ANZAC Day is a special day of remembrance
that takes place on 25th April. The acronym ‘ANZAC’ stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

On 25 April 1915, Australian and New Zealand soldiers took part in a major expedition in an attempt to capture the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey.

It’s mainly commemorated in Australia and New Zealand.

It is held in memory of the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs), some of whom lost their lives in battle.

ANZAC Day is a day to pause, reflect and remember. 

Without these courageous people, we would not have the freedoms we all enjoy today.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old; 
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. 
At the going down of the sun and in the morning 
We will remember them.

anac 2025

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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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10 Week Program Term 2

Starts Wednesday 30 April

4:00-5:00pm

Belmont Library

This is an afterschool program for children and careers.

Unlock the magic of reading with our phonics-based family program designed to help grow young learners' minds. Come explore the world of phonics with us & watch your child roar into reading!

This 10 week child and parent/carer support program will be filled with engaging phonics games, catchy songs, and hands-on activities that teach the connection between letters and sounds.

Facilitated by experienced library staff with a passion for early literacy.

The target audience for this reading program is designed for both children and their parents:

1.  Children:

• Age Range: Children aged between Prep to Yr 2.
• Early Learners: children who are just beginning to learn to read or children who may be "developing at their own pace" in reading or struggling with phonemic awareness.
• Struggling with foundational reading skills.
• Emergent Readers: Children who are starting to connect sounds with letters and are developing basic reading fluency.
• Provide learning options to support neurodiverse children, children with learning difficulties, CALD community
• Offer a safe/encouraging place for children to read and learn away from school or home.

2.  Parents:

• Parents of Young Children: Parents who want to be actively involved in their child's early literacy journey.
• Parents of "readers who need extra support": Parents looking for resources to help children who may be "developing at their own pace" in reading or struggling with phonemic awareness.
• Parents Seeking Support and Guidance: Parents who are looking for clear instructions and tools to support their child's reading development at home.  

Price increase

Over the last 4 months all our suppliers have informed us of price increases. We have managed to delay passing this increase onto the school community by pre-ordering stock where we could but now we must adjust our prices to ensure we cover the cost of new orders.

New pricing will be updated on School24 on Sunday 27^th

Volunteer introduction sessions:

Our ability to keep the Uniform shop on site and continue to provide wholesale pricing direct to the school community is 100% reliant on volunteers.

If you are ever free for 30mins Wednesday or Friday mornings and interested to learn more about what volunteers do in the uniform shop without committing, come along to one of our introduction sessions.  

• Wednesday 7^th May 9-945am. Meet in the school office foyer
• Friday 9^th May 9.45 or 10am -10.30am. Meet in the Hall.

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.

ICT in Year 2:

During the year Year 2 students will use iPads for coding - including programming our robots Dot and Dash to move around and make noises.  Every Year 2 class will have one term dedicated to experiencing a different coding app.

Learning to code is like learning a new language, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Coding is a creative process that tells a computer program what actions to perform so that you can create a particular outcome, like making a player jump or move in a game.  It can be really fun and interesting to learn how to code.  Students will work in pairs or small groups on class iPads.

Every term students also participate in an “Ollie Online” live session.  This program is designed to educate individuals, particularly children and their families, about cyber safety and digital wellbeing, and to empower them to navigate the online world safely and confidently.  Learning this term will focus on the importance of balancing screen time with green time, the value of healthy sleep habits, and why it can be hard to put our devices down.  A parent booklet will be sent home in Week 3.

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