IPSHA Parent Code of Conduct

IPSHA, the Independent Schools association which organises all our sporting fixtures, has asked all member schools to remind families about the Code of Conduct for Parents whose children are engaged in our Interschool Saturday Sports competition. Sadly, there has been unfortunate parental behaviour reported at different venues and IPSHA are keen to remind everyone that the purpose of school sport is student enjoyment of the game and that there are clear expectations of how we engage with staff and coaches, as well as how spectators should behave on the sidelines during games. Please see the IPSHA Code of Conduct here.

We ask our families to fully support this protocol, so our children enjoy their sport and staff are treated with respect.

Drama News: Alex in Wonderland

This year we are holding three evening performances in the new Packer Theatre at the Senior School. Please note there is no matinee being held for the Junior School this year.

If you would like to join us in Wonderland (at the Packer Theatre) you can do so by purchasing tickets here. The play opens on 5 September (with performances on the evenings of 6 & 7 September too).

At Cranbrook Junior School, Alex and his classmates are warned by Head Boy, James Pelly, during his Prize Giving address, about the dangers of following the White Rabbit. James’s speech and the Prize Giving ceremony are unexpectedly interrupted by Oscar Green, (who had played Alec in the 2016 production of Alec in Wonderland), along with several other curious characters. This turns a very formal occasion into a completely bonkers spectacle!

After the event, Alex finds himself sitting on the McKay lawn, engrossed in a book. Suddenly, he spots the very White Rabbit that he had been cautioned about. Fuelled by a sense of adventure and a willingness to take risks, Alex makes a daring decision to follow the rabbit down a hidden lift. Little does he know that this choice will lead him on a journey filled with bizarre and wondrous adventures, populated by illogical and strange creatures, as he navigates his way through the puzzling realm of Wonderland.

iCentre News

Book Week – Read, Grow, Inspire

The skies cleared, and the sun shone on us all, for a fantastic turnout of literary enthusiasm and celebration at our K-6 Parade yesterday. It was wonderful to share the experience with all staff, students, and many families, in promoting a love of reading and books. Following the parade, K-2 students enjoyed viewing the online theatrical adaptation of the CBCA shortlisted book, Frank’s Red Hat; and Years 3-6 students were treated to a very exciting and challenging Spelling Bee final in the gym. Congratulations to the winners, Christian Kollias (Stage 2), and Kyran Diec (Stage 3).

Visiting Authors – Signed Books

On Monday, the boys positively engaged and responded to our visiting authors’ presentations. We have heard many stories of students being inspired to read and write since.

Book orders can be placed online by clicking on the author’s name below. Please note that all of these authors write across a range of age groups, so you are very welcome to peruse them all.

Lesley Gibbes – Kindergarten, Year 1, and Year 2

Kristin Darell – Year 3 and Year 4

Jacqueline Harvey – Year 5 and Year 6

We are now looking forward to our concluding event, ‘Books at Bedtime’,  for Kindergarten and Year 1 students tonight.

NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge

Congratulations to the 171 students across the Junior School who completed the 2023 challenge.

Certificates will be sent and awarded at the conclusion of the school year.

Thank you, families, for your support.

Ms Light and Mrs de Wit

From the Deputies

Notice from the Deputy Head of Curriculum

All parents in Kindergarten to Year 5 would have received a notification on Operoo regarding the upcoming Student-led Conferences, being held in the last week of term, Tuesday, 12 September – Thursday, 14 September. We are so excited to welcome parents and carers into the classrooms for this significant event.

Student-led Conferences are one component of our formal reporting of student progress to parents, in addition to progress and semester reports, parent-teacher interviews and check-ins, plus the sharing of student workbooks. The responses from previous Student-led Conferences have been overwhelmingly positive, with parents noting how valuable this experience is to share with their child. It has been flagged in past years as one of the most important days in the year, with almost 100% attendance.

