Dear mums, dads, carers and colleagues

I like to keep the seasonal calendar simple so I use ANZAC day as the start of autumn, the Ekka as the start of spring and the Melbourne Cup as the start of summer.  Sunrise is earlier and the twilight lingers, and the BBQs and cricket are soon to begin.  Things are about to become a whole lot hotter - thank goodness for the classroom air-conditioners! 

And summer in Australia also means Christmas.  Unfortunately this year, our annual Christmas plans are very quiet but I am hopeful that 2021 will see a return of our annual concerts.    Nonetheless, our annual award assemblies are still on the calendar but the parent attendance will be limited unless the restriction numbers increase.  Please check the calendar regularly as we work to manage all of the events successfully.  

Diamond promotions

Congratulations to the students in Years 3-6 who joined the Diamond level of learning behaviours this week.  This truly is an outstanding achievement as these students have consistently demonstrated strong character traits and have worked hard to practice what it means to have a service attitude.  I know their parents are extremely proud.

Our school family has grown

Our resident school plovers have become a family and three of the four eggs have hatched and the chicks are on the move.  Mum and dad are very active at the moment and it is common to see them swooping and squawking as we continue on with our day.  I can only wonder why the plovers choose the busy parts of the school to nest?  Nonetheless, they are quite harmless - despite the urban myths - and as a school, we want the chicks to grow and remain healthy.

I commissioned one of our Year 5 students, Michael, to create a banner that I could use when I discuss the plovers and their needs.  We met a number of times and he prepared multiple ideas to represent our school, the birds, nature and conservation and we settled on this one.  Great work Michael.

The 2020 Colour Explosion is almost here

Plans for 2021?

Leaving us:  If you are leaving our school community at the end of this year, please contact the school office as soon as possible so that we can prepare the necessary transfer documents for you.  

Enrolling:  If you have friends or family who are considering enrolling at Coomera Rivers, please ask them to contact Mrs Finch in the school office as soon as possible.  We ARE accepting some out of catchment enrolments in all year levels but the positions are filling very fast.  Once they are filled there are no more.  

Important dates

We will keep adding to this list of events as we finalise our plans the conclusion of the 2020 school year.   Please check this list each week and add the pertinent information to your fridge calendars.  

Kind regards

Vic

Congratulations to this week's recipients of the school Excellence Awards.

Prep - Year 2

Years 3-6

Mindfulness

Every day after second break, 4C & 4M spend a short period of time listening to some calming instrumental music while completing independent mindfulness activities to help them return to the green zone and get prepared for learning. This week, the students were privileged to have 2 of their own classmates, Maya and Mariyae, play this mindfulness music live for them. 4C & 4M were mesmerised by the girls, and were very quickly able to return to the green zone and feel ready to learn. 

2A have the police on the case

Last week, 2A read the book, 'The True Story Of The Three Little Pigs. They have been learning about persuasive texts and Miss Mackay gave the students a purpose for writing by having them write letters to the police to convince them that the the Big Bad Wolf is innocent of his crimes.  He didn't mean to blow down the Little Pig's houses, he had a cold and he accidentally sneezed.  The students were so invested in this writing piece as they came up with some great reasons and explanations as to why the Big Bad Wolf should be released from jail immediately. Sounds like some serious critical thinking happening here.

A special learning partnership was established with Senior Constable Adam Johnson from Gold Coast Rapid Action Control as he and his colleagues took the time to read the students' letters.  Also, thank you to the officers from the Coomera Police Station who read their work and gave them each a 'Junior Crime Stopper' sticker. We love the partnerships we make with our community.

Mud Pies Anyone?

Loose Parts play is the next step in our efforts to be Good at learning - Good at life.  It is just so important for children to develop collaboration, creativity and negotiation skills as they enjoy and explore playtime.  Our loose parts play continues to thrive in the Year 1 play areas. The students' confidence is growing and they are taking more risks with their play - this is a very good thing. The crates are a real hit and building towers is very popular. It always helps when you have a really tall friend to help place the ones up the top.

Other students have started making mud pies. Remember your own childhood playing in the mud?  Well we may have caused a few sink problems but after chatting with our wonderful cleaners, we have a solution.  We are going to attach a hose so the children can access water without affecting the sink.    

Gold Rush Excursion

Year 5 had the privilege to step back in time, to 1854, the time of the Australian Gold Rush!  A bush ranger on a galloping white horse greeted us and led Year 5 into a gold mining town where the students explored the tents, shops, gathering places and gold fields. The British flag was hoisted high and the students were off haggling for goods, digging for alluvial gold, building tents and baking damper.

Great teamwork and perseverance was shown in many activities including tent building, gold mining and unravelling the clues to catch the town thieves. The day ended with a whole cohort game of ‘Gold Rush’ where students got to take on the role of a digger and find gold around the town and haggle with the teachers. Some students were even put in gaol for mining without a license! Fortunately, they escaped gaol just in time to get back on the bus.  'This excursion was so cool!' we heard many students say on the bus ride home.

And general great work acknowledgements this week include...

The 8th – 15th November is NAIDOC Week. NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia each July (this year in November) to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC is celebrated not only in Indigenous communities, but by Australians from all walks of life. The week is a great opportunity to participate in a range of activities and to support your local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.

