Dear mums, dads, carers and colleagues

It has been yet another very successful week of learning and opportunities at Coomera Rivers.  Read on for reports of those activities and the ones that are nearly here.

Community Fair

This time next week, August 3, we will be enjoying the very hard work of the P&C at the bi-annual Community Fair.  I hope that you have time to visit and are able to support the event as it is the BIG fundraiser for the year.  The community fair website shows all the rides, games, food and events that are planned.  There will be something to please everyone.  The Community Fair opens at 1:00pm and closes with fireworks at 6:00pm.  It is well worth waiting to see the fireworks show.  It will be great!

The best way to pay for rides and side-show alley games is to pre-purchase tickets at Flexischools.  You will definitely enjoy the savings you make with the all-day ride pass and side-show alley collection of games.  Alternatively of course, you can still purchase rides and games on the day.  We have some new rides featured this year that I am sure will impress the young at heart.  The animal farm, cake stalls, laser skirmish, NRL and Cricket Queensland stalls are guaranteed will fill the day.  There will be a wide variety of food vans and Woolworths Coomera East is cooking up a sausage sizzle.  The bar will provide some refreshing drinks for the adults while the drink stalls will do the same for the kids.  

For the first time this year, some of our young entrepreneurs (also known as our $20 bosses) are conducting business stalls.  They have created a range of products that are quite clever and well prepared.  Please support these stalls as I know it will make the day of each of the entrepreneurs.  

There will be a variety of performances on the main stage which will entertain the crowds.  Some of the shows involve our children and other shows are community based.  If your children are involved, please have them arrive early as there is no flexibility in the presentation times.  I would hate for them to miss their opportunity.

Beenleigh Eisteddfod

Congratulations to the school choirs who attended the Beenleigh Eisteddfod this week.  It was an early start to the Monday morning and they sang up a storm earning a highly commended award for their efforts.  Thank you sincerely to our tremendously talented music teachers, Mrs Blythe, Mrs Zander and Mrs Morris for their dedication to this program.

The next eisteddfod is the Gold Coast Eisteddfod in August and we will see our strings and bands compete.

Rugby League competition

Congratulations to the school rugby league team this week for their wonderful efforts at the regional carnival where we placed 5th in the region.  While winning is nice, how we play the game and represent our school is most important and I am once again delighted to report that the team was a wonderful ambassador for our school and community.  Great job to our team and coach, Mr Raffin and to all of the parent volunteers who assisted as well.  A full report can be found in the sports report below.  

Girls contribute to federal government initiative

Well done to our young ladies who attended the young female entrepreneurs workshop at Griffith University with Mrs Pinnington this week.  Their report is shown below but I was delighted for them to be invited as our representatives.  Congratulations to all involved.

Wakakirri

Best wishes to the school Wakakirri troupe as they perform at the Logan Entertainment Centre on Tuesday evening.  I am very much looking forward to seeing the show.  Thank you to the music staff and their support team of teachers and parents for their support for this opportunity.  

Prep's first excursion was awesome

This week our Prep classes began their excursions to Paradise Country to explore the animals there.  There was a load of smiles and enjoyment across the day and a few snores on the bus ride home again.  Well done to the school team for their coordination of these memorable events.

Have a great week

Kind regards

Vic

Congratulations to the following students who received the first Student Excellence Awards for Term 3.  What a great start to the new semester.  Mr Graham is certainly excited!

Pre-purchase ride tickets and save

Have you secured your pre-purchase discounted ride pass and side show ally tickets yet?  Time is running out to get them.  Community Fair pre-purchase discounted ticket sales close this Wednesday at 4:00pm.  Families of school can visit www.flexischools.com.au to secure your ride pass savings and you will also find discounted prices for pre-sale tickets on things such as Sideshow Alley games and Animal Farm visits.

We have also, this year, extended the availability of the pre-purchase ride pass and side show alley discounts to the wider community. To take advantage of these discounts the wider community can visit https://www.trybooking.com/BDXMU so make sure you let your family and friends know!

For all the details on this event please click here to visit our Fair website.  

Small Change winners announced

The final donations are in and the winners are:

• Prep - Prep C
• Year 1 - 1H
• Year 2 - 2MC
• Year 3 - 3GS
• Year 4 - 4B
• Year 5 - 5M
• Year 6 - 6WY

If you are one of the lucky winning classes above you will receive an email from your teacher on Monday with all the details of the class celebration prizes.  We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you families for their wonderful support of our Small Change for Cooling Fundraiser.

