Dance (Concert Item), PE Lessons (Mr Geering). I found most of these subjects very collaborative and I enjoy working with my friends and people who I had not worked with before!" - Matilda F
"English Narrative Writing (story mountain), Novel Study, Science (Forces - gravity, friction, elasticity, applied force, magnetism), Science (Space - planets, life on Mars), Visual Art (Claymation), PE Lessons (Mr Geering). All of these subjects included me being able to think creatively and also be open minded about others." - Henry F 
"English Narrative Writing (story mountain), English Persuasive Writing (Dear family, speeches...), English Literary Description (The Island and Fox), Geography PBL (bushfires presentation on iPad), Library Literacy Lessons (Mrs Affleck), Art with Ms Shiels (whale artwork). English has always been a subject that I’m good at, as well as just being really fun to do because I get to be really creative and I just love being able to make up my own characters and stories. Besides, who doesn’t like drawing with Apple Pencils for English? I really liked doing my Geo PBL because I was allowed to choose my own topic, and learn lots about how to help people and new things, like what DAs are. Then I loved doing Library literature because, well, I love books and stuff. And finally, I love working with Ms Shiels on the whale artwork because it’s just a little project that I can work on carefully and slowly with only a few other people and it’s really fun." - Beth G
"English Persuasive Writing (Dear family, speeches...), Spelling Mastery, Maths Number (addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, decimals, fractions...), Science (Forces - gravity, friction, elasticity, applied force, magnetism), Science (Space - planets, life on Mars), History Content (Australian colonies), Visual Arts (Print Making), Visual Art (Claymation), Drama (The Lorax), Dance (Concert Item), Library Literacy Lessons (Mrs Affleck). Well mostly because they were easier for me and I have always loved to do maths and I also loved to listen to our teacher's stories and etc..." - Theodore G
"Spelling Mastery, Science (Space - planets, life on Mars), History PBL (Using TimeToast on the iPad), Geography PBL (bushfires presentation on iPad), Visual Art (Claymation), Dance (Concert Item), PE Lessons (Mr Geering). I really enjoyed all of them this year and I didn’t just have fun I also learnt a lot. That is why I really enjoyed this year." - Clementine G
"English Literary Description (The Island and Fox), Maths Measurement (volume, capacity, mass, angles, time, position, length, area, 2D, 3D...), Maths Number (addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, decimals, fractions...), Science (Forces - gravity, friction, elasticity, applied force, magnetism), Geography Content (Why do people live where they live?), Dance (Concert Item). Because the teachers have made learning really enjoyable and have taught it to us in a fun way." - Sofia G
"Spelling Mastery, Grammar, Science (Desert Survivors - Animal Adaptations), Scripture, Visual Art (Claymation), PE Lessons (Mr Geering). Because I love sports and spelling so I chose Spelling Mastery and PE, I also love creating new things so I buddied up with Jasper to do claymation. The scripture is really fun and grammar is so fun!" - Oliver K
"English Persuasive Writing (Dear family, speeches...), Science (Desert Survivors - Animal Adaptations), History Content (Australian colonies), Visual Art (Claymation), Drama (The Lorax), PE Lessons (Mr Geering). They help me develop as a person." - Alexander K
"Spelling Mastery, Maths Number (addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, decimals, fractions...), History Content (Australian colonies), Geography PBL (bushfires presentation on iPad), Visual Art (Claymation), PE Lessons (Mr Geering). Because I have improved and enjoyed them." - Sebastian LP
"Novel Study, Science (Space - planets, life on Mars), Scripture, Geography PBL (bushfires presentation on iPad), Visual Arts (Print Making), Visual Art (Claymation), Dance (Concert Item), PE Lessons (Mr Geering). Science: Because I thought that space was interesting. Visual arts: Because I like to express myself through art. Dance: I liked being taught the dance P.E: I like physical activities." - Lola U
"Spelling Mastery, Maths Number (addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, decimals, fractions...), Science (Desert Survivors - Animal Adaptations), History PBL (Using TimeToast on the ipad), Visual Arts (Print Making), Drama (Mime), Dance (Concert Item). Maths was just fun being with my friends and figuring out new things with them. With science I did some research on an animal. History was fun just learning about these things!" - Archie M
"English Narrative Writing (story mountain), English Persuasive Writing (Dear family, speeches...), Drama. Drama, because I am not a very good performer, but this has helped me grow in my performance matter. English, I was not a great writer but now I am better." - Bryce Mc
"English Literary Descriptions (The Island and Fox), Maths Measurement (volume, capacity, mass, angles, time, position, length, area, 2D, 3D...), Maths Number (addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, decimals, fractions...). For Maths, I have frequently been moving up groups, and maths has gotten easier. I also have learned to write more “narrative” styled texts since the start of this year." - Seamus Mc
"Grammar, Science (Space - planets, life on Mars), Scripture, Drama (The Lorax), Library Literacy Lessons (Mrs Affleck), PE Lessons (Mr Geering). These are my favourite subjects because they were really fun and I have learned so many different things, not only about science but about the Bible. I have learned many different things this year and I am glad I did them." - Andreas M
