Dear mums, dads, carers and colleagues

It has been a very eventful and exciting week at school.  Four showcase concerts to display our student's cultural talents and two days in the field where we demonstrated our fun, fitness and friendship.  Add to that, Year 5 classes attended the 'Gold Rush' excursion near Beenleigh and our annual flash mob dances.  Wow!

Citizenship

One of the most important characteristics that our children can develop is a passion for our environment.  Caring about our planet and all its incredible creatures.  Scientists across the globe are consistent in their message about the impact that humans and development have on local habitats and the globe itself.  There is evidence of our impact everywhere.  A message that needs to be promoted is for everyone to act locally but think globally.  

I know that a number of our students attended the school strike for climate change event yesterday.  While as a Principal I cannot condone time away from school, as a citizen I feel great satisfaction for their passion and action.  

We often share our campus with Australian creatures.  Plovers, ducks, kangaroos and wallabies are almost daily visitors.  And this week, a curlew has made a nest alongside our music centre.  We have placed a steel barrier around the nest in case balls stray in that direction and set up a wider cordoned off zone as well.   We have also set up some education fact sheet boards as well.  Well done us.

Treasure hunt

This week, avid train spotters will be on the look out for Captain Underpants.   Find him somewhere else in the newsletter and email Mrs Artz with the story title and your childrens' names before 4:00pm each Tuesday.  Winners receive a slushie for each child in the family and every entry earns a ticket into the draw to win $25 at the book fair.  This is what you are looking for.  

         
Last week's slushie winner:

• Charlie 2D

Vacation

It is now time to enjoy the spring vacation period.  Thank you to the school staff for making possible everything that our children enjoy.  It is a true team effort.  School resumes on Tuesday 8 October at 8:25am.

Kind regards

Vic

Congratulations to the following students who earned a Student Excellence Award in the final week of Term 3.  What a great way to finish the term!

The Year 5 HASS unit this term saw them heading back to the 1850’s to explore the Gold Rush. This inspired an excursion that allowed them to bring what they had studied and learned in class, to life. This week, our Year 5 students and teachers headed up the highway to Eureka Excursions, Beenleigh, for a fun-filled day of interactive learning.

As soon as they stepped off the bus, they witnessed a battle between a bush-ranger and goldfield workers unfold in front of them. Once it was safe, they made their way up to town where their fun-filled day was just beginning. Students spent the day rotating through various activities. They worked in teams to build tents out of sticks, two pieces of rope and a sheet. For some students it was pretty clear they were going to struggle with life on the goldfields, as they attempted to ‘haggle’ to purchase everything they needed to survive. Once they had their items, they headed up the town to learn how to search for gold. Using pans and cradles they searched the ground for gold, small or big they were looking to strike rich!

After some yummy damper for lunch, the most exciting part of the day began. They headed down to the claims office where they purchased their license that permitted them to search for gold. Once they all had their licence, the search was on! Students searched high and low for any gold they could find. Once they had their piece of gold they visited the claims office to trade their gold for pounds. Students haggled with teachers for the amount they thought their gold was worth. If they were too greedy on the price, they were thrown into jail!

Fun is definitely an understatement for this wonderful day. A big thank you to our staff and volunteers who helped organise and supervise this unique experience that we are sure our students will remember for a very long time.

It took 3 weeks of auditions to find our finalists for the 2019 Lights COOMERA Action! Talent show. This event was organised and run by our Year 3 - 6 class student council representatives and it meant that they needed to give up a number of lunch breaks judging and each of the performances. Overall, there were 106 acts to be judged over four categories - Instrumental Music, Drama, Singing and Dance. It was a tough gig but our student councillors did a remarkable job offering words of encouragement to all our performers.

This week saw us showcase our Runner's Up finalists (students who placed 2nd or 3rd in their category) on Monday and then our Winners on Friday. Four assemblies in one week was a huge feat given we needed to do both assemblies twice, once for our junior school and then again for our senior school. The student councillors were once again responsible for these assemblies, as MC's and supporting our performers with organising microphones and props. It was at our Winners Showcase Assembly that our student councillors could then demonstrate their theatrical skills by treating the audience to a comical skit, "Baking a cake!" It was a wonderful way to finish the term, celebrating the talent at Coomera Rivers.

A very big congratulations to our student councillors for organising such an event and also to all students who had the courage to audition. A big thank you must also go to teachers and staff who supported our student councillors in this role.

Finally, a massive congratulations to our talented performers, both runners up and winners.

Winners
Instrumental Music - Junior
Valerie 1C – Piano – Aira
Instrumental Music - Senior
Maya 3GS – Violin – Despascito
Drama – Junior
Amelia – Puppet Show – The Silly Time Machine
Drama - Senior
Keagan 4K – Magic Show - Dedazzled
Singing – Junior
Frankie 2C – A Million Dreams
Singing - Senior
Madison 6L – Walk me home
Dancing – Junior
Silva 2H – Fullmation
Dancing – Senior (DRAW)
Josie 6W – Uptight
Maiya 4B - Remedy

