Dear mums, dads, carers and colleagues

Our newsletter this week is once again packed with just some of the opportunities that are on offer for students at our school.  I feel great satisfaction in the enjoyment that our children experience.  Read on for results and plans.

With such an assortment on offer, it is easy to forget who is the driving force behind them.  Nearly all of the activities are supported by a teacher who volunteers their time and expertise.  And I am extremely grateful to each of them for their commitment and selflessness.  

This week, our school stopped to consider the support that is provided to us.  Classes from across the school provided small tokens of appreciation to recognise the unsung heroes of our school.  This week was Gratitude Week.

My highlights this week were:

• Our teams' results at the Kokoda Challenge last Saturday afternoon
• Prep students visited Sea World this week on their very first school excursion
• Netball and Touch football training has commenced and our
• Runners Club participants have arrived in Barcaldine

I would also like to extend my best wishes to the students who are competing in the Griffith University Chinese Speaking competition on Sunday and thank Mrs Huang for her support and guidance.

And in other news

I continue to watch the slow march of the latest COVID outbreak as it heads north towards us.  We all have family and friends for whom we are worried so I encourage everyone to work together to keep safe and well.  Please keep checking the Queensland Health website for any hot spots and subsequent recommendations.

The mask restrictions for adults before and after school continue into next week.  Thank you to everyone who is doing the right thing.

Kind regards

Vic

To our 10th Birthday Party!

And what better way to celebrate than with a great big Birthday Party on Friday 6 August from 4pm - 8.30pm! We will have all of the fun of the fair at our Birthday Party with rides, sideshows, food vans and that is just the beginning!

There will even be a fireworks display to celebrate all things Coomera Rivers!       

Who can attend

Unfortunately, COVID restrictions prevent this event being a wider community event (like past Community Fairs). These requirements must be strictly applied. Details of who can attend are:

• Current student of Coomera Rivers, their siblings, parents and step parents

• Current staff of Coomera Rivers, their children and partners.

• Siblings of students and children of staff, MUST reside with the student of school or staff member concerned.  For instance, if a sibling of a student or child of a staff member was no longer living at home - than that sibling / child is unable to attend.
• The people attending must reside within the household of the student of school or staff member.

Tickets to attend

• FREE entry ticket (no rides included)
  OR
• $30 All Day Ride Pass ticket (Includes entry ticket. Ride passes are $35 if you attend under a FREE entry ticket and purchase the ride pass on the day of the event)

All Day Ride Passes and Rides

The All Day Ride Pass costs $30 pre-purchased or $35 on the day. You can also purchase individual ride tickets on the day ranging from $5 - $10 per ride.

The rides included in the All Day Ride Pass are:

• Cha Cha
• Water Balls
• Bungees
• Giant Slide
• Swinger
• Rock Wall
• Cannibal Pots
• Pirate Ship
• Monkey Castle
• Land Train
• Kids Centre

Fun Fair activities

When purchasing your tickets you will also be offered the opportunity to purchase a Fun Fair Discount Pack. The pack provides you with 5 x Fun Fair tickets that can be used on the following activities:

• Bungee Run Teacher Challenge
• Laser Tag
• Mobile Gaming Theatre
• Pony Ride
• Animal Farm

Other Activities

• Make your own Teddy Bear
• Photo Booth
• Face Painting
• Crazy Hair
• Spin Art

Our resident DJ will provide the sound track for the event.

Local sporting groups will be on hand to provide some fun free activities for our families.

Food and drink

We will have a range of food trucks available at the event along with our own Rivers Refreshment area that will cater specifically for the adult attendees.

If you have any questions please contact the P&C

Congratulations to this week's Excellence Award recipients.

Enter the cosmodome!

On Monday, Year 4 entered the Cosmodome theatre to participate in a presentation by Starlab about how Earth’s surface changes over time as a result of natural processes and human activity. A full dome show, ‘Earth’s Wild Ride’ revealed Earth’s history from asteroid impacts, dinosaurs, volcanoes, and raging rivers eroding the landscape. The story was told by an astronaut to his grandchildren whilst observing the Earth from the Moon. This was a fantastic introduction to our Science unit this term.

SIMPLE MACHINES are at work in Year 1

This term, Year 1's are learning about Simple Machines in their Digi Design classes. Simple machines are machines that make our work easier eg, lever, wedge, screw, inclined plane, wheel and axle and pulleys. This week we looked closely at simple pulleys. Students used Lego to show how the pulley system could work.

Aboriginal Australia in Virtual Reality

As a culmination of the Term 2 HASS unit, Year 4 students had the opportunity to be immersed in aspects of the traditional culture of Australia’s First People through virtual reality. Australia’s Indigenous culture is one of the oldest surviving cultures in the world. The Pamagirri Aboriginal group transport viewers in a full 360-degree view to the Far North Queensland rainforest. The workshop also included interactive educational games about bush tucker and hunting, as well as an incredible CGI video about the Dreaming. Click here to see just how amazed by this experience we were.  

