Sacrament of First Eucharist

Congratulations to our Year 4 students!

Over the last two weeks of June, our Year 4 students received the Sacrament of the Eucharist for the first time at St. Bernard’s Parish - a joyful and scared milestone in their faith journey.

We are incredibly proud of each and every one of them.  May receiving the Eucharist deepen your relationship with God and continue to guide you in love, faith and community.

A heartfelt thank you to Fr Tho for leading our celebrations. We are grateful for his spiritual guidance and continued support,  making these occasion even more meaningful for our student and their families.

A special thank you also goes to our Year 4 teachers and parents for their dedication in preparing the children throughout the term for this important day.  

Please enjoy the photos of each group (at the end of this report) as they celebrated the special moment together.
       

Sacrament of Confirmation

The Year 6 students of Clairvaux and St. Bernard’s Parish will be commencing their preparation to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation in Term 3.  Confirmation is the final Sacrament of Initiation to be received in the Catholic Church - the others being Baptism and Eucharist.  Confirmation is administered by the Bishop by the symbolic traditions of ‘laying-on of hands’ and anointing with chrism (oil).  Selecting a saint name and sponsor are also significant decisions to be made by the candidates. The Sacrament of Confirmation gives strength in faith and helps us to live our lives as ‘Spirit-filled people’

A note was sent out yesterday to all Year 6 families regarding Confirmation.

                            Please check your emails!

IMPORTANT CONFIRMATION DATES:

• Family Faith Evening - Wednesday 13th Aug   6.30 pm  
• Presentation masses - Sat 16 Aug 6pm, Sun 17 Aug 9am, 10.30 am

Sat 23  Aug 6pm, Sun 24 Aug 9am, 10.30 am

• Preparation Day - Wednesday 10th September
• Confirmation Masses - Sun 14th Sept 1pm & 3.30 pm    

Tues 16th Sept 6.30 pm

More information to follow next term regarding stoles, saint names and sponsors.

Please direct any questions regarding the sacrament to jroutley@ccsbelmont.com.au or your child’s classroom teacher.

Year Level Masses

Year 6 / Prep buddy mass - celebrating Creation

Last week, our Year 6 students and their Prep buddies came together to celebrate a beautiful mass centred around the theme of Creation, which has been a focus in Religious Education for our Prep students this term.

The Mass was a touching reflection of the special bond between the older and younger students.  Our Year 6 students demonstrated wonderful leadership as they gently guided their Prep buddies through the celebration, showing care, maturity and encouragement.

We were also delighted by the fantastic turnout of parents whose presence highlighted the strong sense of community that enriches every part of school life here at Clairvaux.

Year Level Masses - TERM 3

• YEAR 4 Feast day of Mary McKillop   Tuesday 5th  August   12 noon
• YEAR 1  Grandparents Mass Tuesday 12th August  12 noon
• ST. BERNARD’S DAY Monday 25th August  9.15 am

Whole School Mass and Lapathon

Refugee Week

A sincere thankyou to the Clairvaux community for your generous support during Refugee Week.

Through your donations to the Assylum Seeker Food Bank @ The Welcome Place,  you have made a real difference to the lives of local refugee families.  Your kindness and compassion reflect important ‘touchstones’ of our school - where faith, community and service come together to support those in need.

Thankyou also to Marg Mahoney, the Social Justice CSC group and the Year 6 students for organising and promoting this worthy cause.  

Yvonne Paturzo who generously volunteers her time with the organisation, spoke to our Social Justice group and Year 6s, demonstrating the essence of a true ‘Spirit-filled’ person in our community.   We received a lovely letter from her in response to our donations. 

An excerpt from the letter…

‘The Wesley Asylum Seeker Welcome Place was delighted to receive your school’s very

generous donation of hundreds of non-perishable grocery items for our Food Bank last

week. Our shelves are now very well stocked, and we wish to express our thanks to the

Clairvaux Catholic School community for your kindness and concern.’

Photos from Refugee week and celebration of our Clairvaux cultural diversity…

                           


NAIDOC week - The Next Generation :

Strength, Vision and Legacy

Next week , July 6 - 13, we acknowledge NAIDOC week 2025, a special time to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The 2025 Theme, “The Next Generation; Strength, Vision & Legacy,” celebrates not only the achievements of the past but the bright future ahead, empowered by the strength of our young leaders, the vision of our communities and the legacy of our ancestors.  At Clairvaux, we honour the Traditional Custodians of the Land and continue to learn, listen and grow in our understanding and respect of our First Nations people.

