Dear mums, dads, carers and colleagues

Congratulations to our cross-country team on their awesome performance and representation of our school this week.  They competed at the Broadwater District carnival on Tuesday morning.  We have two runners progressing to the regional carnival in the next few weeks as well.  Great work Amity and Keagan.  The report below has some great photos.

The next two weeks see us working towards Mother's Day activities and of course, NAPLAN for Years 3&5.  Please help us by knowing the details of what is involved.   And if you get the opportunity, come and see the music students busking from 2:00pm.  They are doing really well.  

I also noticed lots of students with secret white carry bags around the school this week.  I wonder what they could possibly contain?  I would like to thank the P&C and the volunteer army for their brilliant work across the week with the Mother's Day stall and raffle.  Sensational work ladies.  The white bags contain precious treasures for special people.  

NAPLAN is coming

If your child is in Year 3 or Year 5 this year, you will need to begin to prepare them for NAPLAN (Starts 14 May).  We are doing what we can at school also.  NAPLAN will be completed on-line this year which means that parents need to peruse the four items in Newsletter 10 about NAPLAN.  Students will need their iPad ready.  Parents do not need to purchase any additional items to the regular school requirements but children will need their device, earphones and the NAP browser app.  It will also be a great idea to attend the parent information session.  Please be ready.

Two new schools opening

There are another two new schools opening in our area.

1. The new State Secondary College - Coomera East opens in 2020 with Year 7 students.  Click here for their Facebook page.  The first community meeting is planned for May 14.  
2. A new primary school along Yawalpah road is currently in the community consultation phase.  It is planned to open in 2021.

By 2021, these additional schools will take the number of schools on the Eastern side of the M1 in Coomera & Pimpama (north to the Yawalpah Road / M1 exit) from two in 2011 (Coomera State and Coomera Rivers) to eight.  

Emergency procedures at school

Everyone at Coomera Rivers practices both a lock down and evacuation drill each term.  Sometimes we practice a couple of times.  By doing this we are better prepared to respond to emergencies or other situations that may arise.  The safety of our children and adults is paramount.  We will always let you know if we have completed a practice drill or we need to use one of the procedures to help manage a situation at school.  If you are at school during one of these events, please simply consider your induction and follow the instructions of school staff.  We will keep you safe and in the right places.    

Have a great week

Kind regards

Vic

Congratulations to our students who received an Excellence Award this week.  What a great start to the term!

Coomera Rivers has nominated two students in various categories of the 2019 South East Region NAIDOC Awards which will be judged shortly and announced in NAIDOC Week later this term.  I am really proud to announce that :

• Jessica - has been nominated for the Student Leadership Award that recognises the hard work and dedication of an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander student
• Aryanna - has been nominated for the Barna Jarjum Student Excellence Award that recognises an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander student who has a disability and is successfully engaging at school

Infringements are easy to avoid.  Either:

• Be in correct and complete uniform or
• Supply your child's teacher with an email or note to explain a problem and we will withhold the infringement 

And now as winter looms, please organise pullovers and tracksuits before the rush.  Stocks are never infinite.  

NAPLAN tests the fundamental skills of writing, reading, grammar, spelling and numeracy – skills that are essential for your child to progress through school and life.  The tests are aligned to the Australian Curriculum for English and Mathematics, so what your child learns in the classroom is what they're tested on in NAPLAN. Other than being comfortable with the format of NAPLAN, which your child’s teacher has helped them with, the only thing that you need to do is ensure your child  has the NAP browser installed, brings their charged iPad to school and has a pair of headphones.  

NAPLAN results help identify areas of achievement and areas where your child may need more support. Teachers use their students’ NAPLAN results as just one piece of the assessment puzzle – they’re not the ‘be-all-and-end-all’ – and they don’t replace regular school tests or assessments. The results from NAPLAN do not appear on your child’s report card.  If you have any concerns, speak to your child’s teacher or see more information on the NAP website.                              

NAP locked down browser

Inter-school Sport:          Training has begun for our inter-school sport teams.  It is just over 3 weeks until our first round. Reminder to bring permission notes back ASAP.

Broadwater District Tennis:          Any students who play tennis competitively are encouraged to see Mr Burrows before Friday 10th May. (2009 or older).

Broadwater Touch trials:          Chezaan, Diamond, Hannah and Zharnae were selected to attend the Broadwater Touch trials (12Y). Big congratulations to Chezaan who made the Broadwater side. She will attend a regional carnival later in the month.

Broadwater Rugby Union:          Any senior boys who play Rugby Union for club are able to trial at school on Monday in Week 4 (13/5).

Before-School Basketball:          If any students in Year 5 and Year 6 are interested in basketball training and games before school, please see Mr Murillo for more information.

Congratulations to our cross-country runners who competed at the district carnival on Tuesday in Runaway Bay. They gave their best efforts and represented Coomera Rivers proudly.

