During these days of unprecedented change, it serves us well to focus on the many things we can celebrate, do to make things better, and I reckon it’s good to be distracted by good and worthwhile things. I feel that these verses from Paul’s letters to the Philippians, could have been written for this time:

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.  Philippians 4: 6-9

Action and distraction! Let’s be a school community that is characterised by our positive actions which help others. Let’s be distracted by things that are good for the heart and soul. So with this, here’s a wonderful list of opportunities for action and distraction over the coming weeks.

Congratulations to the following children who will serve as our Grade Leaders for Term 3. I am sure that each will serve with enthusiasm and humility, as they help to make our school a better place.

Kindy - Archie S, William L, Mae W, Alice C
Year 1 - Taylor K, Amelia T, Christian J, Rosario S
Year 2 - Mia I, James L, Gisele A, Sam E
Year 3 - Emma B, Jemma L, Daniel F, Christopher S
Year 4 - Nicholas P, Saskia V, Caleb S, Billie H
Year 5 - Jasmine S, Mila T, Elijah C, Sofia J
Year 6 - All of Yr 6 are grade captains!

Congratulations also to the following students who received a Gold Certificate and/or a Pennant at last week’s Merit Assembly.

Gold Award - Taka M, Jonathan S and Rosario S
Pennant Recipients - Georgia B, Taka M, Jonathan S, Isaac H, Julian S, Lauren T and George M

Yesterday, we took delivery of 200 tube-stock native plants which our Eco-Warrior Student Team will care for, and ultimately replant into larger pots.

Please refer to the Eco Warriors article below for more information.

Parents, if you would like to join the planting team on a Thursday afternoon after school, please let us know.

At the Prince of Wales Hospital, our medical frontliners have worked tirelessly to support the community and keep us safe during these difficult times. Our healthcare workers and frontline staff are our heroes. We honour and thank them. Just as they provide support for us in times of need, we invite you to help support their incredible work.

The ‘POWer Up! Challenge’ is your chance to walk or run 30 km in one week whilst raising a minimum of $300 for the Prince of Wales Hospital Foundation. Every dollar raised during this challenge will support new virtual models of care at the Hospital keeping our staff and our patients safe. Invite a family member or friend to take on the challenge together while giving back and helping us deliver important new telehealth services for our patients. You can even create virtual teams on the ‘sign up’ platform and challenge other families or workmates!

The Foundation is excited to announce Braith Anasta - rugby league legend, sports commentator and local resident - as POWer Up Challenge ambassador! In addition to signing up for the event himself, Braith will be helping us drive awareness and encourage the community to get involved and support our fundraising efforts. Braith is a long-time supporter of the Hospital and the Foundation so we are thrilled to have him on board to supercharge our POWer Up Challenge in its inaugural year.

You can sign up here as a family (if you have little kids, you may combine the challenge and make it a family effort). YOU CAN SIGN UP TODAY HERE

If it’s not your thing - you can always sponsor me. If you would like to make a tax deductible donation click here. Thanks so much.

Next Friday, 8am to 10am, 14 August, we will be having a second hand sale in the hall, or if it’s a pleasant day outside on the school driveway. Our Uniform Shop is about to be refurbished so we are keen to clear out lots of stock. See attached flyer for some of the items that you can grab for a bargain.

As we transition toward ‘Ranier’ as our new supplier, some of the items that we will be introducing and available at the beginning of 2021 will include:

• a new unisex blazer and cardigan
• a new girl’s summer and winter tunic
• girl’s shorts (as an alternative to a tunic) which can be worn both in summer and winter
• a new girl's summer blouse to be worn with the shorts
• a new boy’s shirt which can be worn both in summer and winter
• boy’s and girl’s swimwear
• the woollen jumper will be discontinued. 

Later in May 2021, we will launch a fresh new tracksuit, sports shorts and sports tee shirts.