"Maths Number (addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, decimals, fractions...), Scripture, Visual Art (Claymation), Drama (The Lorax), Dance (Concert Item), Music Lessons (Mrs Barr). Everything because I learnt new things and they were fun also I enjoyed when we worked in groups." - Evie MZ
"Novel Study, Scripture, History Content (Australian colonies), Drama (The Lorax), Library Literacy Lessons (Mrs Affleck), Off Campus Learning. Because I enjoy them. Scripture is obvious, you get to learn about how powerful god is and how much he loves us. Drama, because I got to have a part and memorise my lines to say in front of a crowd (though, I was on zoom). Off campus learning in general was awesome, I just love using more apps and getting choice and time management skills. Novel study was awesome with conspiracy theories and book club! History was pretty enlightening and library was taught by a really good teacher!" - Ruby M
"English Narrative Writing (story mountain), Novel Study, Maths Number (addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, decimals, fractions...), Visual Art (Claymation), Drama (Mime), Drama (The Lorax), Dance (Concert Item), Library Borrowing. For English I love narratives. For novel study I love reading the books that were chosen for us. For Maths I love doing the subjects (well some kind of..). For visual arts/claymation I love working with Lola and Izzy for the claymation. For drama/mime I love how we learned to mime things. For drama/Lorax I love how we were in an act together as a class. For dance/concert term I love how I was the leader of the running in circles For library borrowing I love how we borrow books that we enjoy." - Bella M
"English Literary Description (The Island and Fox), Novel Study, Science (Space - planets, life on Mars), Scripture, History PBL (Using TimeToast on the iPad), Geography PBL (bushfires presentation on iPad), Geography Content (Why do people live where they live?), Visual Art (Claymation), Dance (Concert Item). I love every lesson, the teacher use visual descriptions when they are explaining things, which is great for my learning." - Hannah N
"English Persuasive Writing (Dear family, speeches...), Grammar, Maths Number (addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, decimals, fractions...), Geography PBL (bushfires presentation on iPad), Visual Art (Claymation), PE Lessons (Mr Geering). Because they are all fun!" - Sanja P
"English Narrative Writing (story mountain), Novel Study, Maths Measurement (volume, capacity, mass, angles, time, position, length, area, 2D, 3D...), Maths Number (addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, decimals, fractions...), Visual Art (Claymation), Dance (Concert Item). I like these subjects because the way we do them is fun and interesting." -Jasmine S
"English Literary Description (The Island and Fox), Novel Study, Geography PBL (bushfires presentation on Ipad), Visual Art (Claymation), Drama (The Lorax), PE Lessons (Mr Geering). These are my favourite subjects because 1. I have had so much fun 2. I have learnt so much from those lessons and it makes me understand more now." - Xanthe S
"Maths Measurement (volume, capacity, mass, angles, time, position, length, area, 2D, 3D...), Maths Number (addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, decimals, fractions...), Geography Content (Why do people live where they live?), Visual Art (Claymation), Drama (The Lorax), Dance (Concert Item), Library Borrowing. These are my favourite subjects this year because I have had the most fun so far with these topics! I get excited when I hear that we’re doing any of these subjects! And I think I have done the most well with them!" - Mila T
"English Literary Description (The Island and Fox), Visual Art (Claymation), Drama (The Lorax), Dance (Concert Item), PE Lessons (Mr Geering), Health, Book week, Bucket filling, Genius hour, Chance game, Beep test. These are my favourite things because the teachers weren’t too strict on us. It was just fun and I laughed 1000 times!" - Jasper VG
"English Narrative Writing (story mountain), English Literary Descriptions (The Island and Fox), Novel Study. I have been focusing really hard on them and teachers teach me well." - Jake W
"Spelling, Science, Music Lessons (Mrs Barr). I think with spelling I really wanted to improve so I just knuckled down and got the words learnt. With science you really will never know everything so I improved lots in that and I somehow got better at music. I don’t know how." - Oliver W
"English Persuasive Writing (Dear family, speeches...), Novel Study, Maths Measurement (volume, capacity, mass, angles, time, position, length, area, 2D, 3D...), Science (Space - planets, life on Mars), History Content (Australian colonies), Visual Art (Claymation), Drama (The Lorax), PE Lessons (Mr Geering). I think because that’s where I contain all my knowledge and those are the topics I’m super passionate about and love to put my hand up in." - Georgia W
"Science (Desert Survivors - Animal Adaptations), Science (Space - planets, life on Mars), Visual Art (Claymation), Drama (The Lorax), Dance (Concert Item), PE Lessons (Mr Geering). Well I’ve always loved science and art. I really like the art project because you can work with your hands and other materials and I like performing the Lorax. I liked science where we can be imaginative. And I like PE because of all the fun games." - Isabelle W 
"English Literary Description (The Island and Fox), Maths Number (addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, decimals, fractions...), Visual Art (Claymation), Drama (The Lorax), Library Literacy Lessons (Mrs Affleck), Music Lessons (Mrs Barr). I like doing these subjects. They are interesting and fun!" - James Z

