Dear mums, dads, carers and colleagues

Our school is relentless in its search for improvement in what we do.  The staff is committed to this and this week saw us continue our work.  You will hear 'We are here for learning' in classrooms at our school.  Our students know that 'Learning comes first' but for teachers, this purpose goes further.  Our teachers know that - We are here for learning and learning comes first.- and we focus on learning with all of the people, all of the time.  A number of events across the past week has clearly illustrated this.

Last Saturday, 12 teachers spent the day exploring new ways of working in the 'student inquiry' area - an area of learning and teaching towards which we will be focusing.  The teachers treated themselves to a very inspiring day with Trevor MacKenzie , an award-winning Canadian educator and author who is considered as one of the leaders in this area.

On Wednesday afternoon, staff were privileged to learn from Leah, a curriculum leader from LORDS in Ormeau.  Leah shared the work of her Year 1 team with us around Human Centred Design Learning. Essentially this involves students designing a solution to a real life problem people within our community experience. Their approach to addressing Australian Curriculum was heart warming and simply inspiring.

2019 Australian Education Awards

This weekend, two school staff are attending the Australian Education Awards dinner event in Sydney. and Coomera Rivers has been nominated for:

• Best professional learning program
• Best use of technology (second consecutive year)

It is an honour to be a finalist in these areas alongside other schools of considerable academic reputation.  Well done to us!  As I repeatedly explain to the students, winning is just a nice bonus.  It is representing our school that is the real honour.

We share what we learn with others

The iOnTheFuture Conference is Australia's premiere deeper learning event run by teachers, for teachers on site in NSW public schools. This event is not-for-profit with all profits funding teacher research scholarships.  Mrs Caswell has been invited to present to other teachers at the conference.  This is an incredible honour and she very much deserves this recognition.   

And finally this week, I would like to thank those teachers who welcomed teachers from Gilston State School into their classrooms.  Over the next few weeks, Mrs Comley, Miss King, Miss Reid, Miss Parker and Miss Bray will be opening their classrooms for their colleagues to experience life in a 1:1 classroom before their own school's digital journey launches in 2020.

Chinese Speaking competition

Coomera Rivers is represented by four very focused Year 5 & 6 students who have been working hard preparing for the Chinese Speaking Competition that is being held this weekend at the Gold Coast campus of Griffith University. The students have learned a speech,which will be presented in front of two judges. They have been working to perfect their Chinese intonation and pronunciation as well as their general presentation techniques. Good luck girls!

Safety at school

Much has been posted on Facebook in the past couple of weeks about student safety.  Coomera Rivers is committed to maintaining a safe and disciplined learning environment for everyone - young and old - and we do a great deal to build and maintain this.  You can help by:

• Discussing personal safety with your children often.  Access the Bravehearts website for information on how you can do this.  I am shocked and appalled to learn that, according to Bravehearts, 1 in 5 children experience some form of sexual harm before their 18th birthday.  We all need to act if this percentage is to reduce.
• Ensuring that your children are educated by you on how to travel to and from school.  Crossing roads is dangerous and requires your explicit teaching.
• Ensuring that your children's internet activity is supervised.  Knowing you are watching will encourage them to make better decisions.
• Knowing precisely what bullying is and isn't (Click here) and teach your children about the difference between conflict, meanness, nastiness and bullying.  Notify the school of anything that is concerning to you.
• Ensuring that dangerous objects never come to school.  If you cannot carry it around Westfield, it cannot come to school.  Serious consequences must apply if this is breached.  Safety can never be compromised.  
• Never approaching children (other than your own) regarding matters of conflict at school.  Kids will disagree and this is very normal.  Try putting three children in the backseat of the car and see how long it takes for something to happen.  Then imagine this multiplied by 400.  School staff are very good at managing these incidents.  If you become involved, you will make it worse than it needs to be, despite your best intentions.  If you are worried about something that has happened to your child, please contact their teacher and we will immediately intervene.  If you inform us we will respond - every time.  

Well done to everyone on another magnificent week at school.

Kind regards

Vic

We love congratulating students who receive Student Excellence Awards.  When they come down to the office to receive their free pencil and have their photo taken, you can see Mr Graham takes great joy in celebrating their success!

Last week the Year 4 students enjoyed three days away from home, learning how to become a little more independent and enjoying the beach life.  The dorms were brilliant and the children soon had them looking like their bedrooms at home - stuff everywhere!  The meals were incredible and there was plenty to eat.  The weather was perfect with cool evenings and warm days.  This meant we were able to enjoy the surf and the beach. 