Students in the Junior School are empowered to share their work, talk about their achievements, explain their learning, answer questions and receive feedback on their efforts. This ‘one-on-one’ time between parents and children in the classroom is an extremely powerful opportunity. Parents and guardians are encouraged to provide support for their child, to be active listeners, to ask questions, to help students share their learning and to facilitate self-reflection and goal setting throughout the conference.

Over the next few weeks, we will continue to share with you what to expect and how you can get the most out of the Student-led Conferences.

Please pencil in these important dates in your calendar:

Kind regards,

Mrs Genet Erickson-Adam, Deputy Head of Curriculum P-6

Message from Michele Marquet

Dear P-Y6 Parents,

Last week, we saw lots of exciting science-based experiences for our students across P-Y6, organised by our Junior School Science Teacher, Mr Botto, along with his Senior School Science colleagues. Mr Botto visited both of our Pre-schools to teach our youngest Cranbrookians about some scientific concepts; our Year 3 classes spent time with Year 10 students in the Senior School, participating in experiments planned for them; while other Year 10 students travelled to the Junior School to run a range of tasks with our Year 4 classes. Other year groups enjoyed some special scientific tasks prepared by Mr Botto too. It was a busy and wonderful week of learning.

This week, we have celebrated Book Week and yesterday, we thoroughly enjoyed our students (and staff) embracing the opportunity to dress up for our annual parade, inspired by this year’s theme ‘Read, Grow, Inspire’. This afternoon, we welcome back our K and Y1’s for our second Books at Bedtime event starting at 5:30pm. Thank you to Megan Light, our Digital Literacy Leader & Teacher-Librarian and Liz de Wit, our Library Technician, for organising a wonderful week of literary celebration.

Yesterday afternoon, we were thrilled to see so many of our Junior School students participate in the Spring Festival’s Eisteddfod. Their engagement and preparation were commendable. Thank you to Peter Fox and the music team for the organisation of this event.

The week after next, our long-awaited JS Production of ‘Alex in Wonderland’ will be held with performances on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings. Tickets are available to purchase by following this link.

On Friday, 1 September, from 7.30am, we are looking forward to welcoming important males in our students’ lives to our Fathers’ Day Activities morning.

Plans are currently underway for this year’s Y3-Y6 Annual Christmas Lunch held later in Term 4. As part of the tradition of this lunch, we invite all students in Y3-Y6 to make a special Christmas hat and to wear it to the lunch and we award a prize for one that demonstrates wonderful creativity and cleverness, as well as having a group of honourable mentions. Students might like to start thinking about what they might make for their hat this year and use the upcoming holidays to start their creation. Seeing everyone’s hat is always a highlight of the day!

Kind wishes,

Michele Marquet
Head of Junior School

Letter from the President of the CSPA

The Cranbrook School Parents Association (CSPA) is a not-for-profit association of all Cranbrook parents run by an elected committee of Year Representatives, General Committee Members and the Executive. The primary role of the CSPA is to support Cranbrook School, particularly the parent community, fostering goodwill and creating a community that is inclusive and welcoming to all. We are seeking nominations from parents across the whole school community for volunteer roles on the CSPA Committee.

Reminders for Term 3

Some Key Events for Term 3 include:

• Fri, 1 September: Father’s Day Activities
• Tues, 5 – Thurs, 7 September: JS Play: Alex in Wonderland
• Tues, 12 – Thurs, 14 September: K-Y5 Student-led Conferences

The Term 3 Events Overview for Parents can be found here and on Cranbrook Connect.

Boots in the Bush

Cranbrook Parent App

The Cranbrook School app is being updated next week to support Google Analytics 4, please download any updates on your phone to ensure the latest version of the app is running.

To access the app 
Click here to view the information on how to download this app from the App Store.

Username and password discovery 
Click here to view information on how to access your username and password to enable access to the app.

Please remember to check your spam/junk email folder as sometimes codes and password resets can be sent there.

Junior School Parents
If Junior School families have difficulties downloading the new Parent App, please contact the Junior School Reception on 9327 9100.

