Please note the following dates in your diary:
2025 dates are set as best as possible at this point in time.
Please be mindful they may be subject to change and continue to check.

Term 4

Week 10 Tues 9th Dec - Step up day (Prep -Yr 6 2026) Tues 9th Dec - Yr 6 secondary school transition day - no Yr 6 onsite Tues 9th Dec - Parent Teacher Chats (3.40pm-6.30pm) - note date change Wed 10th Dec - Parent Teacher Chats (3.40pm-6.30pm) - note date change Fri 12th Dec - End of year mass whole school Fri 12th Dec - Reports sent home via PAM

Week 11 Mon 15th Dec - End of year assembly 11:45am Mon 15th Dec - Year 6 Graduation (PM) Tues 16th Dec - Last day of the school year - Yr 6 exc. to Adventure Park - 3:30pm dismissal on the basketball court

2026 Wednesday 28th January - Year 1-6 Students Begin Wednesday 28th January - Prep testing Thursday 29th January - Prep testing Friday 30th January - Preps begin Wednesday 4th Feb - No school for Preps Monday 9th Feb - Whole School Mass 9:15 am all welcome Wednesday 11th Feb - No school for Preps Monday 16th Feb - Clairvaux Cross Country Yr 4-6 Wednesday 18th Feb - Ash Wednesday Wednesday 18th Feb - No school for Preps Wednesday 25th Feb - No school for Preps Monday 2nd March - Preps begin full weeks at school Monday 2nd March - Clairvaux Senior Athletics Yr 4-6 Wednesday 4th March - Reconciliation Family Faith Night Year 3 6:30pm Monday 9th March - Public Holiday Tuesday 10th March - School Closure Day Tuesday 10th March - Division Swimmming - selected students Monday 16th March - Year 6 camp (2 nights) Tuesday 17th March - Year 6 camp Wednesday 18th March - Yr 3 Reconciliation Celebration Wednesday 18th March - Year 6 camp Thursday 19th March - Yr 6 students no school Tuesday 24th March - Colour Run (evening) Wednesday 25th March - Prep 2027 information tours 9:30 am and 12:00pm Friday 27th March - Yr 6 Summer Lightning Prem Thursday 2nd April - Last day of term 1 - 2:30 dismissal Monday 20th April - First Day of Term 2 Thursday 23rd April - Prep 2027 information tours 9:30am  Friday 24th April - City to Surf Cross Country - selected students Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd May - Sacramental Presentation Masses (Eucharist and Confirmation) Monday May 4th - Swimming begins for Yr 3 and 4 (all week) Monday May 11th - Swimming begins for Yr 1 and 2 Tuesday 19th May - Division cross country - selected students Wednesday 20th May - Eucharist Family Faith Night Year 4 - 6:30pm Friday 29th May - Yr 6 Winter Lightning Prem Tuesday 2nd June - Yr 4 Eucharist preparation day Monday 8th June - Public Holiday Tuesday 9th June - Year 5 Camp (one night) Wednesday 10th June - Year 5 camp Thursday 11th June - Yr 5 students no school Saturday 13th June and Sunday 14th June - Sacrament of Eucharist Celebrations Friday 26th June - Assembly Friday 26th June - Last Day of term 2 - 2:30pm dismissal

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All students will need a clean school sun hat for term 4. In accordance with our sun smart policy, this BEGAN MONDAY 2ND SEPTEMBER. If a student does not have a hat they will need to sit in a designated shaded spot in the yard for the duration of the play time. There will be no grace period for this. Our school is a sun smart school and hats must be worn from the beginning of September.
Please ensure hats are labeled (along with all your other uniform pieces).

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THESE SURVEYS WILL REMAIN OPEN FOR THE DURATION OF THE UPCOMING WEEKEND - WE REALLY DO APPRECIATE THE RESPONSES SO FAR RECEIVED AND THIS WILL HELP US MOVING FORWARD CONSIDERING OUR WHOLE COMMUNITY.

In 2025, our school is participating in Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools – School Improvement Surveys (MACSSIS). MACSSIS is an annual process whereby schools listen to the thoughts and feelings students, families and staff have about how their school can improve. These surveys help inform the ongoing improvement of schools across the Archdiocese of Melbourne.

One of the main goals of the family survey is to identify the strengths to be celebrated and continued to work on and areas for improvement in our school. MACSSIS data benefits everyone within our school and provides valuable community insights on areas that each school can focus on. Clairvaux  believes it is important to encourage families as well as staff and students to have a voice and contribute to shaping the ongoing improvement of the school.