We will provide a transition between the old and new designs of 12 months, allowing for any recently purchased items to continue to be worn. We are excited about the new range and are confident that you will love it!

I draw your attention to the Dad’s Fathering Project website which provides excellent articles and resources for fathers. There is the option of subscribing to a weekly newsletter and watching many great webinars on the Fathering Channel, both of which are excellent.

Our local council provides some great resources and workshops for parents. They are free and include some workshops/programs including helping you to manage anxiety during this time of COVID-19. See this link for all the details.

Doug Thomas       
Principal

  Follow me @DougJThomas

The beginning of the year was filled with much excitement when the children arrived back to school to see the new Monkey Bars on the playground. Over the course of this year, yes, some of the novelty has worn off (we now don't see 30 people lining up patiently for a turn!) but it is still a very popular choice of play for many of our students. The benefits of having the Monkey Bars have been great. We have loved encouraging our kids to be more active, to build their upper body strength and coordination skills, and seeing them enjoy using it with others. With its incredible popularity, we have established firm expectations of safe and respectful behaviour. At the beginning of the year, we worked together with the architects and the supplier to ensure that the equipment was in line with the Australian Standards. Within PE lessons and during morning assemblies, all students were taught and are continuing to be reminded about the risks as well as the safe ways to use the equipment, and our staff have had training on how to vigilantly supervise the equipment during lunchtimes.

Despite these proactive measures, 4 of our students have fallen off the Monkey Bars and needed medical assistance this year. Whilst some people may think, 'That's part of growing up, kids get hurt', we want to ensure that safety is a priority and that we have equipment that keeps our students as safe as possible. In response to these injuries, we decided to look further into whether there are other things we could do to avoid future injuries. In June we engaged Kidsafe NSW to conduct a comprehensive playground post installation inspection report. They assessed the monkey bars, slide, climbing wall and surrounding areas against the relevant Australian Standards. This included playground equipment and surfacing, and the design for access and mobility. The following elements of the standards were inspected:

• marking;
• protection against falling;
• head and neck entrapment;
• clothing/hair entrapment;
• foot entrapment;
• finger entrapment;
• free height of fall;
• spaces and areas;
• playground surfacing;
• means of access;
• equipment elements;
• materials; and
• finish of equipment.

The results indicated some helpful recommended changes could be made. It was pleasing to discover that there were no urgent or immediate very high risk issues identified. The recommendations included risks such as potential finger entrapment in the knots of the cargo net climber and the potential trip hazard on raised edges when the drain cover isn't pushed back down following rainfall. One question we had was in regards to the height of the Monkey Bars. Interestingly, the height does meet the standards and lowering it would become a greater risk to adults or older students who may hit their heads when walking around the playground.

A team of people including Mr Thomas, Mr Pike, the school's Architect, The Anglican Schools Corporation's Project Manager and I have met together to ensure that all recommendations have been addressed. This week we met again, to ensure that all action points have been resolved. 

Over the next couple of weeks your child will be assessed in PE lessons on their ability to use the various parts of the equipment. Mr Geering will be assigning each child a 'level'. The higher the level, the greater the competency displayed and therefore these students will have more access to the different levels of challenge on the equipment. We hope that this will be an additional safety precaution to help students understand what they can realistically achieve. Mr Geering will be revisiting these assessments from time to time, as the children grow and develop.

At home, please encourage your child to use the Monkey Bars whilst following our safety rules:

• Monkey Bars only to be used during lunchtimes;
• Only one student crossing the bars at one time;
• Only use the equipment that your 'level' permits you to use;
• No standing on the top of bars;
• No hanging upside down on the bars;
• No standing or walking/running underneath the bars;
• Be patient when waiting for your turn; and 
• Be brave and have fun!

We want our kids to feel safe, act safe and be safe. We will ensure that communication with students and staff on the safe use of all equipment will continue on an ongoing basis.

