Coomera Rivers State School eNewsletter

Dear mums, dads, carers and colleagues

Just 20 school days remain for the 2021 school year. Crammed into this time is:

Year 6 Graduation dinner at Sharks
Awards assemblies for each year level
Year 6 Graduation ceremony at school
2x Swimming carnivals
Swimming lessons for Prep and Year 3 students
Slime Spectacular
Year 6 Challenge Day
Alliance debating finals
Report cards
P&C meeting
Regional chess competition
Year book release

(*) These activities are not listed in chronological order.

And behind the scenes, we are organising our 2022:

Booklists
Classlists
Staffing structures
Contingency plans to start the school year if COVID is in the community

so we are crazy busy.

Remembrance Day

Our entire school stopped at precisely 11:00am yesterday to commemorate Remembrance Day. This is another very important day on the Australian calendar, etched into our culture by the diggers of World War 1.

Masks at school

On Wednesday, Queensland reached 80 per cent single dose vaccination levels and as a consequence, the mask mandate in specific local government areas has now been removed. This means that students and staff no longer need to wear a mask while seated or teaching. However, the requirement to carry masks and their use when social distancing is not possible remains, with a compulsory mask mandate also remaining in airports and on all planes.

Graduation Gift It project

Our values at Coomera Rivers State School are Service, Action, Respect, and we believe in helping others. We would love your support for our new student-led community program to help fellow students in need of a little hand up.

The goal of our ‘Graduation Gift It’ program is to offer free clothing and accessories to families in need to ensure all students look and feel fantastic at their Year 6 Graduation.

We are seeking donations of quality pre-loved clothing and accessories suitable for Year 6 students, such as dresses, pants, shirts, vests, shoes, etc in a range of sizes.

Your donation could help a student attend Graduation with confidence, pride and an amazing smile, and may even be the difference between a student attending this special occasion or not.

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Join one of our passion projects

Our students know just how much I hate litter because of the impact it eventually has on our waterways and marine life. Well we are spreading our efforts to some of these waterways and joining forces with Coolphase and other local organisations to make a litter difference. And we would like to invite our families and community to join us.

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Scroll through this issue to find the links where you can register your help and save the date.

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Kind regards

Vic

2022 is closing in quickly so it is time to begin your preparations.

What are your 2022 plans?

If you looking to relocate in 2022 and your children will not be returning to Coomera Rivers, please let our office staff know. This really assists us in creating our 2022 class structures.

Book lists for 2022

The book lists for next year are now ready. We no longer have a school sourced supplier. This decision was made at the P&C following considerable consultation and discussion. Instead, families can:

Print the list
Identify the items they need and what they already have from this year, then
Head off to the back to school sales.

Click here to see the lists.

App list for 2022

Click here to see the App lists.

Well done to these students on a STUNNING week at school!

Friday saw 30 aspiring Year 5 leaders partake in a leadership day camp at the Shearwater Broadwater Park and then the Runaway Bay Super Sports Centre. The camp is designed to further develop the leadership and team work skills of students who are seeking to gain a badged position next year, in particular, as Head of School or Head of Student Council.

We were extremely fortunate that the rain stayed away and students were able to spend the whole morning session on the beach. Stand-up paddle boarding was probably the highlight of the day and saw students working in pairs to manoeuvre the board from one end of the beach to the other. For some students, this was their very first time on a SUP so our more experienced students needed to support them and help build their confidence. No one ended up in the middle of Broadwater and the laughter and cheers echoed in the water as they steered their partners around each of the markers.

After team games on the beach where students had to escape 'prison' by digging a hole big enough for all students to pass under the 'wall' and then rescue 'Wilson' from the depths of a hole ridden pipe, students then boarded the bus back to the Sports Centre to have a quick bite to eat. Team work was put to the test in the 'The Amazing Race' challenge where students needed to solve a number of riddles and puzzles and in some instances, find clues around the centre. This challenge required our aspiring leaders to not only think strategically but also to communicate effectively, consider and be patient with their team mates and when something didn't work, reflect on how to improve.

