And just like that we have reached the halfway point of the year, and it’s been another energetic term for the P&C and related activities.

The Canteen continues to go from strength to strength adding some new friendly and experienced faces to the team as well as welcoming additional volunteers. I hope all those partaking, enjoy the end of term sausage sizzle and all the other special efforts the Canteen and volunteers offer throughout the school year.

We are thrilled to hear that more than $4,000 of new sports equipment has been purchased and arrived at the school and is being distributed amongst the classes at the time of writing. Huge thanks to those that helped raise these funds at the Welcome Back and Election Day barbecues and bake sales.

Friends of the Band (FOTB) celebrated another successful band camp with special performances on the Sunday that parents attended at the camp, thanks to Kip Fitzsimon and the FOTB committee for all the time and effort supporting the Band.

Also in great news, it has been a thrill to see the School Hall Project making major progress in the final weeks of the term with the steel superstructure of the Covered Outdoor Learning Area (COLA), new covered walkways and expanded facilities on either side of the hall all going up and being clad. Funds raised to support this project have been transferred to the school to ensure the highest quality AV, staging and ventilation equipment can be purchased as the project heads towards completion.

Thanks to all the donors that supported this project early on, and for your patience while the school worked with the Department of Education to get it happening. It will not be long now before we celebrate the opening well before the P&C’s main event in October!

Of course, I am talking about the inaugural Clofest, scheduled for Saturday, October 21. Huge shout out to Kelly Ehrlich and her Clofest team for the vast work put into organising, promoting and securing sponsorship for this event. Also, for the wonderful engagement with the students through the logo design competition, the merch is looking awesome!

But not to worry, you don’t need to wait till Term 4 for P&C fun times. The annual star on the P&C community event calendar is coming Saturday, August 19 – Trivia Night at Souths Juniors. Don’t miss it and stay tuned for information on fancy dress themes and more! As always, our unwavering thanks to Andrea Aschner for her coordination and enthusiasm organising this cracking night each year!

It was also very pleasing to see the Clovelly Farm Project tie for first prize in the Grow It Local awards for the Best School Garden  – Growing the Future category. Big congrats to Matt Lewinsohn for heading up the build of this project with the dedicated crew of volunteers, as well as to Principal Matt Jackman, the school and Mr Bates for so enthusiastically building it into the curriculum. You can watch the YouTube clip announcing the winners.

Finally, my personal thanks must go to the other current members of the Executive, who put in the time and effort to make the P&C function so well. Seta Vakaciwa, Charlie Boyle and Angie Tilling – thank you!

We are looking for parents to fill the following roles:

• Vice President
• Chair of the SoFun (Social and Fundraising) Committee

I will also be working towards handing over the role of President by Term 4 as my daughters will be graduating.

If any parents are interested in taking a more active role in the P&C we would be happy to chat through what is involved. It is all about our community and supporting the school at the end of the day, so if you are passionate about that, please get in touch.

Otherwise, have a well-deserved winter break and we will see you all back in July.

Sincerely,

John Richardson, P&C President

Planning for Clofest 2023 – our upcoming festival of family fun – is picking up pace.

Clofest will be held at the school on Saturday, October 21 from 12pm to 5pm.

The event will feature live music and performances, rides, games, a food fair, raffles and more, with all proceeds from Clofest going towards a new play area for the students.

If you have a talent or skill you’d like to lend to Clofest, or a business that would like to partner with the event, please get in touch with the organising team at clofestfestival@gmail.com or on 0400 68 78 88.

Clofest merchandise will be available to purchase from the start of Term 3 via Flexischools, with delivery in time for the event. You can find more information over at the Clofest event page.

Wow, we are halfway through the year and what a busy six months it has been in the canteen.

We have welcomed Frank Damasco to the team to help out in the kitchen.  We will continue to work closely with the Students’ Representative Council (SRC)  to finalise what Frank will be cooking up for the children during the colder months.  They recently taste-tested the lasagne options and Frank’s mac & cheese,  so watch this space for next term’s menu.