Keep Learning:

Think about something you would like to learn. Maybe a new language, a new recipe or a new sport. Start working toward learning this new skill. Try to have an open mindset to learn new things - let's wonder, imagine and be inspired.

We are excited to be continuing with our optional lunchtime club program for all our students. Over a year ago, staff offered to run these clubs across the week, however we decided to formalise the clubs to guarantee a club option every day of the week. For the Primary years during the warmer months, this includes a year group having the opportunity to play down at Grant Reserve once a week.

We believe the benefits of this lunchtime club program include:

• supporting the wellbeing for all students;
• creating more space to increase the safety for all students;
• encouraging physical exercise with the extra space for freedom of movement;
• enabling students to play sport games to its proper game/rules, not needing to modify games on the playground;
• catering to the different strengths and interests of students eg: drawing, dance etc.
• more effective use of the different spaces around the school;
• providing a more stimulating lunch break, to combat any potential 'boredom';
• giving students more choice;
• assisting teachers with the management of student behaviour and student safety; and
• giving students who may not be interested in sports to have more passive play options.

We ask that you chat to your child/ren about these clubs and encourage them to attend if they are interested. Please also remind them to thank the staff member who is running the club, as this is an extra service provided for your child/ren, on top of the staff's usual schedules. We hope your child/ren enjoy these activities, build their friendships and have a whole lot of fun along the way.

Larissa Cameron
Deputy Principal

Due to the financial challenges of COVID-19 a small number of parents who had initially enrolled for Kindergarten in 2021 have had to withdraw their application. This, coupled with some deferments to 2022, and a smaller number of siblings than usual, means that we now have some vacancies. Many people in our community often do not submit applications to Claremont because they often think they don’t have a chance for their child getting a place. We seek your help in getting the word out that vacancies do exist. If you have a child at preschool, please tell others. Application forms are available on our website, or contact Kathy-Clare Rochester, kc.rochester@claremont.nsw.edu.au for further information.

We would like to invite parents to participate in an Individual Parent-Teacher Conference with your child’s class teacher via Zoom on Thursday 13 August. These meetings are a valuable chance to discuss with your child’s class teacher about how your child has settled in since the start of year and to review their progress.

In order to provide parents with the most convenient time possible with their child’s teacher, we use an appointment system throughout the school. This allows parents who may have more than one child at the school to make consecutive appointments rather than having to wait for long periods of time in between meetings. Each appointment is 10 minutes long and we would ask all parents to keep strictly to these timings.

We are using School Interviews, an online booking system for scheduling meetings. Simply select your chosen time from the available times. The online booking system will close on Wednesday 12 August at 3pm.

Since the meetings will be held via Zoom, we would ask parents to assist us by:

• Logging into the Zoom meeting room at least 15 minutes prior to your scheduled appointment time;
• Downloading the program and have a practice run prior to the conference date (if you haven’t used Zoom before);
• Positioning yourself with a wall behind you so it is less distracting for you and the teachers;
• Making sure that there are no children in the room during the meeting; and
• Understanding that the appointments will be strictly 10 minutes only.

PLEASE NOTE: If you are late for your meeting the teacher/s will not be available to continue beyond your 10 minute slot.

What to do:

Go to www.schoolinterviews.com.au and follow these simple instructions:

1.     Enter your details.

2.     Choose your child’s ‘go-to’ teacher.

3.     Choose your times.

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

The following events are scheduled for Terms 3 and 4 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 3

Term 4

Parent Teacher Conference - 13 August - book a meeting time

Concert Costumes need to be sourced by Thursday 13 August see details in Music@Claremont below

Mathematics in Kindergarten

Have you ever wondered how to integrate modern technology and Mathematics to teach Kindergarten kids? Here's a little insight into our world…

With all the strange experiences and uncertainties that Off Campus Learning has brought over the past few months, could there be something beautiful about learning to be flexible, creative and innovative with our teaching and learning?