Boogie-boarding was one of the favourite activities.  Other memorable activities included the high ropes course and the climbing - it was so high!

Thank you sincerely to the staff who made sure that everyone remained safe and well across the camp.  You did an amazing job.  

Sees students immersed in our indigenous culture

The Year 3 classes visited Ngutana-Lui in Brisbane later last week.   They were immersed in the richness and diversity of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.  They experienced the living traditions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.  The activities included aspects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, both traditional and contemporary.  They were involved in traditional dances and customs, gathered and ate some bush tucker, tried their skill at boomerang throwing, learned about didgeridoo playing and loved the face painting.

Thank you to our teachers and volunteers who made the day safe and memorable for the students.

Prep enjoyed the Woolies breakfast this week.  Thank you to Woolworths at Coomera East for providing the cereal, milk and fruit.  Thank you also to the P&C and staff who served up the breakfast to the very well-mannered preppies.

This week at CRSS we experimented, inspected, and observed all things science to celebrate National Science Week. The year 5 students were memorised with a very cool science show from St Stephen’s. There were lots of Ooohh’s and Arrrhhh’s from the audience after hearing sounds like BANG!, POP! and CRACKLE! coming from the science experiments.  There were also pop up exhibits in the hall, where students were able to design paper planes and test out which design could fly the furthest  distance.  Students raced cars down different types of ramps and experimented with different heights and angles. The hands on displays in the iCentre were also extremely popular with students. They were able to use magnifying glasses to study objects on the nature table.  Lastly, many students throughout the school have been completing science experiments at home and uploading these for homework onto the seesaw app.  It certainly has been a busy week with science POPPING up everywhere around the school! 

Lights! Coomera! Action! is a talent quest type of event organised by our student council that is set to uncover some amazing talent in our school.  We hope that students are excited about the opportunity to audition and showcase their talent.  There are four categories for students to choose from Drama, Instrumental Music, Singing or Dance. Students are only able to enter once. Hopefully, students have begun to think of what they'd like to audition for in effort to perform at our special performance assemblies. Our Junior school students will audition in Week 7 and Senior school in Week 8.

 The Auditions are as follows: 

Junior School – Week 7 

All auditions take place at 2nd break. 

Prep to Year 2 Drama Section: Monday 26th August 

Prep to Year 2 Instrumental Music Section: Tuesday 27th August 

Prep Singing Section: Wednesday 28th August 

Year 1 & 2 Singing Section: Thursday 29th August 

Prep Dancing Section: Thursday 29th August 

Year 1 & 2 Dancing Section: Friday 30th August 

Senior School – Week 8  

Year 3 to 6 Drama Section: Monday 2nd September 

Year 3 to 6 Instrumental Music Section: Tuesday 3rd September 

Year 3 & 4 Singing Section: Wednesday 4th September 

Year 5 & 6 Singing Section: Thursday 5th September 

Year 3 & 4 Dancing Section: Thursday 5th September 

Year 5 & 6 Dancing Section: Friday 6th September 

Good luck to all the performers and also to our student councillors who will be judging the acts alongside staff members.

We are beginning the recruitment process for Instrumental Music 2020. Students currently in Year 2 are invited to participate if they are interested in learning a string instrument, while students currently in Year 3 can participate if they are interested in learning a band instrument. Following the mini-recruitment concerts which are being held next week, every child in Year 2 and Year 3 will be bringing home an expression of interest form. All students need to return the EOI form even if they are not interested in learning a strings or band instrument. An information session for parents will be held on Thursday, 5 September in the Music Centre at 3:30pm. If you wish to attend the information session or have any questions about the process, please email Cassi Zander .

At the end of the Term 3, African Beat will be presenting to all students. Bringing hundreds of drums to Coomera Rivers, everyone attending will have the opportunity not only to learn to play the djembe (otherwise know as the talking drum) but also learn a traditional African song.  Salaka is presented by performing artists from Ghana who spend a few months each year touring Australia and performing to hundreds of students around the country.

If you’d like to see what students will experience at a performance, please click on the link below. Information notes and permission slips are available from either your child’s teacher or Corporate Services and payment is due Thursday 29 August.   Please email Mrs Zander if you have any questions. 