NAIDOC originally stood for ‘National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee’. This committee was once responsible for organising national activities during NAIDOC Week and its acronym has since become the name of the week itself.

One of the ways we will be celebrating NAIDOC week at Coomera Rivers is a whole-school colouring competition. Students have been invited to participate in this competition, and one student from each year level will be lucky enough to take home a NAIDOC Week prize pack next week.

Congratulations to our Esport representatives, Chase, Josh, Jasper & Mathias  who today competed in The Fuse Cup Gold Coast finals at Emmanuel College.  Everyone gave their best while racing other schools in Mario Kart Deluxe 8. Unfortunately, we were not winners in the races but were definitely winners in the sportsmanship we showed.  The Fuse Cup provides students with a great opportunity to develop skills of resilience, persistence and sportsmanship while playing in a safe and supportive environment.

Registrations for our 2021 Year 5 & 6 team will be open early in the new year.

Sports Gala Day with Picnic Creek

On Friday, Picnic Creek walked 90 of their students to Coomera Rivers to partake in our first Gala Day between the 2 schools. The sports on offer were Soccer, Rugby League and Netball. It is always great to see out staff and students showing their love for sport on these occasions and we are very happy with the success of the day.

We were lucky to have one of our Rugby League teams, one of our Soccer teams, and one of our Netball teams go through the day undefeated. Whilst our first ever Girls-only soccer team won their match against Picnic Creek 3-1.

Some of our games were streamed live and can be accessed via the Coomera Rivers Facebook page.  Thanks to Ms King and Mrs Walsh for volunteering their time to coach our Netball teams and Mr Burrows, Mr Meijboom and Mr Raffin for coaching the soccer and rugby league teams.

Thank you also to the students and staff at Picnic Creek for sharing the day with us.

With Swimming Fun Days (Years 3 - 6) scheduled for Week 10 of Term 4, it is time to start thinking about those house colour accessories!

Not only do we have the hair ties and wrist bands available for purchase but we also have House coloured shirts through our partnership with Reklaim.

Orders of these shirts are open now via Flexischools and, to allow production of the shirts in time for the Sport Fun Days, orders need to close on Friday 13 November at 4pm.

We understand that this order turn around time is less than our usual 4 weeks so, with that in mind, if you are unable to purchase and pay via Flexischools by the deadline we are willing to take orders via email - the deadline for email orders is also 4pm Friday 13 November. For these email orders the deadline for payment is Friday 27 November - shirts will not be delivered unless full payment has been received.

House coloured hair bands and wrist bands will be available to order via Flexischools right up until 2 school days prior to the event.

If you have any questions, please email the P&C

Apart from the amazing individual prizes on offer and the chance to help your class win a water bomb challenge with their Deputy by being the highest fundraising class, Australian Fundraising are offering these amazing additional prizes incentives

HIGHEST FUNDRAISING PRIZE - WIN A RAZOR E-PUNK ELECTRIC BIKE...

Can you see yourself zipping around on a razor E-Punk electric bike? Well, one lucky student will win this Electric Mini Bike simply by claiming top honours on our school's leaderboard. You can check your status now by logging in at www.myprofilepage.com.au

HIGHEST FUNDRAISING CLASS...

This is your time to shine students, and it starts with a group effort. Each student from the highest fundraising class will receive from the $10-$19 category a free HANDBALL and BOUNCING PUTTY. You'll be bouncing all day long!

RAISE MORE THAN $50...

Each family to raise $50 or more will go into a draw to win a two night holiday staying at Sea World Resort & Water Park for two adults and two children. Valued at $500. T&C's apply.

All of this and the individual prizes on offer, not to mention the COLOUR EXPLOSION EVENT!

So much on offer, so much fundraising to go! Thank you once again for assisting our school and digging deep to help achieve our fundraising goal.

Having trouble fundraising? Try these three tips!

* ASK FAMILY AND FRIENDS - ask family and friends to make a donation to your page.
* SHARE ON SOCIAL MEDIA - if your parents have a Twitter, Facebook or Instagram account, ask them to share your fundraising page link to their family and friends to increase your donations!
* REMIND PEOPLE - did someone say they would donate but forgot? Ask them if they are still happy to donate next time you see them.

For more details on important dates and deadlines for this event, please refer to our earlier Colour Explosion post on Facebook.

Happy fundraising!

As we near the end of the 2020 school year, it is time to start considering your before and after school care needs for 2021.

All current 2020 BSC and ASC bookings will cease after close of business Wednesday 9 December 2020. Bookings will not roll over to 2021. All families seeking care at Coomera Rivers OSHC in 2021 must complete a new booking request.

How does the booking process work?

Step 1 - Family submits booking requests

Booking requests are open now for families to apply for OSHC in 2021. Please ensure your start date for BSC and ASC is Wednesday 27 January 2021.

To enrol for BSC and/or ASC in 2021, please click here to submit a booking request.

Step 2 - Service sends booking offers

Booking requests received will be responded to within 2 business days.

Step 3 - Family accepts and confirms booking offer

Families need to accept and confirm booking offers within 2 days of receiving the booking offer email to finalise the booking process. This is done by following the steps that will be outlined in the booking offer email.

Please note the QikKids website is not optimised for use on mobile devices, including iPads and mobile phones. The enrolment process must be completed on a computer.

If you have any questions regarding this process please do not hesitate to contact the service via email