What areas do you think you have most improved in this year and why?

"Grammar, Maths Number (addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, decimals, fractions...), Scripture, Visual Arts, PE Lessons (Mr Geering). Because I like these subjects, and when I like a subject I put more effort into it." - Ivy B 
"Maths Measurement (volume, capacity, mass, angles, time, position, length, area, 2D, 3D...), Maths Number (addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, decimals, fractions...), Indonesian (Mrs Shoebridge). Because firstly, I have amazing teachers who teach me well, and help me when I am in need. And also, I think I have persisted a lot, especially in maths. And I am quite proud of myself for persisting." - Georgia B
"English Narrative Writing (story mountain), English Persuasive Writing (Dear family, speeches...), Grammar, Maths Number (addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, decimals, fractions...), Scripture, History, Visual Arts. Just these areas I found more challenging. But I understand them better now!" - Henry B
"Grammar, Maths Measurement (volume, capacity, mass, angles, time, position, length, area, 2D, 3D...), History. I think I have improved because at the start of the year I wasn’t really good at those topics and now I can understand it more." - Sofia C
"Grammar, History, Geography, Maths and persuasive language /speeches. Grammar: firstly: I started not really liking grammar😁 secondly: I know where to put specific grammar words. History: firstly: I never used to know that much about history. Secondly: even though I didn’t go to the history excursion I know some more. Geography: firstly: I never knew that much about Geo, now I know about it." - Costantia G
"English Literary Descriptions (The Island and Fox), Science, Geography. I think I improved as the lessons were easy to follow and were interactive which made them fun." - Caitlyn L
"English Narrative Writing (story mountain), Scripture, Visual Arts, Music Lessons (Mrs Barr). I have learnt a lot about these topics and I didn’t understand as much as I did before."
-Sienna L
"English Literary Descriptions (The Island and Fox), Maths Number (addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, decimals, fractions...), Visual Arts. In a lot of the previous years I’ve found these subjects difficult, but I think I’ve gotten better at them this year."
- Thomas L
"Novel Study, Grammar. I think l have gotten better at Grammar because all of my table has been helping me and supporting me with every answer. They give me feedback on what to do. They tell me new grammar words! So I think that helps a lot. Also thanks to the amazing teachers for teaching me Grammar." - Henry M
"English Persuasive Writing (Dear family, speeches...), Grammar. I think I improved in these because I practise and experimented with difficult words and used them in different ways." - Nick T

