Message from Michele Marquet, Head of Junior School
Dear Parents and Carers,
A very warm welcome back! It has been fantastic to see our students and families at both our Pre-schools sites and the Junior School after the winter break. The buzz is palpable!
This evening, from 5 – 6pm, Year 1 families and our new families to the school (in Y2-Y6), plus any other interested families are warmly welcome to attend a parent engagement session in the Y1 Piazza, about ‘How to read your child’s reports’. If you have any questions about Semester 1 reports, please get in touch with your child’s classroom teacher.
We look forward to hosting our Founders’ Day Service next Wednesday at 12 noon in the Junior School Gym, where our new Head of School, Dr Anne Johnstone, will join us.
CETOP Week
Cranbrook Explorers and Travellers Overseas Partnership (CETOP) is a not-for-profit organisation made up of staff and families associated with Cranbrook that supports communities in Ladakh, India (SS) and Nepal (JS). In Nepal, the Junior School supports work in the areas of dental health and education. Since 2011, we have conducted many trips to Nepal with Y6 students accompanied by one of their parents.
This term, we are hosting a CETOP Week across the entire school to increase awareness about CETOP, especially for our next Y6 trip to Nepal (end of Term 1 2026) and to raise some funds for the work of CETOP generally.
Junior School CETOP Pledge
During this year’s CETOP Week, each year level in the Junior School has pledged something they will do without on Monday, 4 August. Students are encouraged to help around the house (photos encouraged) and donate their earnings to their class pledge. A Padlet has been set up for students to share photos of them completing their act of service, which we will share at the CETOP Assembly. Further information for each year level can be found in this linked note and in your child’s homework note next week. Please note this activity is in addition to the Sausage Sizzle fundraiser – see details below.
CETOP Sausage Sizzle
On Thursday, 7 August (Y3-Y6) and Friday, 8 August (K-Y2), we are holding a sausage sizzle for our students. For $5, students will receive a sausage, bread (normal/gluten-free) and an icy block. Dietary needs will be provided for and families will receive an order form via email early next week explaining the options and how to order and pay.
Waitmate Information Session for all JS families
As mentioned in a previous Link message, Jonathan Haidt’s book The Anxious Generation has garnered significant attention since its publication last year. Haidt argues that a phone-based childhood disrupts healthy development, leading to increased anxiety, depression and other issues, resulting in detrimental consequences for young people’s wellbeing. Such impacts very reasonably raise grave concerns for parents and educators alike.
To help us better understand the consequences of smartphones and social media on growing minds and to explore what we can do to reduce these risks for our own children, we are hosting a very special presentation for all our Junior School families where we will hear more on this vital topic from a child psychologist and a representative of Waitmate, an organisation that helps families work through these issues.
Haidt emphasises that addressing this mental health crisis requires collective action from all of us. This is such an important area for every family to seriously consider, so we are asking each Junior School family to send one member to attend this essential presentation. Please put these details in your diary now:
Date: Tuesday, 12 August (Week 4)
Time: 8:30am – 9:30am
Venue: Junior School Gym
On this day, we are also inviting our families to pop into their son’s classroom briefly after the presentation, as part of our Science Week activities.
We look forward to a week of learning and fun.
Kind wishes,
Michele Marquet
Head of Junior School