January 2023

Dear mums, dads, carers and colleagues

The 2022 school year has concluded, and once again, we have earned and enjoyed terrific success at Coomera Rivers. My personal headline events and achievements this year (in no particular order) include:

• Kokoda challenge winners
• Wakakirri (National winners Mrs Blyth)
• eSports (National champions in Year 5)
• Inter-school sport competitions
• Debating
• The colour splatacular
• The vast range of extra-curricular opportunities in the face of teacher shortages and
• Receiving Apple Distinguished Schools recognition … again

It is with a touch of sadness that we bid farewell to some staff today as they move to new schools and challenges.  The list of staff leaving includes:

Year 6 Graduation Dinner

Our Year 6 students and staff celebrated their graduation year and enjoyed a night out at Sharks where they dressed up and had a dinner and dance.  Thank you to the staff for organising what is a huge event and to all of the mums and dads who made it a special event for their children.

School leaders for 2023

At Coomera Rivers, leadership means service to others.  We live by the quote from Bishop Dale Bronner when he said, 'If serving is below you, then leadership is beyond you.'  To be a great leader, one must first value service to others.  Placing the needs of others first is central to the beliefs of the greatest leaders in history.  And this is what we aim to emulate at our school.

Following a very rigorous selection process again this year, I would like to formally announce the first group of student leaders for 2023.  Congratulations to:

New families afternoon 

Thank you to our P&C and Prep teachers for welcoming new families to the school this week.  Despite being very hot, we enjoyed some refreshments are were able to mingle and meet families new to our community.

Apple Distinguished Schools

I am once again pleased to announce that Coomera Rivers has been recognised as an Apple Distinguished School (2022–2025) for our innovation, leadership, and educational excellence.

At Coomera Rivers, we use technology to inspire creativity, collaboration and critical thinking in learning, teaching and the school environment, and have documented results of academic accomplishment.

I would like to thank Mrs Hadfield for recently accepting our award on my behalf. She was a great choice to do this as she epitomises our use of technology in creative and compelling ways.

Alliance schools debating competition

The finals of the local state and independent schools debating competition were held in Week 9.  Coomera Rivers was represented in the Year 5 and 6 sections.  Our team won the Year 5 competition and although we argued hard in the Year 6 competition, we were unfurtunately unsuccessful.  I was so very proud of all of the students and staff involved in what is a very difficult set of skills to show.

Congratulations to Ms Artz who coordinated all eight schools (22 teams in total).  This was an enormously challenging task.  Thank you also to Griffith University and Toastmasters for their continued support with this competition as well.

Seesaw for school

At Coomera Rivers we use Seesaw for School, which means your child's work stays connected from the very beginning until the end of primary school. If you are wanting to access your child's work from throughout the year you can use the Journal Tab in the Seesaw App with all current and past classes.

If you are leaving Coomera Rivers or would just like an off-line copy of their digital portfolio, please click HERE and please follow the steps.  

When classes are created for 2023, you will automatically have access to your child's new journals without needing to sign up. If your children are starting Prep or are new to our school, your child's teacher will get in contact with you early next year on how to best connect to their journal. 

Have a safe Christmas vacation.

Merry Christmas

Vic

Congratulations to these students on being recognised at the annual awards assembly this week.

Annual awards gallery

Congratulations to these students on being recognised at the annual awards assembly this week.

Annual awards gallery

Congratulations to these students on being recognised at the annual awards assembly this week.

Annual awards gallery

Learning in 2T

Congratulations to these students on being recognised at the annual awards assembly this week.

Annual awards gallery

Congratulations to these students on being recognised at the annual awards assembly this week.     

Annual awards gallery

Congratulations to these students on being recognised at the annual awards assembly this week.    

Annual awards gallery

Congratulations to these students on being recognised at the annual awards assembly this week.

Annual awards gallery

Party time

On Tuesday 120 of our students were invited to attend a 'Commitment Party' as they had attended every rehearsal this term. Shout out to the choir students who had given up a lunchbreak every week to rehearse with Mrs Blyth and a special thank you to the families that dragged themselves out of bed early each week for their child's 7:30am rehearsals with Mr Owens and Mrs Blyth. We truly appreciate your support. Thank you for an amazing 2022, our Music programs have gone from strength to strength and we look forward to even more successful 2023.

