Dear mums, dads, carers and colleagues

Welcome back to Term 3.  It promises to be a very busy and exciting term ahead filled with activities, events and opportunities for students and families of our community.  The biggest event is of course our Community Fair which is only days away now.  All preparations are being finalised and all we need is fine weather between now and pack up of equipment and it will be another wonderful community achievement from our P&C.  

There are a number of extra-curricular activities this term also.  Wakakirri and Eisteddfod heads the music department focuses and these start next week.  Well done to the teachers and volunteer teams involved in these opportunities.  Your skill and dedication is quite exceptional.  

The district athletics trials were held this week and our team once again excelled but more importantly, represented our school with pride.  Congratulations to the coaches and athletes involved and good luck to those athletes who have earned selection to the South Coast carnival which is being held soon.

And while our school was on winter vacation, three of our staff were recognised for the outstanding skills, commitment and leadership they have shown in their fields.  Their awards are highlighted in the news stories below.  These teachers really do headline the world-class teaching and learning that happens at our school.  My sincere congratulations to them - I am extremely proud to be their colleague.

Apple is pleased to welcome Mia Pinnington and Julie Parker to the Apple Distinguished Educators (ADE) Class of 2019. In 1994, Apple created the ADE Program to recognise K-12 and higher education pioneers who are using Apple technology to transform teaching and learning in powerful ways. Celebrating 25 years, the program has grown into a  worldwide community of over 2,800 visionary and innovative leaders in education, helping other educators rethink what’s possible with iPad and Mac.  Learn more about the contributions of ADEs worldwide at https://www.apple.com/education/ade/

According to the Queensland College of Teachers, there are over 100 000 teachers registered to teach in Queensland.  I include this information to add perspective to the achievements of Mrs Pinnington and Ms Parker.  There are currently just 692 teachers across all of Australia and the Asia / Pacific region who have achieved this status.  So of the 692 ADE's - two are at Coomera Rivers.  

Congratulations to Ms Nikki Muller on receiving the Classroom Teacher - Primary Focus Award from DATTA (Queensland Design & Technology Teachers Association) for the great work she does with our little learners in the areas of Design & Digital Technologies.  This is an impressive achievement and what makes it more so is the fact that this award is selected by teachers external to our school.  

Have you secured your pre-purchase discounted ride pass and side show ally tickets yet?

Savings for families:

Families of school can visit flexischools to secure pre-sale tickets including ride passes, sideshow alley games and animal farm visits.  The savings are considerable so please explore this option. 

Savings for community members:

These pre-sale tickets are also available to other members in the wider community. Click here to take advantage of these discounts for the wider community and please let your family and friends know about this!

Click here to see all the details on this event at our Fair website.  

Small Change for Cooling heads into last week!

With only one week to go in our Small Change for Cooling challenge the competition has REALLY been heating up!  The leaderboard has been changing daily in all year levels.

Thank you so much to our families fro supporting this fundraiser to date and we look forward to your continued support during the last week of this event.

The leaderboard at the end of Week 1 is:

This week our Year 5 & 6 $20 Bosses received the materials they ordered to start creating the products or services they will sell during  the fair in two weeks time.

Students and families are urged to save their small change to purchase items and become involved in the activities that the students have created and will have on offer.  By supporting our $20 Bosses in their first entrepreneurial endeavour you will also be helping them to raise money for a charity of their choice.

Make sure you visit the $20 Boss page of the Coomera Rivers State School Fair website to see what is on offer and which charities our students are supporting.

On Thursday prep students celebrated being at school for 100 days. Students pondered what life would be like when they are 100, with some teachers transforming themselves into older versions of themselves to inspire the students. 

Check out the gallery below.

Year One students received a very special plea from Pawston Bear this week. Pawston Bear is an ocean loving teddy bear who has called on the Year Ones to help him build a boat to sail in. Students will invstigate the best materials to make Pawston his boat so he can float on the water as part of their science investigations this term. To get into the spirit students and teachers donned their best sea-faring attire to launch their investigations.

Check out the gallery below.

We were lucky to introduce sailing to a few selected students from year 3 to 6 in Week 9/10 Term 2. The students were given a safety briefing and a lesson on sailing in week 9 at school. In this briefing they learnt the different parts of the boat, how to put attach a rudder, tiler, main pole, boom and mast onto a tacker boat. They got to experience how to safely get into and out of the boat and how to direct the boat once they were on the water.