Common Issues

1 – If you can’t log on

You cannot use your username and password for Cranbrook Connect. You must follow the exact steps for setting up a new username and password: https://www.cranbrook.nsw.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/2023_How-to-log-in-to-Parent-App_v4-1.pdf

2 – If none of the teams and fixtures are loading for your son

If you have logged on with your child’s school email address, you will not get any relevant information. The app will work, but with none of your child’s data. You will need to delete the app and start over again. Follow the steps above to set up a new username and password.

3 – If you cannot download the app Both Android and iPhone users can both download the app. If you are having trouble accessing it, the app has been created by Digistorm, which you can add into the search box.

Years 3-6 Sport News

We are looking forward to summer sport training starting up this Friday. Please note that boys will be training and trialling throughout the remainder of Term 3. On the Cranbrook Parent App, you will see that your son’s name appears in the team he was in for the first half of the season, back in Term 1.

PLEASE NOTE: it is possible your son will move teams before fixtures start in Term 4, based on his performance, attitude and commitment at training.

K-Y6 Music News

The following outlines the remaining Music event for Term 3.

Opera Australia comes to perform El Kid at Cranbrook Junior School for K to 6

• Monday, 11 September (Week 9)

Opera Australia’s Schools Tour aims to capture some of the passion and feeling of largescale theatrical operas in a more informal and accessible way for children. All of the songs and instrumental music used in El Kid come from the well-known opera, Carmen, composed by Georges Bizet and first performed in 1875, while the story of El Kid is based on the Norwegian folktale, Three Billy Goats Gruff. Students will study the combined creative and dramatic elements of opera and engage with many musical excerpts, through singing, moving and playing, leading up to this performance.

Mr Peter Fox

Head of Music Performance JS (P-6)

Optional Co-curricular News

Please contact Annabel Boyd (jscocurricular@cranbrook.nsw.edu.au) if you have any queries.

Pre-Schools’ News

Dear Families,

The children have enjoyed a week full of imagination, wonderful stories and dress-up. It was a delight to have our Kindy Teachers, as well as Mr Andrews and Mrs Marquet join our Pre-School children for a reading session.

Next week, we look forward to our Father’s Day BBQ Breakfast:

• St Michael’s 3- and 5-Day Group: Tuesday, 29 August 8am-8:45am
• St Mark’s: Wednesday, 30 August 8am-8:45am
• St Michael’s 2 Day Group: Thursday, 31 August 8am-8:45am

Please remember to RSVP, so we can plan accordingly.

A reminder for our St Michael’s families that no one should be driving up onto the church driveway. During drop-off and pick-up times, it gets very busy with children walking along the path and grassed area and can be very dangerous if we have families driving up the path. We must keep the area clear in case of emergencies. If you do need to drive up onto the driveway for a specific reason, please contact me to discuss your requirement. Thank you for your cooperation.

Kind regards,

Abigail McFarlane

Pre-schools Coordinator

Learn to Swim – Transport After School Lessons

Starting from next term, Junior School families whose children have a Learn to Swim lesson after school (i.e. lessons that commence before 4:15pm) will be able to book a seat for their child to travel on the Inner West bus that goes directly from inside the Junior School to the Senior School at the end of the school day each day of the week. Students will be dropped off near the AFC and then walked from the bus to the pool by AFC staff and supervised while they get ready for their lesson. Parents can meet their sons at the pool. For ease when changing, it would be best if students with lessons wear their swimmers under their school uniform. Please email bus@cranbrook.nsw.edu.au if you are interested in booking a bus spot for your child and we will send a booking link once it is available. The cost is $100 per term.

We are also pleased to let parents know that if they prefer to pick up their child in carline or if their child has swimming lessons a little later in the afternoon, they can now make use of the school carpark next to the pool after 3:30pm to park during the LTS lesson.

We hope these new opportunities assist with the busyness of the traffic near the AFC in the afternoons.