To ensure we cater to all we have increased our gluten-free options across the menu.  Recent additions are the gluten-free crusties, pizzas, sausage rolls and rocky road Birthday Baskets.

Thursdays and Fridays continue to be our busiest days, so if you are willing and able to pop into the canteen and help out between 9-11am on those days it would be very much appreciated.  Please signup online at https://signup.com/go/HWGqdDR.

The new committee has settled into their roles and continue to be a great support to the smooth running of the day-to-day operations of the canteen.  A BIG thank you to our secretary Stacy, chairperson Bec and our regular volunteers Jackie and Jude.

We would also like to do a shout-out to the army of students that are always willing to do canteen chores, there are too many to mention, but you know who you are!  Without you all we couldn’t hit our tight deadlines, market our products or look so spick and span.

Thanks as always to The Meat Store, Bondi Junction,  for their generous contribution to our sausage sizzle celebration.  We hope the children enjoy their end-of-term treat and have a fun-filled holiday.

Stay calm and have a cookie.

Team Canteen

The Clovelly Band community has had a great start to 2023!

We are still riding high after an amazing band camp at Stanwell Tops. It was truly wonderful to witness the smiles and excitement on the faces of the children who participated and see how they progressed over the weekend.  We are so lucky to have our fabulous band director Murray.

The Children participated in workshops lead by specialists tutors (including Mali’s mum Bek Wermut who lead an amazing percussion workshop!).  Thanks to all our parent volunteers (Anabella, Bek, Connie, Kate, Katrin, Ron and Sophie) who worked tirelessly in the lead up to the camp and over the weekend to support the FOTB Committee to ensure the camp was a huge success.  The Band would not survive with the generous support of these parents and our fundraising initiatives.

As we move forward into the last part of the year, there are many exciting events on the horizon. The bands will participate at the Australian School Band and Orchestra Festival mid-August at the Clancy Auditorium at UNSW and will also get to perform at the highly anticipated Clofest in October.

We are always looking for new members to join the committee, so if you are keen to be involved with this amazing committee, please reach out to Kip or Jen at the FOTB Committee.

 Your FOTB Committee.

Following the completion of the Clovelly Farm for Term 1, we’ve been considering options for a Covered Outdoor Learning Area (COLA) over the seated area next to the farm to allow students to use the area as an outdoor classroom during summer and light rain.

As we were able to deliver the Clovelly Farm slightly under budget and have received a further grant from  Randwick City Council we have some funds to provide a COLA. At this stage were leaning towards a waterproof shade sail that will blend in with the natural environment in that section of the school.

Watch this space!

There are three newly formed Year 2 teams that have joined the Eastern Suburbs Combined Primary Schools Netball Association (ESCPSNA).

The Comets, the Cubs and the Wild Cats are brimming with enthusiasm as they take to the court with the spirit of FUN fuelling their love for netball.

The netball season has started off great with lots of wins from Year 2 all the way up to Year 6.

Here are a few updates from some of the eight teams that play every Saturday at Waverley courts:

• First the Year 3 Clovelly Cats – the Cats have welcomed four new players this season and are always focused on their coach Penny. Win or lose they celebrate their games with a cat-chy meow, meow, meow chant!
• The Year 4 Wolves have had more wins than losses this year.  They are coached by two ex-Clovelly students which is always fun.
• The Year 4 Diamonds are now playing their third winter competition together. As their skills continue to grow and improve, they have added court strategies and tactics that have been integrated into their game plan. A few weeks ago, the team had the best win of its short netball career, with a dominating 24-3 scoreline!
• A newly formed team, the Year 5 Crystals (pictured), which is combination of former Crowns and Comets team members, are playing beautifully together. They have had a lot of great wins, but most importantly they are having fun!
• Last, but not least, the Year 6 Cobras are off to a cracking start with only one loss to a Bondi team.

There are a lot more games to go this season and so I wish all of the Clovelly teams good luck.

Let’s go, Clovelly Netball Club!