In Week 10 we went out to the Oxenford Water Park with Southport Yacht Club and sailed on the water. Even though possibly the worst day of winter, the students enjoyed putting their boats together in small groups and then in pairs, brave the rain and sailed.  Each student steered their boat and their partner around 3 buoys, with Mrs Broy brave enough to get into a boat with students.  They all did amazingly well with only two Year 6 safely and comically students falling overboard.

Thank you to the teachers and assistant teachers for your help on the day. Thank you to Mrs P for organising this great opportunity for our students.  Check out the gallery from the day below.

Interschool Sport

At the end of last term, we concluded the Winter season of Interschool Sport. This year we fielded multiple teams in football, netball, rugby league and touch football. Once again this year, we have enjoyed spectacular success. This season we won Premierships in Football (Soccer), Netball, Touch Football and Rugby League (second year in a row). Whilst we don’t necessarily play to win premierships, it is testament to the effort and hard work our Staff and Students put in to their preparation and their determination to win. What is even more pleasing is that others have remarked on the spirit in which Coomera Rivers State School play the game. Well done Students and to our hard working Teachers who give up their time to train and coach them.

Rugby League Finals Day

As a result of winning the Broadwater District Premiership, our Senior Rugby League team will compete at the South Coast Regional Finals on Wednesday 24 July. At this carnival, we will compete against the Premiers from the other Districts on the Gold Coast for the title of South Coast Champions.

Athletics

Congratulations to our Coomera Rivers athletes who competed over the two days at the Broadwater District Athletics Carnival at Griffith University on Wednesday and Thursday this week. They all gave their best efforts and we finished with some great results. Four of our athletes progress through to the South Coast Athletics Carnival that is held at the end of the month at Griffith University.

Congratulations to the following athletes:

• Eden - Shotput and Discus
• Zharnae - High Jump
• Mitchell - 200m
• Keagan - 800m

Additional Sporting Opportunities

In addition to the programs already available to our students before and after school, this term there will be an after school Rugby League program called League Stars and an AFL program called Auskick. Interested students will be bringing home information flyers about these programs shortly.

A Concept to Foster Self-Regulation and Emotional Control

Created by Leah Kuypers, MA Ed., OTR/L

At Coomera Rivers, we use The Zones of Regulation to teach self-regulation by categorizing all the different ways we feel and states of alertness we experience into four concrete colored zones.  The Zones framework provides strategies to teach students to become more aware of and independent in controlling their emotions and impulses, manage their sensory needs, and improve their ability to problem solve conflicts.

A critical aspect of this curriculum is that all of the key people in a child’s life know and understand the zones language. This creates a comfortable and supportive environment for the children to practice self-regulation skills and also helps them learn the skills more quickly and be more likely to apply them in many situations. Over the coming weeks we will share with you how you can support this process a home.

Click here for more information.  

Please check the names on your child's uniform items this week.  If they have accidentally brought home something belonging to another student, simply return it to the school office and we will pass it on the rightful owner.  

This very important day of the year is fast approaching and, with that in mind, Father’s Day Stall vouchers are now open on Flexischools.

Purchase a voucher via Flexischools between now and the deadline of 4pm Wednesday 14 August and your child will then have a chance to visit the stall, with their class, during the week starting Monday 19 August.

There is an amazing variety of gifts or children to select from at the stall and we love watching the thought and consideration that students take when considering what to purchase for their special person.

This year we are once again offering Prep families the chance to purchase a souvenir of their child’s first year of school!  There is a range of different products to choose from to have their individual design made with.

Welcome back to term 3.  A big thank you to all the people who helped us to not only get our events up and going last term including Grandparents day, ANZAC Day, Mothers Day and bingo night were great successes.  Thank you also to those who chipped in every week to help out in classrooms, the cafe, recycling trips, school banking and more.  Fathers day, Year 6 graduations, the 2019 Year Book, change for cooling and other events continue unabated.

Cafe

It was a bit of a struggle in the cafe last term and it would be fantastic to get a few new faces involved, even a couple of days a month would be a great help!

• Mondays. 1 volunteer required
• Tuesdays. 1 volunteer required
• Wednesdays. 1 volunteer required
• Thursdays. 1 volunteer required
• Fridays. 1 volunteer required

Community Fair

We need help from a volunteer on Friday 2nd August to collect some items from Kennards Hire in Oxenford.  A large car would be a bonus!

Containers for change

A volunteer to do another run to the recycling depot would be great.