This term in Kindergarten, we have spent some time each morning focussing on our 'Number of the Day'. It is an exciting time where students delve into learning how numbers can be represented various ways.

“One, Two, Three, Four, Five.. Numberblocks”

The sound of 60 excited students chanting the opening theme song has been our hook to visually show how the numbers can be combined to form bigger numbers or even grouped together to make arrays. We discuss these concepts throughout the video which leads us seamlessly to our Number of the Day Chart where students are provided with opportunities to represent numbers in word form, tallies, arrays and in a place value table. Finally, students are invited to complete their own charts using Seesaw to consolidate what they have learnt.

Here are some snippets from one of our sessions.

The Kindy Team

Please refer to Kindy Concert Costume Requirement in Music@Claremont.

Year 1 - Writing

You may have heard there is a buzz around Year 1. Well there has been a hive of activities going on! We have been learning about and writing about bees. This has linked nicely with our English and Science units that look at insects and other living things.  

We have been so impressed by how many facts the students in Year 1 have collectively learned about bees. You may find it un-bee-lieveable that children this young can write a page or two about bees, but no - we are not ‘pollen’ your leg! They did such a great job with their information reports and all the students in Year 1 should be so proud of their efforts. We think these kids really are the bees knees!

So how do we teach 6 and 7 years olds to write an information report?

 We began by gathering information from videos, books and websites together as a class. We even had a special expert in to speak to the class about beekeeping. This expert was none other than our very own class member, Lucia B, whose family keeps bees.

Then we “brain dumped” all of these facts into our information report planner. This helped us sort our information into ideas (which in the future will become paragraphs - but that could be a year or two down the track). 

Thanks Jacob A for showing us your planner.

The tricky part was then to try to turn our points into sentences that not only make sense, but that are interesting to read (something that can take years to master). We also had to make sure we included some technical terms. Look at how some of these turned out!

Thank you Caitlyn Y, Charlotte B and Cooper S for showing us some snippets of your information reports. 

The Year 1 Team

Please refer to Year 1 Concert Costume Requirement in Music@Claremont

Year 2 - Science Unit: What’s that sound?

“What is that sound?” It is probably coming from Year 2 as we are learning all about sound in our Science unit this term. We learnt a song that has helped us remember some key terms. It has the same tune as ‘London Bridge is Falling Down’ - perhaps you can learn it and sing along too!

“Sound is made of vibrations, vibrations, vibrations. Sound is made of vibrations, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm. (place hand on throat to feel vibration).

Pitch is either high or low, high or low, high or low. Pitch is either high or low, highhhh or lowww. (Up on tippy-toes, then down to the floor).

Volume means it’s LOUD or soft, LOUD or soft, LOUD or soft. Volume means it’s LOUD or soft, loudddd or softttt. (LOUD is said loudly, soft is said softly).”

We started this unit by going on a ‘listening walk’ where we walked around the school and listened for sounds in our environment. As we walked, we recorded our findings on an anchor chart and described the sound.

Our Year 2 scientists then looked at how recorded sounds can be displayed and observed the sound waves using the Voice Memos application on their iPad.

We put a variety of instruments to the test by playing them loudly and softly to see the changes in the sound waves on the Voice Memos application. It was a chorus of mismatched sounds all around the classrooms with xylophones dinging and cymbals clanging but it was a fun experience!

The Year 2 Team

Please refer to Year 2 Concert Costume Requirement in Music@Claremont

Year 3 STEM: Robotics

The Year Three students have been participating in weekly STEM lessons where they work collaboratively to create, make and solve a variety of problems. STEM is an approach to learning and development that integrates the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Through STEM, students develop key skills including, problem solving, creativity, teamwork, initiative, communication and digital literacy.

Over the last two weeks, Year 3 have had such a fun time exploring their new STEM ‘toys’ - Dash the Robot. Dash the robots can interact with their surroundings as they detect sounds, objects and movements. With the help of apps designed to work with the robots, students are learning to program these robots to learn and play games, send messages, solve puzzles and even complete obstacle courses. Dash can sing, dance and respond to voice commands. Students are learning how to block code using Dash the robots.

