Clairvaux Newsletter
Term 3 Week 9 2024
2025 Calendar
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 6 Mon 10th - Prep nurse visit Tues 11th Nov - Prep 2026 transition session 1 Wed 12th Nov - Prep 2026 transition session 1 Thur 13th Nov - Prep nurse visit Fri 14th Nov - Year 4 Incursion |
| Week 7 Mon 17th Nov - Prep nurse visit Mon 17th Nov - Junior aths yr 2/3 - school oval Tues 18th Nov - Junior aths yr P/1 - school oval Wed 19th Nov - Yr 5 leadership day Wed 19th Nov - Deakin optometry session with preps Thur 20th Nov - Deakin optometry session with preps Fri 21st Nov - Deakin optometry session with preps |
| Week 8 Mon 24th Nov - School Closure day Tues 25th Nov - Prep 2026 transition session 2 Wed 26th Nov - P&F meeting onsite 7pm Wed 26th Nov - Year 5 Serendip Excursion Gr1 Thur 27th Nov - Year 6 Surfing excursion |
| Week 9 Monday 1st Dec - Year 5 Serendip Excursion Gr2 Tues 2nd Dec - Year 6 Disco 6pm - 7:30pm |
| 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 Wednesday 11th Feb - No school for Preps Monday 16th Feb - Clairvaux Cross Country Yr 4-6 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 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 - Year 6 camp Thursday 19th March - Yr 6 students no school Tuesday 24th March - Colour Run (evening) 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 Friday 24th April - City to Surf Cross Country - selected students 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 Friday 29th May - Yr 6 Winter Lightning Prem 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 Friday 26th June - Last Day of term 2 |
Principal's Report
Heavenly Father, God of power and love.
We pray for all our Year 6 students
who have made their Sacrament of Confirmation this week.
May your Holy Spirit help them to grow in faith,
hope and love and may they come to know you as a God
who loves them without limit. Amen 
Beginning on Sunday 8 September at 1:00pm and 3:00pm and ending with a final celebration on Tuesday 10, our Year 6 students celebrated making their sacrament of Confirmation. The Confirmation ceremonies were all wonderful prayerful celebrations for our Year 6 students.
We would like to thank Bishop Martin and Fr Sang for leading the celebration and to Julie Routely for her commitment, organisation and preparation to make the celebrations so special. We would also like to thank the year 6 teachers Rod Matthews, Damian Caruso, Cyndie Mumford and Marg Mahoney who prepared the students so well. A special thanks to the students who presented themselves to the Bishop with confidence, respect and a thorough understanding of the Sacrament and the saint they had chosen. Finally thank you to all the parents and families who came along and prayerfully joined in to make their child's Confirmation a special day to remember. 
Reading the latest Parish newsletter it has been interesting watching Pope Francis travelling through Asia and Oceania spreading the faith message through those same gifts of the Holy Spirit and in living the Gospel story. He became famous for travelling simply and reaching out to the marginalized whilst challenging governments to care for refugees. He has strengthened his fellow Bishops in faith by reaching out fearlessly.
The Pope has travelled through Asia and Oceania, showing a preference for the edges of the world over the more powerful centres. His journeys also reach out to Catholics living in cultures where Catholics are in the minority. He is able to meet with rulers and leaders of other religions, join the people in large Masses, and groups of bishops and others who are central to the mission of the Church. In this way he preaches the Gospel through those he visits, through the warmth of his feeling for people, and through encouraging the local Catholic community. In the same vein, this Sunday marks Social Services Sunday within the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne. On this day we give thanks for the dedicated work of the thousands of staff and volunteers who stand with and serve the poor, the disadvantaged and the marginalised. We thank them for their unconditional service.
RUOK Day
Thursday was RUOK day. This is a really important day to highlight the importance of supporting those who are struggling. 'R U OK?’ is a national suicide prevention charity and registered public health promotion that encourages people to stay connected and have conversations that can help others through difficult times.' This is a great day to remind everyone to take the time to check in on the people in your life to make sure they are OK.
Next week is our last week of term. We have a couple of excursions happening - the Year 1's going to Sovereign Hill and the Year 6's to Melbourne city. On Friday we have our Footy Colours Day and our End of Term assembly that you are all welcome to attend. This is always a great way to celebrate all the work, fun and celebrations that have occurred this term.
As this is the last newsletter for Term 3, we take this opportunity to wish all our Clairvaux community a wonderful holiday break and we look forward to the final term of 2024.