Lia Rizzi, one of our talented Art teachers has taken inspiration from Indiginous Artists with students from Year 4 and 6 creating some amazing pieces.

Year 4 - Contemporary Indigenous artists: Bronwyn Bancroft and Jimmy Pike.

Bancroft has illustrated over 40 children's story books, including Colours of Australia, Patterns of Australia and Shapes of Australia. All three books combined create the book, Art in Country. 

Jimmy Pike's bright and colourful works focus on the repetition of line, surrounding the indigenous symbol for waterhole. Many of Pike's works feature 'Jila Japingka,' a major waterhole, around 400 kilometres south of Fitzroy Crossing, in the Great Sandy Desert, near where he was born.

Year 6 - Albert Namatjira, Australian watercolour landscapes

Namatjira was a pioneer of  Indigenous Australian art that was influenced by western art. This made him the most famous Indigenous Australian of his generation. Namatjira primarily painted the landscapes of Central Australia, specifically the MacDonnell Ranges region. His works often depicted the rugged terrain, vibrant colors, and expansive skies of the outback.

Eucharist 2025

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Naidoc Week

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As part of our Year 4 English unit, students have been exploring the art of persuasive writing. They’ve also been learning about deforestation and its profound impact on the environment. With this knowledge in hand, students have had the opportunity to create powerful persuasive texts, advocating for change and raising awareness about this important issue.  

Please enjoy an example from one of our Students Claire Krusic-Golub from 4SJ.

Deforestatio, Habita L an Climat Chang 

By Cla Kru-Gol

How would you like to lose your home and species in a brief moment of chaos and permanent, harmful destruction? Innocent animals are being dangerously murdered and the reckless deforestation rate is skyrocketing horrifically in a frantically restricted amount of time. I struggle to truly empathize how important stopping deforestation is, with our lives and our precious planet at stake. 

All because of heartbreakingly destructive deforestation, animals´ and plants´ habitats are disappearing and vanishing like a fizzing, bubbling bath bomb. Terrible zoonotic diseases will make humans severely ill, so sick that they could die! Harmless animals will have nowhere to go, transforming their lives into a struggle for survival. Some of these cute species are critically endangered, and habitat loss could wipe them out for eternity, making those animal breeds extinct! Permanent habitat loss is human caused, so I ABSOLUTELY HATE HABITAT LOSS!

Catastrophic climate change is maximised to burning point by the Greenhouse Effect, making summers super stuffy and sweltering! The extreme and unpredictably wild weather can cause destructive cyclones that are capable of killing thousands of innocent species and even selfish, greedy humans too. Frequent droughts, big, big, big raging bushfires and wildfires clearly demonstrate the Sun's immense power, showing why it is a harmful drug and leading to heatstroke. Endangered polar species will go extinct purely because of rapidly rising temperatures, causing the polar ice caps to melt significantly. Climate change is ruining our beautiful Earth that we know now, so STILL do you want to contribute to this horrific ordeal?!?! 

Rainforests are vital recreational spaces housing rare, diverse flora and fauna, but deforestation is undoubtedly destroying our special, valuable connection with native wildlife! Rich ecosystems are lost, violently disrupting the gentle, balanced cycle and diminishing Earth’s natural, radiating and pure beauty. Pure air and unique ecotourism clearly

makes rainforests relaxing and calm, but birdwatching and adventuring also provides exhilarating thrill and endlessly fun excitement. Carbon emissions are increasing severely, intricate relationships to the forests are ruined and opportunities for recreational activities decline rapidly. DO I MAKE MYSELF PERFECTLY CLEAR!?!? 

Deforestation contributes hugely to the amount of trees being burnt to a crisp and releases harmfully terrible greenhouse gases.Deforestation is unmistakably permanent, and our wildlife and forests are diminishing rapidly. In conclusion, all evidence clearly demonstrates that deforestation is at the heart of all tree destruction, so if you don’t take immediate action against deforestation, will you deeply regret it when you suffocate one day?!