2021 Year 6 Jersey Orders

It’s jersey time for the class of 2021! Please see the attached flyer for details on how to order a jersey. Your child was measured this week by the Ranier Design Group and their sizing is in their diary or on SeeSaw. Orders must be placed by December 11 (no orders will be accepted after this date).

The Afternoon Show with Mr Ryan

It is with great pleasure we recommence ‘The Afternoon Show’ with Mr Ryan. We hope you enjoy the final episode - Episode 8! 

The Year 6 Team

Kindergarten Nativity

Christmas is almost here and this week we get to celebrate Christmas with the Kindergarten Nativity. 

Although the Kindergarten students were not able to perform their usual Nativity for the parents and families it was wonderful to see them be able to act out and each narrate the story. 

If you would like to watch this year's Kindergarten Nativity you can CLICK HERE. 

This term in Chapel we are continuing to focus on the theme ‘Blessed is the PEACEMAKER.’ As we get closer to Christmas, we are looking at Jesus the Prince of PEACE.

This week is the last typical Chapel for 2020 before we have a celebration Chapel on Tuesday. In Chapel this week Year 1 and Year 4 won the memory verse challenge and will be helping to create the final celebration. 

It has been a real privilege to run Chapel this year despite the change from in person to online. I am always so encouraged by students and families' responding to Chapel and pray that it will continue to be a great encouragement for our school community. 

We love seeing the students getting involved in the Chapel videos each week. Remember if you would like to watch this week's online Chapel video you can find it on our school website.

You can also watch this week's Chapel by Clicking here.

Tiffany Knoll
Chapel Coordinator

School Children Planting Project

This week was an incredibly exciting one for the Eco Warrior team at Claremont! The students have been raising seedlings since the beginning of August when we restarted our ‘School Children Planting Project’, an initiative that was set up to support people affected by the devastating bushfires.

On Thursday, 200 native plants were collected by Kevin and his team from the ‘Convoy of Hope’ and they were transported to Lake Conjola. Through this project, our school community was able to connect with people in need and it was a wonderful opportunity to bring some happiness to those who were affected by so much loss and destruction. In addition, it also provided our students with hands-on experience of the necessary growing conditions for plants. 

Here are some thoughtful reflections from the students about their involvement with this project: 

"It was a great experience to help people who experienced such awful devastation." - Sophie A (Year 6)

"I liked being able to help other people." - Eme W (Year 6)

"I learnt a lot about planting and I even found worms when I was doing it." - Georgina K (Year 3)

"We got to help people whose gardens were damaged. That was their special place and I am glad that we could help to start a new one." - Bryce Mc (Year 5)

Nude Food Champions

Year 1 were the deserving winners of this semester’s ’Nude Food’ competition. ‘Nude Food’ is an initiative that we launched last year in an attempt to reduce unnecessary waste and to inspire our students to make environmentally sound choices.

To celebrate their achievement, Year 1 took a trip to Coogee Beach where they were able to relax, play games and enjoy the beautiful weather. This is the second year in a row that this cohort has won the competition and it shows us how good habits can be formed with practice and determination. 

Here are some reflections from the students:

"I like reusing my lunch containers so that my plastic doesn’t end up in the sea."
- Mariana CL

"I liked playing in the sand at Coogee Beach and it was cool to win two years in a row" - Helena C 

"We dug a giant hole in the sand and it was really fun" - Sabrina A 

"It’s actually easy to bring in nude food." - Jaymie T 

The Eco Warrior Team

Miss Kelly, Mr Ko, Mrs Shiels, Mrs Marquet, Miss Duff

Many of our students have mentioned how excited they are about books they hope to receive as Christmas gifts. It is wonderful to have so many enthusiastic readers. We just wanted to remind you that your children can also access a vast number of digital resources over the holidays. 