Allowing our students the opportunity to explore many different areas of play is important to us at OSHC. This week, the students have worked hard creating a masterpiece from any construction material they choose. We have had the pleasure of assisting students create the tallest tower, the strongest building or even, the most unique design they can think of. Our construction challenge has really given students at OSHC the opportunity to learn through play, persist when things get difficult and work well with others to achieve a common goal. We are sure you will agree that these designs are one of a kind masterpieces made from blocks, lego and a variety of other construction materials. We look forward to see what we will explore next week.

On Thursday September 19, all Australians are encouraged to pick up a book and read for one hour, on their own or with the children in their life.  The Australian Reading Hour is a great initiative which highlights the value of reading for both adults and children.  Literacy is one of the most important foundations and reading has tremendous benefits for children, such as building knowledge and improving concentration and memory. Reading has also been shown to reduce stress by 68% in adults, more than listening to music or going for a walk, and is an enjoyable pastime that promotes creativity.  It is fun and free so let's get reading!

Click here for more information.    

Technology is a fact of life for families these days – but do you feel confident that you’re keeping your kids safe online, plus making sure they’re accessing quality content on their iPad?  Below are some links to some resources produced by Family Fund in the UK to support families using iPad in the home. 

1. Getting to know your iPad

2. Setting up your iPad

3. Getting connected

4. Restrictions

5. Managing access to websites

6. Customise your iPad - Vision

7. Customise your iPad - Interaction

8. Customise your iPad - Hearing

9. Keeping control of your child's iPad

10. Managing accounts - Apple ID & iCloud

11. Screen Time

Get your sporting house colours ready!

With our 2019 Sport Fun Days scheduled for Week 10 of this term, it is time to start thinking about those house colour accessories! This year, 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 30 August at 4:00pm.  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 4:00pm Friday 30 August.  For these email orders the deadline for payment is Wednesday 11 September - 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.

Our junior and senior Sport Fun Days are just around the corner and Subway Lunch Packs are available to order for these Sports Days.

The cost is $8 and they include a Sub (with your choice of toppings), a cookie (choice of chocolate chip or double choc chip) and a choice of drink.

If you are coming along to cheer along our children on the day then why not order one for yourself as well? Simply order an additional Subway Lunch Pack under your child’s name and it will be delivered to your child’s class at lunch time.

Orders are open now and close on: (Strict deadlines)

• Monday 16 September 4pm for Senior Sports Fun Day
• Tuesday 17 September 4pm for Junior Sports Fun Day

The Term 4 VIP car park space is up for grabs.

The raffle to win the use of the VIP car park (located in the car park beside the hall) for Term 4 is now open on Flexischools.  For as little as $2 you can go into the draw to win!  The lucky winner will have exclusive use of our VIP car park throughout Term 4 on all school days and at all school events.

Raffle tickets are available through Flexischools now and close at 4:00pm on Friday 13 September.  

The next General Meeting of the P&C Association will be held on Tuesday 20 of August at 6:00pm.  P&C meetings are a great way to keep up to date with what is going on around our school. They provide our families with an opportunity to provide input and feedback on matters relating to school and community life.

Meetings are open to all families and we encourage families to come along and contribute to your school community which forms a vital part of your children's educational journey.

We look forward to seeing you there.​

* If you have an agenda item please email the Secretary with the details by no later than 9:00am Monday 19 August.

The 2019 cafe survey is now open.  We are currently gathering feedback via an on-line survey in relation to our Cafe. The survey is an annual feedback mechanism for the school. Your suggestions make a difference so please complete the survey before it closes on Monday 26 August at 4:00pm.

Click here for the cafe survey link.

Click here if you can help us!

Cafe

• As always it would be great to add a new face or two to our awesome Cafe team
• If you're interested in having a laugh and helping out - even just once a month - please let us know.

Father's Day Stall

The Fathers Day stall is on next week, we've had a great response for Tuesday and Wednesday but would love some extra help on Thursday and Friday.

• Thursday 22 August (8:30am - 11:00am) - 2 volunteers needed
• Thursday 22 August (11:00am- 2:30am)  - 2 volunteers needed
• Friday 23 August  (8:30am - 11:00am) - 2 volunteers needed

Containers for Change:

• We need a volunteer to take a few bags to the recycling depot on Friday.

Volunteer Afternoon Tea

Date:     September 10

Time:    1.30pm - 2:25pm

Venue:   Staffroom

Event:    The Great Bake Off!!

The P&C and school executive teams are baking and you get to judge the best of the best.  Mrs Porch won the award in 2018.  Who will be the 2019 Master Chef?