This feedback is invaluable to our progress as an effective school community and is backed by evidence-based research and best practices, and a great way for us to monitor trends from year to year. 

MACSSIS is a set of surveys that have been built specifically for Catholic schools in Melbourne by the Learning Services team at MACS, in partnership with researchers at Learning First and in wide consultation with principals in our schools. In 2025, students, families and staff are invited to participate in MACSSIS via our secure and purpose-built online platform. The online platform is where our school leaders will access the summary reports that visualise the results of the student, family and staff surveys. 

On September 3rd families were emailed a unique code to fill out the survey anonymously. We really do value this feedback and would appreciate as many families as possible taking the time to help us make informed decisions about the future of our school processes. You can watch a short clip here.

The only data we do see is how many families from each year level participate. The year level with the most surveys filled in will receive an extra long playtime once we have the results!!!

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Student wellbeing is a high priority at Clairvaux as well as high teaching and learning expectations.

At Clairvaux, we will always strive to work with parents to support students so that they can fully function in our school and learning spaces. 

At Clairvaux we believe that: 

• No student’s wellbeing and learning should be impacted by any one student on a continual basis. 
• No teacher’s wellbeing and teaching ability should be impacted by any one student on a continual basis.

At Clairvaux we have a clear behavior management process in place. Our staff have worked extensively to refine our practices and ensure consistency in our school. This involves staff using positive reinforcement and following our behaviour flow chart with steps of reminders. Our behavior management plan involves class teachers notifying parents only when a student reaches step three, which is one step before involving leadership to address significant issues or major behaviors which will also involve parental communication and potentially a reflection sheet. As communicated earlier this year, please understand that teachers cannot spend time communicating frequent, general classroom management actions, as this would detract from their primary focus of teaching and supporting all students.

Further to this we are committed to continuing our development of our behaviour curriculum where we explicitly teach our students the expectations we have of them and the reasons behind these expectations. This is reinforced by classroom norms and routines via routines.

In addition to our positive reinforcement, explicit teaching and consistency we also assist our neurodiverse students who require extra supports on an as needed basis, such as: class break times implemented to support concentration and participation, sensory supports as required e.g. wobble stools, wobble cushions, fidget tools, visuals, behaviour and safety plans, social stories about inappropriate behaviours, LSO support for individual breaks outside of the classroom (as well as support in the classroom), extra teachers rostered on to monitor children on yard duty and off yard play timetabled to support successful outdoor play with peers. 

Parents may receive a notification via PAM to inform you that your child has not followed the Big 5 on three separate occasions throughout the day after reminders had been given and your child has moved through the first three steps of our school Big 5 Behaviour Process. (Step 1-REMIND, Step 2-RETHINK, Step 3-RESET). Steps are given for not following our Big 5: Listening to the Speaker, Following Directions, Speaking Appropriately, Moving Safely and Keeping hands, feet and objects off others. We value your support in reminding your child that the Big 5 rules need to be followed in all classes at Clairvaux. By following the Big 5 students show respect and allow teaching and learning to occur for all students. A notification such as this is so that you are aware of a days incidents. There is no need for further communication about this unless there are no changes seen in behaviour going forward. 

Our management plan is clear for our community to understand. Once a child is demonstrating behaviour that is inconsistent with our expectations and is reaching step 6 there are varied responses that may occur such as: 

• Student sent to the office, parents contacted,
• In school exclusion-work in another room/space for the remainder of the day with no outside play (This would occur if the student is not an immediate threat to the safety of others. This would involve a re-entry conversation with the student the following day). Parents contacted.
• Student’s parents contacted to collect their child from school (which would involve a reentry conversation the next day with parents), 
• If behaviours continue or depending on the severity of the student’s action, leadership will determine whether further possible actions are required. 

We understand and prioritise each student's privacy, so we will not disclose any discussions, consequences and/or personalised behavior plans to other families, just as you would expect your own child’s privacy to be respected. Our ultimate collective goal as parents and educators is to develop respectful and responsible students/citizens. The focus of contact made with you is about your child’s actions and consequences. It is not about discussing the actions and consequences for other students as this is the conversation had with their parents. Your trust in our processes, helps us maintain a constructive, safe and happy learning environment for everyone.

As part of Child Safe Standard 2 all MACS schools have been provided with a Student Code of Conduct (this can currently be found on our website under policies, enrolment 2.1). It is important to note that this policy applies to both primary and secondary schools. In light of this, when we discuss the content with our students, in the primary setting, we will use child friendly language.

We have sent a copy of the policy home via PAM for parents/carers to discuss with children. As you know your child best, the language you use to explain the contents of the Student Code of Conduct is at your discretion. We require parents to read through this code of conduct with their child and agree to on their behalf a recognition of acceptance of the code via PAM for our records before the end of this term.