We look forward to continuing our journey with Dash as we experiment and learn more about what these amazing robots are capable of.

Here are a few reflections from Year 3 students after experimenting with Dash:

“I really enjoyed controlling Dash using my iPad. The mazes were really fun and challenging.” Scarlett C 

“I liked getting Dash to change colour, make funny noises and changing the speed of Dash. I got my Dash zooming all over the hall.” Ben F 

“My favourite part of using Dash was seeing how fast he could move around the mazes. It was fun recording messages and getting Dash to play them.” Angus B 

“It was cool to be able to control Dash on my iPad. Dash can move his head, blink and make funny sounds.” Stella L

The Year 3 Team

Please refer to Year 3 Concert Costume Requirement in Music@Claremont

NAPLAN In-School Practice Tests 2020

It has been recommended by NESA (NSW Education Standards Authority) that the current Year 3 and Year 5 (and Year 7 and Year 9) students participate in in-school practice tests so that they have the experience of sitting for external exams. The Year 3 and Year 5 teachers will participate in practice tests with the students in Week 5, and then the in-school tests will be in Week 6 (refer to Upcoming Events above) in the same format as they would have been had they gone ahead in May. The tests will be marked on-site and a summary of your child’s results will be sent home as soon as these are available, preferably not 4 months later as is normal for formal NAPLAN Tests.

We will obviously use the data from these assessments to inform our ongoing teaching however, please remember that NAPLAN assessments are just one small part of the suite of

assessments we use throughout the year, including formal, informal, diagnostic, summative and formative assessments, many of which are on a daily basis.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me though office@claremont.nsw.edu.au  

Janelle Ford
Deputy Principal

Year 4 Indoor Play At Lunch Time

This term Year 4 have enjoyed spending half of their lunch doing inside play.

Some of their favourite activities are:

• UNO
• Freestyle Lego building
• Playing teacher
• Drawing
• Reading

The absolute highlight of the term however has been our Stars Wars Droid building time. The theme for Year 4 is Lego and these robots fit in perfectly. The robots must first be constructed using lego by following the step by step instructions on the app. Then the students can play with the robots and make them move by coding the movement sequences. Over the semester the students will also have a 2 week session where they can build their Star Wars Droid.

Here are a few reflections from Year 4 students after experimenting with their Star Wars Lego robots and other indoor play activities:

“I think it's amazing and a great way to learn coding. I think it ties in well with the Year 4 theme and we should keep it for next year. It makes inside lunch times a great place.”  Nicholas P 

“I find it very fun. We don’t usually get to build lego with the instructions. I love doing coding.” April M 

“I love playing UNO because my friends are playing and it is fun. Lots of people win” Anthony C 

“I like the fact that there are different sections of lunch. One where we can play and one where we can eat lunch.” Tasha K 

“I like playing Harry Potter UNO” Jasper S 

“I like that we get to socialise and play with our friends” Sarah O

“We do some stuff to relax before we start learning and it is air conditioned” Anthony T 

“The Lego is really fun to build and break.” Amelie A

The Year 4 Team

Please refer to Year 4 Concert Costume Requirement in Music@Claremont

Year 5 - Be a Bucket Filler!

Did you know that everyone is carrying a bucket around with them all the time? These buckets are invisible - you might not even have realised you were carrying one - but I am sure you know the feeling when your bucket is emptied or filled. 

 At the beginning of Term 3, Year 5 read the book ‘Have You Filled a Bucket Today?’ by Carol McCloud. The story explains how each person lives their life with a happiness bucket. The more full the ‘bucket’, the happier you will be! 