Runners Up
Instrumental Music - Junior
2nd Mayari 1C – Piano – Lord King Whistles
3rd Hugh 1C – Violin – Japanese Spa Music
Instrumental Music - Senior
2nd Gabriel 5/6C – Ukele – Lemonade
3rd Freya 4F – Violin – Harry Potter
Drama - Senior
2nd Wyatt 4P – Monologue from Kid Hero
3rd Arabella, Hailey & Ehva 4B/P – Little Red Riding Hood
Singing – Junior
2nd Amity & Oliver 1W & Prep K – A Whole New World (Alladin)
3rd Jasmine & Poppy 1ME – Come on, Come on, turn the radio on
Singing - Senior
2nd Shylah 6M Scars to your beautiful
3rd (DRAW)– Summa 3GS - The Climb
3rd (DRAW)– Madison 5W - Loser like me
Dancing - Junior
2nd Harper 1E – Shake the room
3rd Lila, Ella, Connie & Flynn 2MC – 7 years old
Dancing - Senior
2nd Phoebe 6M 7 rings
3rd (DRAW) – Abbey, Sienna, Tiana, Jasmeet, Alyna, Ellie 5S – Hard Knock Life (Annie)
3rd (DRAW) – Ava, Laila, Lacey, Jessica & Raphaella 6M – Macaroni Amigos

This week our students competed in a range of fun athletic and novelty events at our annual Sports Fun Days. The dedicated staff here at Coomera Rivers enabled a wonderful experience for our students. A big thanks to the grounds staff for their efforts in preparing all the oval and facilities. Thank-you to the families who came along to cheer on the students. Some great sportsmanship was shown by so many people and a few adults even got involved in the Parent/Teacher Race and Tug of War competition. As usual, our lovely P&C staff were there to support and enhance the days as well. 

It was a tremendous team effort to make the carnival a memorable success.  

Colman won the Sports Fun Day title, its first win since 2014.  There was great elation when the students learned that Team Red had once again been victorious.  

Scoring involves the total points earned by a team divided by the number of students in the house.  This creates the the overall house scores.  The 2019 results were:

1st Colman (347 points)
2nd Pedley (338 points)
3rd Foxwell (333 points)
4th Siganto (330) points)

Touch Football

Congratulations to our class winners 6M Croissants who won the Grand Final of the Coomera Rivers Super 6s Touch Football Competition. In a great tournament played in the spirit of fun, fitness and friendship, classes battled it out in touch footy that went every playtime throughout Term 3.  Two teams rose above the pack to finish the regular season as number 1 and 2 on the ladder. After a semi-final series, they met in the Grand Final.  5S and 5B combined to form the Blue Monkeys and they were gallant in defeat.  Mr Murillo, our touch football coach and all round nice guy was very impressed by the standard of play displayed by our players.

     

Cricket

Next term, the HPE department will be coordinating a playtime cricket competition for our Students in years 5 and 6. Similar to the touch football competition, classes will be encouraged to enter teams and battle it out to become the Coomera Rivers State School cricket champions. Great to see more girls at our school joining up to play club cricket. There are many local teams in our local area including the Coomera Hope Island Cricket Club if your child is interested in cricket.

Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students wish to build a Yarning Circle for our school. We are looking to connect with community Elders or Traditional Custodians to consult with as part of this process. We would also like to seek input from our Indigenous parents and caregivers. If you are interested, or know of someone who would be be able to help, please email Karen Caswell or 5596 8333.

The 2019 Year Book is under construction now and, as with previous years, it is going to be a fantastic reflection of a year full of wonderful activities and memories for students to keep for years to come.

2019 Year Book orders will open shortly on Flexischools (we will confirm when sales open by email to families and Facebook post) and the deadline to order will be 4:00pm Friday 1 November. We will only be ordering the required number of copies from orders received so please be sure not to be miss this deadline!

If you do require a deadline extension, you MUST email the P&C before the deadline to request one.

Please note - Year 6 students receive a complimentary copy of the Year Book at graduation.​

For the last week of Term 3 we have focused on learning and developing an understanding around fairness. At OSHC we are always playing group games and are involved in team building activities that only work if we are able to be fair. Fairness seems easy enough, although it can be challenging, especially when we are playing with our friends at OSHC who are different ages, some of us are five and some of us are 11! Sometimes we have to understand that our younger friend might play by different rules and that is fair while they are learning. This week we have become aware of ways in which people are included or excluded and acted upon that. We are excited to continue to develop this lifelong skill and put it to practice these holidays!

Coomera Rivers Outside School Hours Care is now taking bookings for our Spring Vacation Program.

Vacation Care bookings are open to ALL primary school students including students that do NOT attend Coomera Rivers.

Vacation Care bookings are also open to our families that do NOT use the before and / or after school service.

There is no minimum number of days that you need to attend - just book for the days you need.

Bookings for primary school aged students are encouraged so please share with friends and family that may be looking for an exceptional school holiday care option.

The details of the upcoming program are attached - the program document (on page 8) also includes a ready reckoner that shows an estimation of families out of pocket expenses for our Vacation care days after your Centrelink CCS is applied. Please note that this is a guide only. CCS benefits vary, and benefits for multi-day bookings will depend on approved activity hours. Please contact our Service Director for a personalised quote.

For bookings or further enquiries please contact us:

Phone: 5596 8377
Mobile: 0455 968 377
Email: croshc@coomerariversss.eq.edu.au

Is it time to update your family portrait?  If it is, well then we have the fundraiser for you! For a $20 donation to the P&C, you will receive 20 minute photo session and a 10 x 13 portrait of your family.

In addition, you can, at time of viewing your images, secure additional poses and copies at some REALLY discounted rates. They even have a lay by option!

That said, purchasing additional images is NOT a requirement of this special $20 family photo promotion. You can simply come along and have your​ photo session and then, at time of viewing, select the image you would like to receive for your donation. There is absolutely NO obligation to purchase any additional images.  What a wonderful way to update your family portrait for just $20! To book and pay for your session visit Flexischools to reserve your time slot.

The photo shoot will take place on Saturday 26 October with bookings close at 4:00pm Wednesday 23 October.  For more information please contact the P&C.