White elephant stall

Do you have some items you no longer need / use that you would be happy to donate to our White Elephant stall?  We are taking donation up until Wednesday.

Calling all talented bakers

The cake stall is one of the busiest stalls at our Fair and we are looking for donations of baked goods to sell on the day.  If you can help with this please email the P&C.

The excursion to Paradise Country this week was an excellent learning experience for our children.  The second half of the Prep classes will be attending this coming week.  The children were up close and personal (safely of course) with cows, goats, sheep, tigers and koalas and the teachers managed to have a cuddle with a sleepy koala too.  Thank you to the staff team who organised and led the excursions.  We do many excursions each year but the first ever excursion for the Prep classes are also precious memories.  

The Australian Government is investing $3.7 million into an online and face-to-face learning program specifically for girls and four of our students were invited to participate in a co-design day at the RedZone, Griffith University.

Mrs Pinnington, Hannah, Abbey, Jorja and Anna from Year 5, had the chance to contribute their thoughts and ideas on what young women like themselves want to see in the program. It was a fun and interactive session where our girls were led through a process called design-thinking to help guide what young females need from this program. By participating in this event, our students had the opportunity to learn new skills, spend the day with like-minded girls and help to create an initiative that over 5000 girls will benefit from.

We are so proud that our students were invited to participate, to help shape this initiative that will support more young Australian women to develop skills to start and run businesses that thrive, and build their future. Businesses that solve local, national and global problems. Businesses that will go on to employ the next generation of Australians. Today’s school students are the entrepreneurs of tomorrow, and these future female entrepreneurs are to be congratulated.

Rugby League

Our Open Rugby League team are the Broadwater District reigning premiers. On Wednesday the team competed at a Regional Carnival against other eight other school District Premiers. Our team represented our school with the pride and passion that we’ve come to enjoy here at Coomera Rivers.  The team finished with two wins and two losses to finish fifth overall, a commendable result. Nine of the 17 players were 11 years of age playing up an age group against 12 year olds. They will no doubt be back bigger and better in 2020 looking to add a Regional Premiership to the Coomera Rivers trophy cabinet.

South Coast Athletics

Good luck to Mitchell, Eden, Zharnae and Keagan at their South Coast Athletics carnival coming up on Monday and Tuesday.

AusKick

AusKick are coming to our school on Wednesday afternoons. They have been at our school this week promoting the program during our PE Lessons.  Their first session will be on the July 31, beginning at 2:40pm. The first session is a 'Come and Try' session.  No registration or payment is required to attend.

Coomera Rivers Super 6s Touch Footy comp - Year 5 & 6

This term, our Senior classes have been encouraged to enter a team in the Super 6s Touch footy competition. It's a great opportunity to learn the basics of touch footy, have fun with your classmates and get active. The PE team will also provide some students with some 'referee' coaching, meaning that students can then referee our games, too. The winners of the competition get to play our Superstar Teacher team.

Broadwater Cricket trials - Boys

For any boys aged 10 or over that play club cricket, come and see Mr Burrows or Mr Raffin regarding district trials.

National Tree Day is a call to action for all Australian to put their hands in the earth and give back to the community.  Today the school Environmental Warriors, with the help of Mr Graham, planted a tree on our school grounds.  Each year, about 300 000 people volunteer their time to engege in environmental activities. 

Our Year 5 & 6 $20 Bosses have been busy this past week getting their products ready for the fair.  

Please support our young entrepreneurs and visit their stalls next week. Their products are all hand made and 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.

Check out all of our amazing $20 Boss businesses below.

This week at OSHC we’ve focused on growing and exploring our imaginations! Allowing our creativity to run wild is such an important and fun skill to learn and develop. Students have enjoyed participating in activities that activate their imaginations and push them to play in their own make-believe world. Many children have played together using dress-ups, train tracks and the home corner to create the unbelievable in their minds, and some loved building ships and other vehicles with construction toys individually. Watching our students interact and play with such creativity and enthusiasm has been nothing short of eye-opening. We can always learn something from our students, let this be a reminder to all of us to take a breath from our busy lives and delve into our own imagination.