We discussed some truths about how people can fill or empty one another’s happiness bucket with our words and deeds. Some of our observations were: 

1. You can ‘fill other people’s buckets’ by saying and doing kind things to/for them. 
2. You dip out of other people’s buckets when you are unkind. 
3. Buckets come with ‘lids’. You can protect your bucket from other people who may want to steal your joy by using some protective behaviours. 
4. One of the most wonderful truths: When you fill another person’s bucket, your bucket is also filled!    

In response to this insightful story, Year 5 participated in their own ‘bucket filling’ activity! Silently, we walked around the learning space writing kind and meaningful messages on every member of our class’ paper bucket, and then displayed them in the classroom.  

So, gentle reader, have you filled someone else's' bucket today?

Just some of the dozens of comments of each students’ bucket:   

Written on Xanthe’s bucket: ‘Loyal and Persistent’, ‘Kind and amazing to be around’
Written on Zahra’s bucket: ‘She’s always there when I need her’ and ‘a caring friend’
Written on Jasper’s bucket: ‘10 out of 10 friend’ and ‘supportive and honest’
Written on Andreas’ bucket: ‘A talented actor’ and ‘playful and kind’      

The Year 5 Team

Concert 2020 - Years 5 & 6 Auditions

We have been working behind the scenes to get this year's concert together and we are excited!

Preparation is well under way for the dance and now to focus on our actors! We are especially excited to announce that we will be holding auditions for Yr 5/6 students for acting roles. This Thursday (13 August) we will be holding auditions at lunch time. This will take place for the full hour so students can bring their lunch with them.

To prepare for these auditions each student will need to present a short skit (30sec). It can be anything! We are hoping to utilise student talents and ideas so the more creative you are the better. There have been so many funny youtube moments in the last few months about zoom, covid parodies etc, so pick something your child is genuinely interested and would like to execute. We want to see their personalities! We hope to capture the moments and memories that stood out for our students this year and ‘diarise’ these in our virtual concert.

Ideas could be:

• Pretending to be a news reporter sharing some news about 2020, bushfires to COVID-19
• Reciting a poem about 2020
• Sharing a story using great expression
• A parody/monologue from COVID
• A comedy about teachers during COVID (no offence will be taken)

The audition itself will be different too! We will use zoom to improvise and pretend that students are at home during home learning with the two of us. This means students will need to bring a casual t-shirt/pyjama top to put over their uniform on Thursday. They must also have prepared a picture of a bedroom to have in their background for zoom. Aren’t we lucky we can create any situation with technology!

In summary:

• Prepare a 30 second monologue/skit
• Bring a top you would have worn at home during lockdown
• Have a picture of a bedroom as the zoom background

We look forward to seeing students' creativity come together! 

Mrs Tara Barr and Mrs Tiffany Knoll

Please refer to Year 5 Concert Costume Requirement in Music@Claremont

NAPLAN In-School Practice Tests 2020

It has been recommended by NESA (NSW Education Standards Authority) that the current Year 3 and Year 5 (and Year 7 and Year 9) students participate in in-school practice tests so that they have the experience of sitting for external exams. The Year 3 and Year 5 teachers will participate in practice tests with the students in Week 5, and then the in-school tests will be in Week 6 (refer to Upcoming Events above) in the same format as they would have been had they gone ahead in May. The tests will be marked on-site and a summary of your child’s results will be sent home as soon as these are available, preferably not 4 months later as is normal for formal NAPLAN Tests. 

