Welcome to 2022

We are incredibly excited to celebrate Claremont College’s 140th year. We are filled with hope and optimism that 2022 will be a fulfilling, rich and rewarding year. This newsletter has been produced to provide you with some important reminders and point you to some key dates for your calendar and diary, as you plan for the year ahead. 

We are planning a number of activities across the year to celebrate our 140th year, for students and families, so watch this space for further details. At this stage these include: 

Term 1: A welcome to our 140th year gift for students, plus our 140th Celebration Picnic
Term 2: Open Day for families, ex-staff members and ‘old girls and boys’
Term 3: School Concert and ‘Dress up like it’s 1882’ Day
Term 4: 140th Speech Day celebration 

The latest COVID updates and guidelines have also been included. Despite some impositions placed by the ongoing restrictions, we are confident that school life will be filled with fun and happiness for the children. Their academic progress, learning, well-being, friendships, and opportunities to develop positive connections with teachers and peers, are our priorities. As the children return to school on Tuesday next week (and Kindy on Thursday 3 February) our goal is to provide a safe, positive, and purposeful start to the year. We understand the nerves and anxieties that many children have, so we have many staff and structures in place to support and assist the children as they commence or return to school.  Time is set aside over the coming weeks for parents to meet with teachers to discuss your hopes for your child’s education this year. 

Over the past two weeks the Senior Leadership Team has been at school planning for the year ahead attending to many details to ensure a smooth and positive start to the year for the children and their learning. We have also welcomed our new members of staff, and they participated in a full day of induction. Our entire team returned today for professional development training, teams for 2022. 

We cannot wait to see the children next week. 

Mrs Larissa Cameron and Mrs Janelle Ford
Co-Principals

As we return to school for 2022, we continue to face the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in particular the Omicron variant. No doubt, many of our families have been impacted by COVID-19 over the summer holiday period, and continue to be impacted today. Our aim for this term is to keep our Claremont community safe, while delivering and maintaining face-to-face learning for our students. We know how important it is for our students to be in school for their learning, well-being and socialisation. Last week, the NSW Government released their return to school plan which aims to minimise disruption to students’ learning, while keeping schools safe.

Further to our COVID Update last week, we have added some important information and changes to keep you as informed as possible in preparation for your child’s return to school. 

Vaccination

The requirement for school staff to be fully vaccinated remains unchanged. It is anticipated that the definition of fully vaccinated will be updated in the Public Health Order to include a booster shot. All students and their families are encouraged to get vaccinated, however this is not mandatory and parents are not required to inform the school or their child/ren’s vaccination status.

RAHT Testing

Yesterday, an alert was sent out regarding the collection of our RAHT kits today, 28 January. Please see information here regarding the collection process. If you were unable to collect your RAHT kits today, they will be available for collection on Monday 31 between 2:00 - 3:00pm. Below are some important points regarding RAHT testing:

• NSW Health have advised all students and staff to test at home, twice a week using the RAHT tests prior to coming to school.
• Week 1: Please test your child/ren on their first day of school, Tuesday 1 February and again Thursday 3 February.
• Week 2 onwards: It has been recommended for staff and students to test on a Monday and Wednesday.
• RAHT testing is not mandatory, however strongly encouraged for the safety of our community.
• You do not need to log your child/ren’s results, unless they are positive in which case you need to follow the Public Health Order and log the result on the Service NSW app, as well as inform the school.

COVID-19 Positive Cases

Any staff or student who tests positive to COVID is required to follow NSW Health requirements under the Public Health Order for testing positive and self-isolation. Currently, the requirement is:

• immediately notify NSW Health (via Service NSW app) and the school of the positive test by emailing office@claremont.nsw.edu.au
• isolate for 7 days following the positive test
• leave isolation after 7 days unless they have symptoms (including, a sore throat, runny nose, cough, or shortness of breath). Note: if a person continues to have symptoms, they are able to leave isolation after 7 days with a medical clearance.

Schools are no longer required to undergo contact tracing or send cohorts home if there is a positive case. We will communicate with you about the presence and impact of COVID-19 in our school.   Household contacts of a positive case are required by NSW Health to isolate for 7 days. It is anticipated that an exemption will be in place for staff who are household contacts, to attend school pending a negative RAHT test each morning, however NSW Health recently advised schools this does not include siblings of a positive case.

Visitors

For the first 5 weeks of the term, visitors will be kept to a minimum onsite, other than to support essential school activities or student needs. For specific events, we will conduct thorough risk assessments to ensure that if parents are onsite, there are effective safety measures in place to protect our community.