- A Concept to Foster Self-regulation and Emotional Control

Self-regulation is something everyone continually works on whether or not we realize it or not.  We all encounter trying circumstances that test our limits from time to time.  If we are able to recognize when we are becoming less regulated, we are able to do something about it to manage our feelings and get ourselves to a healthy place.  This comes naturally for some, but for others it is a skill that needs to be taught and practiced.

This video by the Committee for Children explains why self-regulation skills are fundamental and the importance of teaching them to our children.

Click here for more information.

The eSafety Commissioner provide helpful eSaftey tips and advice on helping your child have safe and enjoyable experiences online

As children start to navigate the online world and interact with others more independently, they are more likely to be exposed to risks of bullying or unwanted contact, accidentally coming across inappropriate content or racking up bills through in-app purchases.

Your guidance can help them be aware of the risks and understand what is expected of them. And let them know you are always there to support them.

• Keep the computer or device in an area of your home that can be supervised. And check in regularly with your child to see what they are viewing.
• Stay engaged with their online activity. If they agree, consider setting up your own accounts with the sites they use most so you can see how they work and understand the risks.
• Explore the online world with them to help establish that this is not just a solitary activity. Play games with them. Do a creative project together.
• Think about social media readiness. Most social media sites require users to be at least 13 years of age before they can register, although some sites are created especially for children under 13. See are they old enough?
• Encourage respect and empathy. Teach them to avoid sharing or posting things that may upset others. See good habits start young.
• Start building resilience. Teach your child that there are ways they can deal with material that worries or frightens them. This includes immediately telling you or another trusted adult of any concerns or uncomfortable material. See good habits start young. 

• Be clear about how much time they can spend online, the apps they can use, the websites they can visit and what they can share or post online.
• Refer to our advice about time online and online gaming if these are of concern.

• Ensure your own devices are protected by a password or pin, so your child cannot accidentally come across inappropriate content.
• If you are thinking about giving them their own tablet or smartphone, check out are they old enough?.
• Use parental control tools appropriate for the age and experience of your child. Be upfront about this and get your child on board. Let them know that these can be reviewed and changed as they get older and they continue to demonstrate responsible behaviour.
• Consider installing a ‘child-friendly’ search engine that will allow them to explore a limited number of sites. See taming the technology.
• Check out Raising Children Network’s healthy screen time and quality media choices: 6-11 years.

Does your child possess a natural flare for public speaking? Or do you believe this is something they could develop with some support and encouragement? Whether they were considering a future leadership position either at our school or they're looking to apply for high school excellence programs (year 6), taking their mySpeak speech that one step further by participating in the A B Paterson public speaking competition is definitely a worthwhile experience. Public speaking is one of those vital life skills that will assist them in many facets of their life particularly leadership.

This is a competition that is open to all students in Years 4 to 12 however year 4 students are not in a competitive round. For them, it’s all about the experience and receiving valuable feedback and experience in public speaking. Details for this competition went out to parents last term via class newsletters however please note, there has been an extension to the registration closing date so we are happy to still accept registrations. Forms need to be emailed to Mrs Artz by the following dates: Year 4 - Monday 29th August and Year 5 & 6 - Friday 2nd September. Please find attached all the details.

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.

Orders are now open.

Each year we offer our graduating class the chance to purchase a signature bear as a memento of their time at Coomera Rivers.  The signature bears are available to order now via Flexischools with orders closing on Friday 9 August at 4:00pm.  If you do require a deadline extension you MUST email the P&C prior to the deadline to request one.

Once the deadline has past, orders will then be arranged and personalised (with class of 2019 school logo) and will arrive in time to be distributed to class late in Term 4 with students offered the opportunity to have their bears signed before bringing them home.

If you require more information please email the P&C.

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.

Thanks to everyone who has assisted this past week.  It has been SUPER BUSY.  Next week we need volunteer help with:

Cafe

We are consistently one helper short each day! It would be fantastic if we could get some new faces to learn the ropes and have a few laughs long the way!  Just a few people to volunteering even once a fortnight that would ease the load our busy team.

• Monday: 2 Volunteers required
• Tuesday: 2 Volunteers required
• Wednesday: 2 Volunteer required
• Thursday: 1 Volunteer required
• Friday: 1 Volunteer required

Community Fair

Monday 5th of August

• A volunteer to return lighting form Kennards in Oxenford
• A volunteer to return equipment to Beenleigh and Springwood

Containers for Change

Monday 29 July

• A Volunteer to take a load of containers to the Staypleton recycling depot.