MICHAEL’S ISLAND DIARY

Written and typed by Van Vine

I woke up, and a second later Stella runs in and licks my face. Gross, but it’s her way of saying, ‘’Good morning Michael! Have a good day’’. I stretch my arms really far and hop out of my comfy sleeping mat. Today, Kensuke has promised me a ride in his little, wooden boat. I ran over to Kenuske’s cave, eager for the exciting trip ahead of me. Kensuke greeted me and Stella, like usual, barked her head off. ‘’ You happy for boat trip Micasan’’ Kensuke asked. ‘’Yes I am’’ I quickly reply. 

Kensuke and I walk towards the end of the tropical, magical island. Kensuke tugs his boat out of the wreck. We hop in and take off! We sail deeper and deeper into the crystal clear water. We see a few fish swim by, tiny fish, too tiny to catch. We then see a super huge fish. We throw out the net. The fish swam right into the mesh-like net. This fish could last us a whole two days! ‘’Now Micasan, I tell you story’’

I knew this was going to happen, as every time we went on a boat ride, Kenuske told me a little bit about his life before he got onto the island. Today, he was telling me about his son, Michya. ‘’Michya is my son and I want to watch Michya grow. But then war make me very sad. I no watch Michya anymore’’. He tells me more

about his son and then we finish the trip.

We sail our boat back to shore and have delicious lunch. It is the little, red bananas again! I love these type of fruit! Kensuke then tells me that he will show me where to find the red bananas. We walk over to the forest and I find a tree  packed with red bananas! ‘’Now Micasan, I show you where red banana is, you need to try and not eat the fruit. I frown, I want to pick them all of the tree and gobble them all up now! Kensuke let me take two bananas for now and told me that each day I could take one piece of fruit and eat it whenever I like.

Kensuke and I are spending the rest of the day painting. I paint a picture of a turtle hatchling. Kensuke loves it, so he puts it in his special chest. Who knew he liked turtles so much? At dinnertime I eat my red bananas and we bow together. I go back to my cave and have a great sleep.

 Its overflowing!!!

VISUAL ARTS NEWS - TERM 1

Visual Arts has started off at Clairvaux this term, with lots of new and creative mediums and art styles being explored. With a couple more weeks left, some year levels are still yet to complete their final piece, however, please read on to see what we have been working on in years Prep, Four, Five and SIx…

Prep:

Students in Prep have been introduced to the seven elements of art, which are the fundamental ways in which art is created. This term, the focus has been on the art element, colour. Students learned about the primary colours and why they are so important. They viewed artworks by two artists, Piet Mondrian and Alexander Calder, who only use the primary colours in their paintings (plus black and white). Students also learned about the art elements, line and shape, as these are also used in the artworks created by Mondrian and Calder.

Using the art  elements of line, shape and colour, Prep students used black marker and oil pastels to create their own artworks inspired by Calder’s painting titled, “Pennants.”

Four:

Each term Visual Arts connects to Clairvaux’s Cced topic. Term one is Health. Students in year 4 learnt about American street artist, Keith Haring, an artist who is famous for his iconic cartoon figures. Students viewed a range of Haring’s bold and vibrant street art and were taught the technique of how to draw figures in Keith Haring style. These figures represent different actions, poses and movement, linking to health and fitness, through physical activity. Students are currently working on a large A2 poster, featuring 4 - 5 different figures, which, once put on display, will collaboratively create a large mural. Students used the art elements, colour, line and space and will use black marker, oil pastels and watercolour paint, to complete their artwork (no photos yet!)

Five:

Connecting to Health and the idea of ‘identity,’ year 5 students created a self-portrait made out of wire, inspired by the artist, Alexander Calder (the same artist the Preps looked at!). Calder is an artist whose career spanned for over 50 years, creating a range of artworks in different styles and forms. Calder is most well known for the invention of his kinetic art (hanging mobiles), but before he did that, he used his favourite medium - wire - to create portraits of famous people.

Year five students learnt that these were not realistic portraits, rather, they were representational art. Students used the art element, line and the medium of wire, to create ‘3D drawings in space’ of themselves. 

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Art Term 1 2025

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St Bernard’s Church Annual BOOK FAIR 
When:   Sun 4th May  8am to 2pm  
Where: Clairvaux School Hall