Footy Colours Day
Parent Learning Walks Term 3
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
Clairvaux Jump Off Day
We look forward to a great event full of fun for the students!
Netball
Western Region Lightning Prem Netball
By Isabelle Heath
At the 3rd round for lightning prem, we all played our best to make it to the next round. Even though we didn’t make it, we still gave it our all and played the best we could.
In the first round of lightning prem in March we were undefeated beating all the teams. In the second round in May, we also went undefeated beating Our Lady Star Of The Sea in the grand final. We had made it to the 3rd round! As each day passed our coach (Bre) helped us learn new skills and drills in our lunchtime. Finally the day came. We won the first 3 games, but then we came up against Holy Spirit. We put up a good fight and in the end the score was 9-11 only losing but 2. Overall I think my team and our coach did an awesome job making it to the 3rd round and we all played really well for our last lightning prem at Clairvaux.
Netball - Freya Wilkinson
This year the Grade 6 Lightning Prem Netball team made it through to the 3rd round playing in the Western Metro Region tournament on Friday the 9th August at the Geelong Sports Hub. To make it this far we won both the District and Division Regions where we went undefeated! The Western Metro tournament, which included teams from Geelong to Williamstown, was by far the hardest of the 3, but the 9 girls who represented Clairvaux did a wonderful job and we ended up coming fourth. It was the best day filled with a lot of laughter, fun and of course, netball. A big thanks to my Mum - Bre Wilkinson for coaching us and coming in to train us at lunchtimes, Grade 6 teacher Cyndie Mumford for all her help and Simone Seagrave who coordinated the first round. It has just been the best experience to do with your friends and something we will all remember forever! We are all so proud of our efforts and for the last time … “5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Clairvaux is number 1”! 
MACSSIS surveys 2025
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!!!
Carnivale News Week 9
Clairvaux Carnivale brings our whole community together and it is an opportunity to showcase our school. It’s a wonderful day of fun and activities for families, and fundraising for our school. Funds raised this year will be used for school playground updates.
Behind the scenes, a team of parents are working hard to make the event possible. Your support is needed to make it a success and there are many ways you can help. For more details about the event, see the monthly Carnivale newsletter which is distributed to all families as a print-out and via email. You can visit the event website
as well: www.clairvauxcarnivale.com.au
Volunteer on the day - choose your position for Saturday 16 November
To fill all the Carnivale volunteer positions on the day, we’re asking every family to volunteer for a short shift. It would be even better if you could do two shifts! Get in quickly to select your spot. Sign up here: www.signup.com/go/WgNb3k
To find out more about helping in the lead-up to the event or on the day, please contact the team via email at clairvauxcarnivale@gmail.com
Lucky dip novelty donations
We’d love you to raid your cupboards for any new lucky dip prizes that could be added. Each classroom has a collection tub to gather the donations so you can send these lucky dip novelty prizes to school with your child.
Small value vouchers - ask a business to contribute
Over 200 small value donation vouchers need to be sourced from businesses to use as prizes on the day. These vouchers could be $5-$15 items, or a percentage off a price, or 2 for 1 offers for example. Maybe you work for a business, or you frequent a business that you could ask. This could be a good incentive to get new people to visit a store.
Distribution team
Could you help put up posters in local shops, kindergartens and daycare centres? By the last week of term, we will have Carnivale posters ready to collect from the office so you can ask places you visit to display the posters.
We are also assembling a team to place Clairvaux Carnivale flyers in local
letterboxes at the beginning of next term. Please email: clairvauxcarnivaledonate@gmail.com to help with this.
Wine donation competition winner
We have a wonderful collection of wine now - thank you! Those who donated wine were entered into a raffle to win a free ride pass and congratulations to our winner Megan Hollis. Keep an eye out for more opportunities to win a prize.
A special thanks to our families and generous businesses that have contributed to Carnivale already!
Get in touch
For general and volunteer enquiries please email clairvauxcarnivale@gmail.com and for donation questions clairvauxcarnivaledonate@gmail.com
Carnivale links
Website (where you can buy ride tickets): www.clairvauxcarnivale.com.au
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ClairvauxCarnivale
Instagram: www.instagram.com/clairvauxcarnivale/
Kelly Club Before & After School Care
Kelly Sports
Parenting Program
Sports Academy Soccer Holiday Program
Entertainment Fundraiser