The Sora app is very user friendly and it is worth taking the time to explore all the available resources with your children.

• To access eBooks on any home device click on the link below
• http://ebooks.claremont.nsw.edu.au  
• Sign into our school - select Claremont College
• Enter username: for example john.smith or if a student has a longer name it will be the same format as their email.
• Use the Explore (binoculars) icon to explore the entire collection. Then simply click on selected subjects of interest.
• For younger readers the Beginning Reader collection is worth exploring.
• Read-Alongs allow the user to listen to a narrated story but also follow the narrator as the words are highlighted.
• If you feel your children have had too much time looking at a screen in the holidays, do a search of the range of audiobooks available.

Books with a Christmas theme available via the digital collection 

A huge thank you to all those students who have already returned library books. There are still a number of students who need to return overdue books. Library books can be returned any day of the week and placed in the library book return box. Many thanks for your assistance with returns.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

Mrs Susan Kesur and Mrs Stephanie Affleck

TERM 1 MORNING SKILLS SPORTS PROGRAMS 2021

Term 1 Sport information and registration form have been made available on your Parent Portal. 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 11 December 2020.

Programs commence from Week 4, 2021. 

Monday: Year 3-6 Tennis (Eastern Suburbs Tennis Centre)
Tuesday: Year 1-2 Tennis (at school) and Year 3-6 AFL (Grant Reserve)
Wednesday: Year 3-6 Netball (at school)
Thursday: Year 1-2 Dance (hip hop) (before school in school hall)
Friday: Year 1-2 Football (soccer) (at school)

Morning Skills Information booklet

Joel Geering
Sports Coordinator 

If your child wishes to participate in any music tuition or after school extra curricularactivities in 2021, please check the school website for details on the tutor or click the links below.

Please note that all students are required to re-enrol for lessons in 2021.

Claremont College Concert Band - Sam Golding 

Click HERE to register for Band with Sam.

Brass - Sam Golding

Click HERE to register for Brass lessons with Sam.

Drums - Percy Reddy

Please click HERE to register for lessons with Percy.

Flute - Visnja Kosanovic

Click HERE to register for lessons with Visnja.

Guitar & Rock Band - Luke Galea

Click HERE to register for guitar and/or rock band lessons with Luke.

Guitar - Mark Tsangaris

Click HERE to register for lessons with Mark.

Piano - Helena Kacarovski

Click HERE to register for lessons with Helena.

Singing with Lyndell Pym

Click HERE to register for lessons with Lyndell.

String Ensemble and Cello - Margaret Machamer

Click HERE to register for cello lessons or string ensemble with Margaret.

Violin - Dominique Guerbois

Click HERE to register for violin lessons with Dominique.

BEFORE SCHOOL & AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES

Art & Craft Workshops with Artisan at Home

Bookings are taken online www.artisanathome.com.au  at any time.

Chess Coaching with Sydney Academy of Chess

To register for Chess Coaching please click HERE

Coding Club with CodeCreate

If you want to try the first lesson for free, click HERE to sign up.

If you’re ready to enrol or you wish to re-enrol, click HERE.

Curtain Call with Lyndell Pym

Click HERE to register for Curtain Call lessons with Lyndell.  

Greek with John Sotiropoulos

Click HERE to register for Greek lessons.

Our final fundraiser for the year finished up last Friday night and what a huge success it was! We managed to raise $10,280 thanks to the generosity of our wonderful parent community! 

We hope you all had the opportunity to see the artworks, either online or in the office over the past few weeks. 

Thank you to Mrs Ford for her assistance in making our Art Auction a reality! No doubt an enormous amount of time and effort goes into the planning and preparation for such an event. To our teachers for working with our children (and lots of messy materials!) to actually create the special artworks. We hope you enjoyed the process also and that you too were proud of the finished pieces! To our own Claremont creative mum, Fiona Morton (Artisan at Home, Ruby Yr 5, April Yr 4) for offering her consultation services to the teachers to help formulate such creative ideas. The P&F are very grateful to you all.