Staff from the Sports Centre were once again blown away with the calibre of leadership qualities these students already display and we are very confident that the role of our 2022 Head of School and Head of Student Council are in good hands. Mrs Artz and Mrs Wynne were very proud with how our students not only represented themselves, but also our school and the entire Coomera community. The next step is to short list this group of 30 to just 12 students who will then move on to an interview phase. To say this is a difficult decision is an understatement.

Annabelle escapes 'jail' with the support of her 'cell mates'

We've got this stand-up paddle boarding nailed!

Freeing 'Wilson' meant some people had water poured on their head. Sorry Malcolm!

One of the many challenges in the 'Amazing Race'

It was another successful night of debates at Coomera Rivers this week as our Team A teams competed in their second round of debates. Year 4 argued that 'Being really tall is better than being really short,' while our Year 5's tackled a more serious topic by disagreeing with the idea that it is important to continue our exploration of space. Our Year 6 team explored a topic rather pertinent to them at their age, that 'Peer pressure is a good thing.' Our Year 6's argued that it certainly wasn't and the adjudicators obviously agreed.

A massive congratulations to our Team A debaters as they are currently undefeated in the competition. A very big thank-you must also go to our students who take on the extra role of chairperson and timekeeper, and all parents who support their children in arriving at school in the evening. And of course we can't forget to mention our teachers who coach each of our teams, working with them in their lunch breaks, non-contact time, after school and even over emails and Seesaw interactions. Our students are not only very talented public speakers but they are also very lucky to have such amazing support.

Year 4 - Apparently being really tall is better than being really short!

Nailing those tables

Congratulations to Colton for mastering his number facts. Given that he is in Year 2 makes his achievment even more impressive.

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Good Start

Over the term our Good Start students have been learning about the importance of drinking water throughout the day. Students have learned benefits of drinking water through hands on activities and big discussions. It hydrates our body and skin, helps our brains focus, keeps our teeth healthy, helps keep our muscles strong and helps our tummies. Students helped Miss Va and Daphne measure out how much sugar is in our everyday drinks, and it was surprising how much sugar we actually drink without thinking. We experimented and tasted different fruits infused in water to make water a bit more exciting but continues to be healthy for us!

This term has been about learning how to keep our bodies healthy and the students have really enjoyed participating in the program.

Drum beats in Year 1

Year 1 have been learning about ‘Light and Sound’ in their Term 4 Science unit of work. To deepen student learning in this unit, we welcomed the popular and interactive ‘Drum Beats’ music incursion. Students were engaged and entertained by the vibrant and skilled performers and were encouraged to participate and play drums made from recycled materials. They absolutely loved the experience! Students were introduced to a variety of musical instruments made from recycled junk to deepen their understanding of sound, and to inspire creativity of their own creation of an instrument for their upcoming assessment task.

We remembered

Our school stopped to commemorate Remembrance Day this week.

2W learned about the significance of Remembrance Day and used their new knowledge to create a persuasive text to remind others why this special day needs to be commemorated. We took part in observing a minute silence along with 2D. The students were all very respectful throughout this learning journey and should be congratulated for their respectful behaviour.

And in other classrooms...

Year 6 Showcase

Their Entrepreneurial Superpowers

The second day of the Year 6 Global Innovators program was the Trade Show & Pitch Event this week. Students showcased their design solutions for Global Goals and passionately shared their ideas with their audience of students, teachers and special guests from the business department at Pimpama State Secondary College.

Design solutions for the Global Goals included products, services and environments showing student passions in a variety of different issues. Their inventions, innovations and campaigns for change showed a level of mature entrepreneurial thinking that was most impressive.

