Message from Michele Marquet

Dear Parents,

We approach the final weeks of school after a wonderful term. Recently, we celebrated with our Year 6 boys who presented to their families their individual inquiries into their chosen issue at this year’s Exhibition. It is always an amazing experience listening to the boys speak so eloquently and passionately about an issue they have investigated, considered and reflected upon with such care. They have done a most impressive job! The process is wrapping up now with boys exploring ways to take action in response to their individual inquiry into the issue they investigated.

Over the last week, our students also enjoyed the fun of the Staff Christmas Play, the wonder of the K-2 Carols Service at All Saints’ Anglican Church and the excitement of our Y2-Y6 Swimming Carnival held at AFC. Today, our Y3-Y6 students were able to take part in the annual Christmas Lunch. What an amazing job was done by our parents, who were 80+ strong in number, expertly organised by Angelique Haritos and Nonie Elliott, both of whom ensured the day ran like clockwork. Enormous thanks to our JS Admin Team who did a phenomenal job of organising this event: Robyn Booy, Gaia Tedeschi, Jill McPherson and Annabel Boyd.

Next Wednesday, K-2 boys can look forward to their special Christmas Activities, and on Tuesday, Y3-Y6 will enjoy their Carol Service at St Andrew’s Cathedral (starting at 5pm). Later that week, we will hold the Year 6 Valedictory Service to say farewell to our oldest students, as they complete their Junior School journey and head off to Senior School. In between all these special events, normal lessons in all areas will continue to occur until the end of the term. It is a busy end of term!

Reports, Class Allocations and Start of Term Information
Parents are reminded that their son’s 2023 Semester 2 report, 2024 class allocation and information about the start of 2024 will be sent home via email during December.

K-Y2 Christmas Activities
On Tuesday, 6 December, students in K-2 will enjoy special Christmas Activities and their parents are invited to come onto campus at 2pm to pop into their classrooms to collect special craft from their son’s classrooms before heading home.

Upcoming Events & Important Dates

• Y3-Y6 Carols Service – Tuesday, 5 December 5pm
• K-Y2 Christmas Activities – Wednesday, 6 December
• Y6 Valedictory Service – Friday, 8 December – 1.15pm
• Last day of classes – Friday, 8 December
• P-6 JS Prize Giving – Monday, 11 December 10am

We hope all our families have a wonderful week.

With thanks,

Michele Marquet

JS Community Prayer Meeting

Tomorrow, Friday, 1 December, there is a prayer morning with Mr. Noble for any parents or carers in our JS community. It will be held at 8am in Music Room 2 on the Junior School campus. It’s an opportunity for parents to come and spend time in prayer for each other and the school. This will be our last meeting of the year. It has been a great joy to meet with parents and pray for our community.

Save the date: Family Fun Day for CETOP

Please save the date for a Cranbrook CETOP and CSPA Family Fun Day event on Sunday, March 17, 2024! This exciting day promises a blend of delicious food, exhilarating fun and a chance to interact with furry animals. Bring your family and friends for a day filled with joy, laughter, and community spirit as we come together to raise funds for CETOP’s initiatives in Nepal and Ladakh. Mark your calendars for this unforgettable Cranbrook event!

Reminders for Term 4

The Term 4 Events Overview for Parents can be found here and on Cranbrook Connect.

Year 7 Scholarships (2025)

Parents of boys in Year 5 2023, who may be interested in applying for a Senior School scholarship for their son, should read the Scholarships 2025 information available now via this link. 

2024 K-Y2 PE Uniform

Last term, we wrote to our Kindergarten and Year 1 families to let them know that in 2024, all students in K – Year 2 will have some new items to wear as part of their Cranbrook sports uniform. Currently, K – Year 2 students wear their House T-shirt on Thursdays for their Fundamental Movement lessons, but from next year, students in our younger year levels will wear a full sports uniform for comfort and ease to participate fully in our PE program.

From the start of 2024, K – Year 2 students will wear to school on Thursdays AND the other day each week they have a PE lesson:

Summer                                          

• House T-shirt
• PE shorts
• CS crew socks
• Black sneakers

Winter

• House T-shirt
• Track jacket or ¼ zip top (fleecy lined)
• Track pants
• CS crew socks
• Black sneakers

The House T-shirt comes in the following colours:

• Red – Dangar
• White – Hordern
• Pale Blue – Ingram
• Yellow – Moyes
• Dark Green – Potter
• Navy – Warry

Noone, our uniform supplier, have these items available for purchase from now onwards.

The Uniform Shop invites the current Year 2 families to purchase their 2024 uniform requirements first, should your required size not be available at the time you visit the shop, the order will be delivered to the JS when the next delivery of stock arrives.  After a couple of weeks, the Uniform Shop will invite the current K and Y1 families to purchase their PE uniform for 2024.

The Uniform Shop is located on the Senior School campus near the Victoria Road gates.

Contact details are:

Cranbrook Uniform Shop – School Term Trading Hours

Monday, Wednesday and Friday 8am – 4pm

Phone: (02) 9327 9457

Email: cranbrook@noone.com.au

K-Y2 Christmas Activities

On Wednesday, 6 December students in K-2 will enjoy special Christmas Activities and their parents are invited to come onto campus at the very end of the afternoon to collect their sons in person from their classrooms. Details about this lovely event have been sent home to families.

Christmas Lunch – Unicef Donation

Thank you to our wonderful parent volunteers who delivered a very festive and delicious Christmas Lunch today.

So many of our boys have been busy doing chores at home to earn some money to donate to UNICEF.

If you have not already done this, those who are making a donation to this wonderful cause should access the link here: UNICEF LINK to transfer their donation.

Cranbrook Parent App

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.

Junior School Swimming Carnival Gallery

NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge

Congratulations to the 171 K-6 Cranbrook students who successfully completed the reading challenge this year.

Certificates will be presented in year level groups over the coming week including Gold Certificates for four years of participation.

Seven years of participation certificates will be presented at this year’s annual Prize Giving ceremony.

The NSW PRC encourages students to engage with reading for leisure and pleasure and fosters a lifelong love of reading. It offers the opportunity for students to read from a wide range of authors, styles and genres, and to gain new perspectives about themselves and the world around them. Whilst the 2024 NSW PRC Challenge does not open until March 2024, books read over the holiday period will be eligible.

Book Returns

All library books are now due back to the iCentre for end of year processing.

Thank you to staff and families who helped get so many books into their children’s hands throughout 2023.

The library circulated approximately 19 500 items this year!

Best wishes and happy reading,

Megan Light and Elizabeth de Wit

Optional Co-curricular

Parents should receive an email today requesting they complete an access check to the new Activities Module on the Cranbrook Parent App. Access to this module will be essential for booking into Optional Co-curricular for 2024.

We will be opening up booking access for Term 1 2024 in a week or so, after parents have completed the check. To complete the check, please follow this link for a copy of the instructions.