Special talent

Kasper in 4E (new to Coomera Rivers at the end of term 3) is a BRILLIANT viola player. As part of supporting him I passed on some information about the Gold Coast Youth Orchestra and their try outs for 2023 to his family. The audition was a few weeks ago and I helped him out with the repertoire as he doesn't have a private teacher here yet. The family found out today that he has been accepted for 2023 into the Gold Coast Youth Orchestra's- Junior Symphony Orchestra!!! They only accept exceptional students, so it is a big honour. ❤️

Swimming Fun Day

Thank you so much to the students, teachers and parents who participated in our Swimming Fun Days for 2022. It was a very hot 2 days, which made the pool that much more enticing. We have some fantastic swimmers at our school, and below is a list of out swimming records breakers, age champions and our champion house.

Records Breakers

Ashtiva (3Mc): 25m Breaststroke, 25m Backstroke & 25m Butterfly
Blake (4W): 25m Backstroke & 25m Breaststroke
Zahra (6WC): 25m Freestyle, 50m Freestyle & 25m Butterfly
Cooper (6WC): 50m Freestyle
Remmy (5/6L): 50m Freestyle

Age Champions

8 Years: Meg (3H) & Jimmy (3Mc)
9 Years: Ashtiva (3Mc) & Blake (4W)
10 Years: Scarlet (5C) & Cooper T (5B)
11 Years: Zahra (6WC) & Cooper H (6WC)
12 Years: Remmy (5/6L) & Rocca (5/6L)

House Points

1st: Foxwell
2nd: Colman
3rd: Pedley
4th: Siganto

Gallery

Sports Awards

Last week, we held our annual sports awards ceremony. We aim to acknowledge and congratulate our senior students for their outstanding achievements in sport for the year. Coomera Rivers aims to provide as many sporting opportunities as we can, and we feel we do this quite well. We opened the assembly with a terrific presentation by our strings ensemble, led by Mrs Blyth then presented our players of the season awards.  

Congratulations to the following students for the amazing achievements.     

Players of the Year

AFL: Remmy & Elijah
Soccer: Maya & Alfie
Basketball: Kiahna and Memphis
Netball: Shaylen & Leland
Rugby League: Harmony & Papu
Touch: Scarlet & Seantayne
OzTag: Roxy & Archie
Table Tennis: Mariyae & Cruz

Gallery

Please use the lists below to organise NEXT year's stationery supplies.  There is no preferred supplier so shop around to find the best price / convenience suppliers.

Religious instruction:  If your child is participating in Religious Instruction next year, you will need to arrange their work books.  These workbooks are always very hard to source, so to make things easier, our P&C has pre-purchased them and is re-selling them to families without any mark up.  Please order your workbooks through Flexischools.  

Prep

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

The Student Resource Scheme (SRS) is the school's system to bulk buy the items that we are allowed, and then re-sell them to families without mark-up.  It includes consumables and on-line subscriptions to web based programs (like textbooks).  The savings to families are enormous, so please consider your involvement.  If you were involved in an SRS in 2022, you will automatically remain in the scheme until you unsubscribe.  If you choose to not be involved, we understand that you will privately provide the materials listed.

Prep

• Coming soon

Year 1 & 2

Apps lists for 2023

iPad requirements for parents

Fact sheet for parents

As we near the end of the 2022 school year, it is time to start considering your Before and After school care needs for 2023.

All current 2022 BSC and ASC bookings will cease after close of business Friday 9 December 2022. Bookings will not roll over to 2023.

Existing OSHC families must complete the re-enrolment process as advertised on OWNA.

Families looking to enrol for the first time in 2023 please send your enquiry to the service email address crssoshc@outlook.com. Once we have received your enrolment enquiry, we will send through our ‘Enrolment Information’ document with a link to our enrolment form.

Places are limited and families looking for care in 2023 are encouraged to book their places as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

The School Locker

The advertised price increase to uniform items by the provider, The School Locker, is about to occur. Since being notified of the rise, the P&C has been very active in its negotiations with the company to limit the increases. And while there is still an increase, the final amounts are lower since the negotiation. The table below explains the OLD price, the expected price, and the new re-negotiated price. Thank you to the P&C for doing this for our community.

As part of the negotiation, we decided that we would only open the on-site shop for two days each week during Term time. The closure of the shop on the third day was turned into price reductions. The School Locker will still offer extended on-site shop trading in the lead up to the 2023 return to school. The details of the trading dates and times during return to school will be provided as soon as to hand. During Term time we believe we can manage with two days on-site shop trade as most of the sales are completed online. We encourage families to continue to order online and utilise classroom delivery of orders wherever possible.