Senior Robotics Club

This week some of our future engineers stepped up to attempt the "First Lego League" challenge. Students in Year 5 and 6 came along on Wednesday and Thursday to take part in a robotics challenge involving lego. This week saw everyone working towards completing the buildings for the city map. Next week students will start to construct robots, that they will then program to complete tasks around the city. In the coming weeks we hope to take a team away to an upcoming robotics challenge on the Gold Coast.

Year 5 is making connections in the community

We have been lucky enough to have a variety of local community groups present to our students about what they are doing on the Gold Coast to work towards the 17 Global Goals set out by the United Nations. Students have found these talks most engaging and will be using this information and building these partnerships further as they investigate the inquiry question – “How can we use our understanding of the Global Goals to improve our community?"

Chinese speaking competition

Year 5 & 6 students and Mrs Huang are using their lunch breaks to practice for the Chinese speaking competition.  Students listen closely to each other to improve their pronunciation, and ask and answer questions in Chinese too.  What a fantastic teamwork.  

The 2021 Year 4 camp to Tallebudgerra was a tremendous success.  We had 167 students test their limits and levels of independence and all came through with flying colours.  The highlights included the:

• Surf and the boogie boards
• High ropes courses
• Indoor rock climbing
• Bunk beds in the dormitories
• Late nights 
• Dodgy smoke detectors 
• And of course, the food!  

Lia visited me this week to share her camp recount which showed the excitiemnet and enjoymen t that she felt.  Well done Lia.

Thank you sincerely to the team of staff who ensured that our children got the most out of the experience.  They really never stopped and were up before the kids and supervising those who couldn't sleep.  They cared for the homesick and still had time to capture photos for Facebook.  Well done!

The gallery below is just a snippet of the fun that was Year 4 camp 2021.

On Saturday, our Coomera Rivers Crusaders participated in the Gold Coast 17km Kokoda Challenge. This is something our staff and students have been training for since Term 1. The Kokoda Challenge encourages students to form strong friendships with their peers and provides them with an opportunity to witness and experience the values of courage, endurance, mateship and sacrifice first hand. The Kokoda challenge is a team event that forces students to push mental and physical boundaries and we're happy to report, our students did just that. While some may think completing a 17 kilometre run isn't too bad, add to that the steep hills and rocky terrain of the Nerang State Forest, and you've got yourself a tough challenge.

Our 5 teams remained together throughout the course, encouraging each other and pushing themselves harder than any training session and what's most impressive is that they all finished with big smiles on their faces - even the coaches.

The minimum age requirement for the Schools Cup is that the competitor must be turning 10 this year. Our students were up against primary and high schools across the Gold Coast making them the youngest competitors on the day. We are proud to announce that we were not only the first primary school team to cross the finish line but Amity, Scarlett and Leyla were the first girls to finish out of the whole event! Go Coomera Rivers!

Check out these results!

Crusaders 1
Amity, Scarlett, Leyla, Max & Mr Burrows
Overall Finish: 2nd
Time: 2h 24min

Crusaders 2
Lucas, Elijah, Hayden, Dylan & Mrs Walsh
Overall Finish: 8th
Time: 2h 44min

Crusaders 3
Annabelle, Audije, Heidi, Angel-Rose & Mr Ken
Overall Finish: 15th
Time: 3h 06min

Crusaders 4
Maharleya, Kaysiyah, Harmony, Manaia & Ms King
Overall Finish: 16th
Time: 3h 06min

Crusaders 5
Rocca, Seantayne, Jacob, Tyelan & Mr Bradley
Overall Finish: 22nd
Time: 3h 15min

Reserve: Raff - a massive support to the Crusader 5 team on the day!

A big congratulations must also go to Maharleya who smashed the fundraising aspect of the program. While our student council provides our teams with the required fundraising expectation, Maharleya went above and beyond, raising $417 on her own. This placed her 7th overall out of the 347 competitors. A massive achievement. Well done, Maharleya.

Sea lions, tiger sharks and barnacles - oh my!  The prep students got the opportunity to get up close and personal with all manner of sea creatures this week on their excursion to Sea World. The excursion is a great extension and source of inspiration as they learn about aquatic animals and their habitats in class this term.

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

Click here to register for the program

Info at a glance:

• Date: Week 4 Thursday 5th August
• Time: 3:10pm-4:20pm (10 minutes after school finishes)
• Length: 6 week program
• Cost: $80 includes a benefits pack & football
• Target Age Group: Prep – Year 4 (Year 5 & 6 welcome to participate)

2021 Year Book Sponsor.

Do you own or know of a local business that would be interested in advertising in our 2021 Year Book?

Year Book advertising opportunities are now available.

You can secure your business advertising in our 2021 Year Book for as little as $50!

Advertisers can choose (from the available class pages at the time of payment) which page or pages they would like their advertisement to appear on.

This sponsorship opportunity closes on Tuesday 5 October.

Advertising spots are limited so be quick to reserve your spot!

For more information, please email us at pandc@coomerariversss.eq.edu.au

Orders 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 School24 with orders closing on Friday 23 August at 4pm. 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 2024 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 by their peers and teachers before bringing them home.

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