Selected teams persuasively pitched their business proposals and design solutions to a shark tank style panel to receive feedback on their ideas before the winning team was announced. Finalists in the Pitch Event were companies 'Eye Alert', 'Floods Plug', 'StarShot.Co', 'No Hunger Heros', 'Hysowi Boats' and 'Peace Makers' with 'StarShot.Co' (Wyatt and Alfie) as the Global Innovators winners for 2021.

If these creative and passionate young people are our future decision makers, we are in good hands.

Entrepreneurial skills are skills for life and this most certainly helps them to be good at learning, good at life.

The final day for 2021 will be the Year 5 Trade Show & Pitch Event coming up in week 8.

All Schools Touch Football carnival

Last weekend, Coomera Rivers was represented by two teams at the annual All Schools Touch competition. With over 150 teams participating, it was a huge 2 days with plenty of touch footy to watch.

Both of our teams were excellent in the way they carried themselves. They were respectful, worked hard and played for each other in every game.

The girls went undefeated on Day 1, but unfortunately lost in the first round of the Finals. They played really well and were unlucky not go further into the finals series.

The boys had a couple players unavailable on Sunday, and played with only 8 players. They also, were excellent and progressed through to the semi finals, losing 4-3. Their effort and grit was on show for all to see.

Thanks so much to Mr Burrows, Mr Cope, Mrs Profke and Caitlyn Profke who helped over the weekend, and also to all of the parents and siblings who supported us so well.

Players of the weekend
Boys: Seantayne, Paysin and Noah
Girls: Kaysiyah, Remmy and Alicia

2022 Instrumental Music Testing

Recruitment testing is still happening! We hope to have it finalised soon and offers will go out shortly after. All students who returned EOIs and have not already been tested will have their test next week. We apologise for the delay. Finally this a last call out for any current year 2 or 3 students that have not yet handed in their EOI please email Cassi Zander (czand4@eq.edu.au) and thank you for your patience!

Music and Muffins is back!

It was such a hit so we’re doing it again!! Our end of year showcase is going to be showcased on Facebook Live from 6:00pm, 17 November 2021. Students in the instrumental music program received an information note about this upcoming concert earlier in the week. If you haven’t received yours, please email Cassi Zander (czand4@eq.edu.au) for a copy.

Coolphase for Clean Seas - Can you help?

We are very proud to be partnering with Coolphase, our P&C air conditioning business partner, in this environmental initiative.

Coolphase for Clean Seas is hosting a rubbish removal day and fundraiser at South Stradbroke Island.

When: Sunday 28 November

Time: 9:00am - Noon

Where: South Stradbroke Island

The dunes of our backyard island are full of plastics that need to be removed.

These plastics can choke our waterways, harming our natural environment and wildlife.

So grab a boat, ferry, bag or mate and join us for a one day assault on junk!

Click here for more details or email us.

We need your can and plastic bottles

Did you know that we collect cans and bottles to recycle? Please bring in any aluminium cans or plastic bottles from home. We will cash them in. We have raised enough money for our first project - a bee hive. We have purchased the hive and expect it to be installed in the coming weeks.

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Please bring your lunch to school on Wednesdays in reusable containers instead of plastic wrappers.

Our very best classes

Week 4 - 4F (17 lunches)

Week 5 - 4B (11 lunches)

Week 6 - 3JN (13 lunches)

Week 7 - 5L (14 lunches)

Our P&C are conducting a series of raffles to recognise the wonderful work of our volunteers. This raffle is called Community Stars. The prizes will be vouchers to spend at a local business. This means the P&C need 5 local businesses from which to purchase gift vouchers that will be used as part of the Community Stars program.

We are asking families, who own or work for a business within the Gold Coast City Council Division 3 area, to consider being involved and email the P&C with their business name.

We will then conduct a draw of which businesses are included in each round of the volunteer raffle. These 5 selected businesses, in addition to the P&C purchasing vouchers, will also receive free advertising in the school newsletter and on Facebook the week that their vouchers are used as part of our Community Stars program.

If, as a business, you miss out on being selected in this first round, never fear, we will be looking for more local businesses later this Term.