We will obviously use the data from these assessments to inform our ongoing teaching however, please remember that NAPLAN assessments are just one small part of the suite of assessments we use throughout the year, including formal, informal, diagnostic, summative and formative assessments, many of which are on a daily basis.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me though office@claremont.nsw.edu.au  

Janelle Ford
Deputy Principal

Year 6 - Maths

Throughout the first three weeks of this term, Year 6 has been focusing on developing different strategies for solving mathematical word problems. These strategies, or ‘tools’ as we refer to them in Year 6, are different ways of approaching a word problem which requires more than one step to solve. It is often the case that word problems, and interpreting what information is needed to find a solution, is an area that students can always improve on and develop. So far we have focused on the problem solving strategies of, ‘Creating an Organised List’, ‘Guess, Check and Improve’ and ‘Drawing a Table’. Each of these strategies can act as a different ‘tool’ students can use when approaching mathematical word problems. Students are now discovering that some word problems are more suited to certain techniques than others, similar to the way you need a specific tool for a specific job. After exploring these three strategies, we have begun to notice an increased confidence when students are approaching word problems, which is often half the battle with mathematical problem solving! We are excited to see Year 6 continue to develop these skills and their mathematical thinking.

Please refer to Year 6 Concert Costume Requirement in Music@Claremont

Concert 2020 - Years 5 & 6 Auditions

We have been working behind the scenes to get this year's concert together and we are excited!

Preparation is well under way for the dance and now to focus on our actors! We are especially excited to announce that we will be holding auditions for Yr 5/6 students for acting roles. This Thursday (13 August) we will be holding auditions at lunch time. This will take place for the full hour so students can bring their lunch with them.

To prepare for these auditions each student will need to present a short skit (30sec). It can be anything! We are hoping to utilise student talents and ideas so the more creative you are the better. There have been so many funny youtube moments in the last few months about zoom, covid parodies etc, so pick something your child is genuinely interested and would like to execute. We want to see their personalities! We hope to capture the moments and memories that stood out for our students this year and ‘diarise’ these in our virtual concert.

Ideas could be:

• Pretending to be a news reporter sharing some news about 2020, bushfires to COVID-19
• Reciting a poem about 2020
• Sharing a story using great expression
• A parody/monologue from COVID
• A comedy about teachers during COVID (no offence will be taken)

The audition itself will be different too! We will use zoom to improvise and pretend that students are at home during home learning with the two of us. This means students will need to bring a casual t-shirt/pyjama top to put over their uniform on Thursday. They must also have prepared a picture of a bedroom to have in their background for zoom. Aren’t we lucky we can create any situation with technology! 

In summary:

• Prepare a 30 second monologue/skit
• Bring a top you would have worn at home during lockdown
• Have a picture of a bedroom as the zoom background

We look forward to seeing students' creativity come together! 

Mrs Tara Barr and Mrs Tiffany Knoll

School Children Planting Project

We have not forgotten the Australians who lost their homes to the bushfires earlier in 2020.

This week, Claremont College restarted our ‘School Children Planting Project’, an initiative we were sadly unable to continue to work on over COVID. Working in collaboration with Randwick Council Nursery and the Christian NGO, ‘Convoy of Hope’, our Eco Warrior students will be raising seedlings to eventually give to people affected by the bushfires in Lake Conjola.

On Thursday, 200 native seedlings were delivered by Kevin from the ‘Convoy of Hope’. Our 12 Eco Warrior students were very pleased and excited to meet their plant wards. The native seedlings will be watered and tended to by the Eco Warriors until November when they will be transported by ‘Convoy or Hope’ to the people in Lake Conjola.

Through this project, our school community will connect with those in need, and ultimately we can do our small bit to bring hope and help to those who have been devastated by so much loss and destruction. The Eco Warrior students are particularly excited to be doing something that is very hands-on to help not just people, but also assist in restoring the habitats of native birds and animals.

Mrs Adelaide Marquet and Miss Sinead Kelly
Eco Warriors Coordinators

Library Literature Stage 2

While looking through the CBCA shortlisted texts, students in Years 3 and 4 have enjoyed reading and responding to the book “Searching for Cicadas” by Lesley Gibbes. This is a lovely story about a child and his grandfather searching for cicadas. This book is full of fun and interesting facts about cicadas – perfect for nature lovers and budding wildlife scientists. With these fun facts acting as a catalyst for their task which was to create a visual information poster about one of the specific cicadas featured in the text. 