Off Campus Learning

Off Campus Learning will not be available to families who choose to keep their children at home at this time. As explained by the NSW Government, exceptions to this will only be on a case-by case basis, if a child has particular health needs. If further changes or updates become available to us we will let you know.

Our teachers are currently working on creating learning grids only for students and their siblings who need to isolate due to a positive COVID test. These will be provided to these specific students. 

Thank you for your ongoing understanding and support. 

Mrs Alanna James
Acting Deputy Principal

We cannot wait to welcome our Kindergarten students on Thursday 3 February, following their SET4SCHOOL assessments on Tuesday and Wednesday. We are relieved that the guidelines recognise the importance of Kindergarten’s first day of school and allow Kindergarten parents onsite for this special occasion. Due to physical distancing, it will not be possible for parents to enter the learning space. When you arrive:

• Please enter via the hall entrance at Coogee Bay Rd
• Your child will receive their name label
• You can head to a ‘photo station’ for a special photo of your family
• One of our friendly staff will then escort your child to the Kindergarten learning space
• All parents are welcome to stay outside for some morning tea on the playground 

Given the COVID-19 situation, please follow these important safety measures:

• Check-in using the QR code
• Wear a mask at all times, except for eating or drinking
• Maintain physical distancing
• A maximum of two adults/child will be allowed on site

To ensure for a smooth start to the year, please note the following ‘house-keeping’ matters: 

• Key calendar dates can be found on the school website and through the school app; and
• Class requirements can be found on the website.

Please also check our website for other details and look out for our first Newsletter which will be published next Friday.

What Uniform can my child wear on the first day of school on Tuesday?

The majority of students will wear the normal school uniform on Tuesday.  Students in Year 1 can wear their sports uniform on Tuesdays, as they have PE on Tuesdays this term.

PE DAYS AND LIBRARY BORROWING DAYS FOR TERM 1

PE/Sport Uniform

Monday - Year 3
Tuesday - Kindy & Year 1
Wednesday - All Students wear Sports Uniform. *Years 2, 3 & 4 to bring swimming costume etc from Week 3
Thursday - Years 2, 5 & 6
Friday - Year 4

Library Bag

Wednesday - Years 3, 4, 6 & Kindy
Friday - Years 1, 2 & 5

Students have Sport each Wednesday. They wear sports uniform and white running shoes on this day, as well as their formal hat to and from school. Students will travel to UNSW by bus for sport each week in Term 1, engaging in learn to swim lessons with qualified instructors. Students will be assessed and grouped in similar ability groups, with a focus on water safety, swimming strokes and confidence. 

It is important that students wear their Claremont swimming costume under their sports uniform, and bring their sports bag packed with towel, goggles, underwear, house swimming cap and thongs or sandals each week. An event note and Risk Assessment will be sent home in next week’s newsletter.

Term 1 2022

Term 2 2022

2022 Term 3

Term 4

The students will not know from Day 1, who will be the teacher who will be pastorally responsible for each of them personally, as this will be confirmed in Week 3. The reason for this is because we feel it is better for all of the children to get to know all of the staff on their grade equally and the same applies for the staff getting to know the students. The only times the students will be divided into 2 groups will be for their Specialist Classes. 

During the first four weeks of term we will not be diarising any parent-teacher meetings except for meetings for those students on an IP, however we ask that you make contact with the following staff if you have any urgent messages you need to discuss or have passed on: 

Mrs Cameron or Miss McKersie for pastoral care discussions or concerns;
Mrs Ford for academic or curriculum discussions or concerns;
Ms De Rossi for learning support needs: and/or
Ms Neville in the front office for medical needs.

For information on the school uniform requirements, please click here.

The Term 1 Sport programs are due to start up again in Week 3 (following COVID safe precautions). There are still quite a few vacancies in a number of the programs. If you missed out on registering last year, but are still interested in any of the following, please contact the office to register your place.

Monday: Year 3-6 Tennis (Eastern Suburbs Tennis Centre)

Tuesday: Year 1-2 Tennis and Year 3-6 AFL (Grant Reserve)

Wednesday: Year 3-6 Netball

Thursday: Year 1-2 Hip Hop (this will take place in the undercroft, not the hall as previously advertised) 

Friday: Year 1-2 Football (soccer)

CLICK HERE for the Term 1 Morning Skills Information Booklet.

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

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

Application forms can be downloaded at

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

Applications close on 10 February 2022.

CLICK HERE to read the most recent newsletter from TeamKids. 

Bookings for the Term 1 before and after school program are now open. 

A reminder for ALL families to BOOK & VERIFY their bookings for the term. If there are no confirmed bookings the service will be closed.

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