Two of our students finished inside the top 14 and will be attending the South Coast carnival in early June.  Well done to Keagan (2nd) and Amity (6th).

Our 2019 cross-country team:

All members of the school community need to be aware of the behaviour expectations at our school.  I included the information around swearing and inappropriate language and gestures earlier this year but it always good to remind everyone about what is expected.

Our school and community values respect. We teach and reinforce respectful language in so many ways and contexts each and every day. There is no place at school for language that is anti-social or offensive. This includes swearing and specific or general remarks made that are either sexually, personally or racially offensive. This applies to everyone at our school and includes comments directed towards students or adults. Being offensive is never ok.

Our school believes it reasonable to consider that Prep to Year 2 students are still in the learning phase. Nonetheless, inappropriate language or gestures will result in detention each time. Directing it towards a teacher will see the student sent home with suspension from school.

Our school expects that students in the senior sectors (Years 3-6) already know the difference between right and wrong language to use. And while they may not know the precise meanings of the terms, they certainly know that the terms are inappropriate. If students in the senior school swear or use inappropriate language or gestures, towards anyone, they can expect:

• First incident: Five days without play
• Second incident: Suspension – 3 days
• Third and subsequent incidents: Suspension – increasing lengths.

* Directing offensive language or gestures towards school staff will see senior students sent home with suspension from school.

* If reteaching and suspension cannot influence student behaviour, it may become necessary to apply exclusion processes.

* It is a legal requirement that students with a disability that may affect their behavioural decision making capacity, be supported differently. This will always be applied.  Please continue to discuss with your children, the standards that are expected by our community.   

And remember that it is an offence for adults to speak offensively or aggressively on or around the school. This applies to conduct towards staff, students or other adults.  It is never ok and we must be the role models our children need us to be.

This term in drama we are acting out the stories that were studied in Term 2 in class. As such, your child may come home asking if they can bring in some props to enhance their story. If they could keep the props at school either in their bags, in their tidy tray/classroom or if they are large could have them labelled and sent to the Arts Room, it would be much appreciated by Mrs Blyth.

Our first rehearsal was a big success! Our group dance already looks amazing and the group's behaviour was outstanding. We are so excited to see where this year's Wakakirri journey will take us. See you next Thursday Wakakirri team. Wakakirri families, keep an eye out next week for a link to our Wakakirri Blog which is in the process of being created.

At OSHC, our aim is to provide children with a program that is engaging and focused on the children’s interests. We facilitate this by allowing the children to lead activities and plan the program. This term the children are showing more interest in sports and physical activity during their time at OSHC.

• At before school care we are observing small group activities such as dancing, handball, gymnastics and frisbee.
• Afternoon sessions provide children with the opportunity to lead larger sports games of cricket, basketball and soccer.

This is great to see as a play and leisure focused program supports children’s learning, development and wellbeing (NQS: QA1).

On Wednesday afternoons after school, some Year 6 students are participating in a STEM Online Masterclass in collaboration with Griffith University and Queensland Academies Health Sciences. The students are participating in the Brilliant Bridge Building course where they apply the principles of geometry, Pythagoras’ Theorem and velocity to design a sustainable bridge.

This week the Year 6's were introduced to the 2019 Ministers Climate Challenge with a workshop from FiftySix Creations. The program was designed to turbo-charge our next generation of young change makers in Primary and Secondary Schools. Inspired by Teenage Founder, Taj Pabari, their workshop aimed to demonstrate the myriad of ways young people can powerfully impact their own communities as we enter the ever changing workforce of the future. The students are continuing their work on the Ministers Challenge in their DigiDesign lessons.

Can you help us?  We are raising money for our school environmental projects by collecting cans and bottles for recycling.  

On Wednesday 15 May we will have the team from the Commonwealth Bank on site to open school banking accounts for students.

Thank you to Woolworths Coomera East of their ongoing support of our School and community.

In the next week or so we will be sending home details of the following upcoming community events:

• Friday 14 June - Bingo Bonanza - our annual parent social event (with onsite babysitting available)
• Friday 21 June - Grandparents Day
• Saturday 3 August - Coomera Rivers Community Fair

Our Mother’s day Raffle closes next Wednesday at 4:00pm.  Tickets are available via Flexischools and the lucky winners will be announced next Thursday!

Good luck!

Woolworths has just launched their Earn & Learn program, and we're joining in again.  If you shop at Woolworths between May 1 to June 25, you can receive stickers.  Our school is collecting those stickers and then we can then use them to buy new school equipment - things like art and craft supplies, sports gear, teaching aids and much more - there are thousands of things to choose.

So if you are shopping at Woolworths, please collect the stickers for us and drop them in to our collection box at school which is located near the volunteer sign in iPad in Corporate Services.

Thanks for helping us out!