Three for Free

We hope you enjoyed last week’s “three for free”, and a special thank you to the students who came and told me they went deep sea diving. If you have any suggestions for things that could be included, please let me know by emailing me through the front office.

Google's Be Internet Awesome: This game from Google teaches kids some of the fundamentals of digital safety: from cyberbullying to personal privacy bundled into a fun game so they don’t even realise they’re learning. 

Cosmic Kids Yoga: A fantastically fun way for kids to try out yoga and mindfulness. Yoga blended with Pokemon, in rainbow butterfly lands and with cheeky monkeys, makes complete sense.

Penguin Book Picker: This digital book recommendation tool from Penguin is fun, simple,  surprising and a beautiful design to boot.

Instagram: claremontcollegelibrary 

Mrs Stephanie Affleck
Teacher/Librarian

New Books in Our Library

New Fiction Titles

In recognition of National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day this week, the library display promoted our wonderful Indigenous resources.

During library borrowing sessions we read the following new titles from the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. This is a national book industry charity that aims to reduce the disadvantage experienced by children in remote communities across Australia, by lifting literacy levels and instilling a lifelong love of reading. In recent years the library has supported this organisation by holding The Great Book Swap but unfortunately due to COVID-19 this has been cancelled this year.

This fabulous book has fourteen songs, ten in Walmajarri language and four in English, all beautifully illustrated by children from the Yakanarra Community. The songs are about the Walmajarri people, their special places, the animals and birds, hunting, fishing and collecting bush food.

This story is retold here in Arabana and English by an Aboriginal elder and the beautiful illustrations are by artist Kathy Arbon. Her work depicts her spiritual connections to ancestral lands south of Alice Springs.

Treehouse Book Competition Supporting The Indigenous Literacy Foundation

Author Andy Griffith is looking for children to write and illustrate their own books for a chance to win some great prizes. The top 5 entries will win a bespoke Treehouse book with the winner drawn on the cover by Terry Denton. Coles supermarket has partnered with the Indigenous Literacy Foundation and with every book entry, Coles will donate a book to remote Indigenous communities in need through the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. For further information including helpful writing and illustration tips please click on the link below. The stories must be submitted by 30 August. 

https://www.coles.com.au/campaign/little-treehouse

Mrs Susan Kesur
Library Assistant

Please make sure you read the costume requirements from last week's newsletter HERE.

Please send in your child’s costume in a labelled bag to school no later than Thursday Week 4 (13 August). Costumes will stay in school until Friday Week 5 (21 August) when we finish filming.

From Week 4 (13 August) and Week 5 (Monday 17 August) students will wear their regular uniform to school every day that week. Sports uniforms will not be required for that week as PE/Music/Sport lessons will be for filming the dance only in costume. 

For this reason, please send sports shoes in your costume bag. Thank you.

Mrs Tara Barr
Head of Music

Upcoming Dates

Monday 24 August - IPSHA Athletics Carnival (Cancelled)

Sport Uniform Week 4 and 5

As outlined in the Concert News section of the newsletter, students are required to bring in their costume in a labelled bag next week. As the majority of Grades have white Sport shoes as part of the costume, students WILL NOT wear Sports uniform at all in Weeks 4 and 5. On the days that they have Dance practice in Week 4, they will be able to change into their sports shoes (that they have already brought in as part of their costume). In Week 5 they will be wearing their full costume for filming.

Joel Geering
Sports & PDHPE Coordinator

This term in Chapel we are looking at stories from the bible. This week we focused on one of Mrs Vula’s favourite stories in the bible, ‘The Parable of The Wealthy Man.’ She shared with us how this parable teaches us about what is important. Jesus challenges us to have heavenly treasures and not get caught up in things that are temporary. We should love God and love each other.

This week the students will be learning the memory verse,

‘For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’ Matthew 6:21

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 by CLICKING HERE.

Tiffany Knoll
Chapel Coordinator

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