Behaviour Flow Chart

We thank you for your support.

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As of Monday, the Right to Disconnect laws came into effect. What these changes mean for our School is that all school staff have the right to not respond to out-of-hours contact from their employers, students or their families, unless it is an emergency. If you need to contact your child’s teacher the preferred method is via email rather than Seesaw. Please use email for all formal communication.

School staff can still respond if they choose to but will be protected from unfavourable treatment if they decide not to.

Families are reminded that Clairvaux staff will access their work emails normally between 8:40am and 4:45pm and will endeavor to respond to emails within 24-72 hours. Teachers may not be checking emails during the day due to teaching commitments. They will respond in a timely manner.

Please note staff are not expected to respond in this timeframe during weekend, public holidays and term breaks or during teaching time.

Part time staff have individual work patterns. If you contact staff via email outside of these hours, they are only required to read or respond once they return to work.

Please allow a reasonable time for an email response. As there is no guarantee teachers have time to check their emails before the school day begins, if you need to give a teacher or the school an urgent message, please contact the school office on 03 5243 7102 or email info@ccsbelmont.com.au during business hours Monday to Friday 8:30 am to 4:00 pm.

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We are so proud of the steps we have taken over the last few years to bring us to the point we are at now with our teaching and learning framework.

Our instructional model based on the Science of Learning is one that we are continuously striving to refine. We have been informing our parent community via a range of modes:

• We launched our 'playbook' for parents to gain an understanding of how we teach and learn at our school - which is able to be viewed on our website in the 'How we learn and teach' section
• Last year we invited parents to join us over two sessions for a Teaching and Learning Open Night where we took you through some key concepts and examples of how and why we teach like we do and then offered a chance to view the classrooms and work samples.  
• Our next step is to continue to offer Learning Walks around our school.

What is a Learning Walk? It is an invitation to parents to come to the school for a set period of time to be led on a facilitated and structured learning walk of the school/ classrooms during the school day. Not to look at the decor - but to learn more about the learning that is happening. The focus of the structured walk is children and their learning as opposed to teachers and the teaching.

We have run some learning walks last year already for parent groups within our school and open up the invitation to our wider school community to enjoy this year.

The date we have selected for an open invitation is term 3 week 3 Tuesday 5th August beginning at 9:10am. Please allow 95 minutes for this event.

Spaces are limited so please register your interest via the link below. We will be holding more Learning Walks in 2025. 

https://www.schoolinterviews.com.au/code/hvxk7

Please note that we will run the walk for a minimum of 5 families (this event is not one for toddlers).

Thank you 

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The countdown has started until Clairvaux Carnivale on 16 November. Carnivale is our major fundraiser to complete the playground updates, organised by the P&F Committee and proudly supported by Buxton Real Estate.  

Ride tickets are already on sale and many families are getting ready for the big day. All the activities and entertainment are revealed in our monthly Carnivale newsletter, and on our socials. Our social handles are listed below. 

We will make Carnivale a special day, but we need your help to make it a fundraising success! 

There are several ways you can help…

• Volunteer to assist the fundraising team
  Can you contact about 10 businesses to ask if they could donate to Carnivale? It will make a big difference to the fundraising team who need to gather over 200 items. We can provide a list of companies that haven’t been approached yet and the donation endorsement letter from the school. 

• Silent auction and prize donations
  For the silent auction and prize games, we need a large quantity of goods and vouchers for services of any value - coffee vouchers are great too. Maybe you have a business or have a connection to a shop or restaurant to ask. Businesses are publicly acknowledged for the contribution. 

• Distribution team
  Could you help put up posters in local shops, kindergartens and daycare centres, or drop flyers in local letterboxes?  

• Have a Carnivale sign at your house 

If you live on a main road near Clairvaux, we would like to display a Carnivale real estate board or sign at the front of your house. Having many signs around the area will boost attendance on the day. 

• Spread the word
  Share the Carnivale posts or ask a business you know if they can support the event. Ask your hairdresser, pet store or local café whether they could make a donation to help us finish the playground updates.

Your support will be greatly appreciated! 

Get in touch 

Please complete this form to tell what you can help with, or email clairvauxcarnivaledonate@gmail.com
or contact Gemma on the Carnivale Committee 0480 349 756

Carnivale links 
Ride tickets: trybooking.com/CSEZL
Website: clairvauxcarnivale.com.au/
Facebook: facebook.com/ClairvauxCarnivale
Instagram: instagram.com/clairvauxcarnivale/

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