Thank you to Dean and Bonny Kirkland (Georgina, Yr 3 and Charlotte, Yr 1) who so kindly provided their online auction website www.airauctioneer.com for us to auction off the art. Dean has created a very user friendly website which allowed us to auction off our items ‘virtually’… a very 2020 thing to do! 

Finally, to the lucky winners, congratulations! Thank you so much for your generosity and we hope you love your new Claremont artworks! 

Morgan Ryan
P&F Vice President Fundraising

The Uniform Shop is now open for business on: 

Mondays         1:00pm-4:00pm

Wednesdays   8:00am-11:00am.

At present the only items available to purchase directly from the Uniform Shop are school bags, socks, hair accessories, hats, art smocks and raincoat sales. Any uniform items required in Term 4 may still be purchased from Wileys. 

Click HERE to see details of the uniform, price lists, and availability of items.

Welcomeasy are delivering recess and lunch orders to school.

Orders must be placed by 10:59pm the night before for delivery on the next school day.

If you are ordering a snack item, please specify in the notes area whether the snack is for Recess or Lunch.

Please note that orders are to be placed on the ‘Welcomeasy’ website and NOT Flexischools.

You must firstly create an account by following some simple steps. Go to www.welcomeasy.com.au  

The TeamKids service at Claremont will be open for the school holiday program from Thursday 3 December to Wednesday 23 December and again from Monday 11 January to Wednesday 27 January. Bookings are now open - see the flyer below. 

The service will be offering a Pupil Free day service on Wednesday 2 December. 

A reminder that all parents are asked to confirm their TeamKids bookings for the holiday break including Wednesday 2 December so that the service can arrange to be adequately staffed each day.

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

2021 School Travel Applications are now open

Applications for student travel in 2021 opened from Monday 12 October 2020.

Students who require a School Opal card or travel pass for 2021 can now apply online. A new application should be submitted if a student is applying for a school travel pass for the first time or requesting an additional pass as a result of a new shared parental responsibility situation (e.g. joint custody).

Students who have changed school/campus, changed address, repeated a year or received an expiry notification from Transport for NSW for their school travel entitlement should re-apply or update their details.

*Applications must be completed by the student's parent or legal guardian if the student is aged under 16 years. Students 16 years and over must complete the application form themselves. 

Where there is a change of distance eligibility based on a student’s grade, the system will automatically update a student’s entitlement if they meet the new criteria. If they do not meet the new eligibility criteria, they will receive an expiry notification via email.

Students who have an entitlement approved under a medical condition which is due to expire will receive a notification advising them to re-apply.

Term Bus Pass holders will receive a notification to re-apply.

If a student needs to update their information or re-apply, they should go online to https://apps.transport.nsw.gov...

Applications need to be submitted before 31 December 2020 to ensure that current student entitlements are updated and their current entitlement/card remains valid. If their application is submitted after 31 December 2020, the system will automatically cancel an entitlement/card and a new one will need to be issued.

Students in the Opal network applying for a SSTS or Term Bus Pass entitlement for the first time will receive their card at their nominated postal address. Cards will be mailed out from January 2021.

Students residing in Rural and Regional (R&R) areas should receive their travel pass at the commencement of the new school year from their nominated operator, this may be distributed via the school or sent direct to their address. Note: some R&R operators do not issue travel passes. Students/Parents should confirm with their nominated operator if they do not receive a pass.

New Concession Entitlement Cards

Transport for NSW will be replacing the below cards with Transport Concession Entitlement Cards (TCEC) from October 2020:

• Senior Secondary Student Concession Card (16 years and over) – also used by Mature Secondary Students (18 years and over), Distance Education Students and Home School Students
• Proof of Age card (when a student under 16 years of age looks older)
• Boarder Rail Pass.

All previous cards will be valid until they expire. Students who require a Transport Concession Entitlement Card should speak with their school administration staff.

Enquiries regarding school student travel can be submitted to Transport for NSW at:

https://transportnsw.info/cont...