Term 3

Please note that activity dates and times may change
       

Dear mums, dads, carers and colleagues

Term 1 has officially concluded and I have been absolutely delighted with the achievements and opportunities that our school has provided.  I think a glance over the celebrations newsletters each fortnight will attest to this.   

We bid farewell to Mr Lewis

I would like to congratulate Mr Lewis (6L) on recently achieving permanency with the Department of Education.  Unfortunately for Coomera Rivers, this means he will transfer to Pimpama State Primary College from the start of Term 2.  I have admired his growth & development as a teacher across the past couple of years and Pimpama are certainly lucky to have his services and skills.  I know that he will commit to Pimpama just as significantly as he has done for Coomera Rivers.  Replacing Mr Lewis will be Mrs Barnes who is returning from long service leave. Welcome back Mrs Barnes.

What is in our sights this year?

Our aspiration for every student is to be

Good at learning - Good at life

To achieve this in 2023, we will be focused on:

Reading

• We are focused on all students developing a deep love of reading and being successful in learning to read and comprehend texts. 
• We need families to read at home - a lot!

Deep learning

• We will be further developing character, citizenship and collaboration skills for all learners.  
• We need all students to attend school as a strong routine.  Our target is 95% attendance.  We need families to create strong school routines across each week and each day.

Does strong attendance make any difference?

Strong attendance leads to optimum learning outcomes and lower anxiety for children and stronger partnerships between parents and teachers - it is as simple as that.  

        

Attendance celebration breakfast

We acknowledged students who achieved the 95% attendance target this term with a special pancake breakfast on Thursday morning.  Thank you sincerely to staff who contributed to make this massive logistical undertaking work so smoothly.   

We will measure again from the start of Term 2.                   

    

Feedback about the celebration breakfast has mostly been positive.  This is pleasing as the celebration was designed to recognise students who have been able to maintain excellent attendance across the term.  

The two key criticisms leveled at the event were:

1. The school is encouraging sick children to attend
2. It was unfair that some students missed out because they didn't reach the target

The celebration is unashamedly designed to encourage and celebrate school attendance.  We have never asked children to attend when they are unwell - nor do we want them to.  While I would love for every student to experience the celebration, they all need to earn it for it to be of any value.  I do not consider non-participation in the celebration as a punishment.   It is a consequence of circumstances and we all experience these disappoinments in life.  

I encourage everyone to set a new goal regarding their attendance for Term 2.  It will be worth the effort!

         

Kokoda training session 2

Our most recent weekend training session saw us hit the hills and trails of the Nerang State Forest.  Once again we were off to an early start and we ran into the state forest to complete our hill runs and prepare for the kinds of surfaces that we will experience when we undfertake the School's kokoda Challenge in June.  Our next training session will see us return to Nerang once again, but this time the intensity will be increased quite a lot.  We will run harder for longer and we will begin to break the squad members into competition teams.

           

Holiday training program

Two of our Kokoda coaches have created a vacation training program for the squad.  Thank you to Ms McLean and Mrs Broy.  Even if you are not involved in Kokoda, feel free to follow the program.

Kokoda_Easter_Holiday_Training_Plan.pdf

Kokoda_Easter_Holiday_Training_Plan _pdf 535.90 KB

            

Good Start program

Selected Year 5 and 6 students attended our Good Start program this term and learned about 'Healthy Kai (food) for a Healthy Life.' Our educational facilitator, Amy, empowered our students to eat foods from the five food groups every day. Our students learned with hands-on activities and even got to experience making and eating some healthy snacks. Mr Campbell, our very own OSCH educator, was even invited as a guest speaker to talk about his story and health journey and enjoyed it so much, he now wants to become a regular attendee.

Next term, the Good Start Program will be on offer for Year 3 and 4 students who identify with a Māori or Pasifika background. The content, language and traditions embedded in this program are of our Pasifika cultures.

  

No parking in the Kiss n Go

I ask all parents and carers to please use the school Kiss n Go and car park areas as they are designed.  There has been increasing frequency of cars parking in the front part of the Kiss n Go in the morning (the area after the pedestrian crossing towards the hall). Please do not do this as it strangles the flow of traffic and is very frustrating to other parents doing the right thing.

Autism awareness day

I hope that everyone enjoys a wonderful Easter vacation.

Kind regards

Vic

What a cracking good time our preps and year 1s had at the Easter Hat Parade. They sang, wiggled their bunny ears and showed off some spectacular moves before meeting a special guest - none other than Mr Easter Bunny himself. 

Last Friday students and staff celebrated their cultural heritage by wearing cultural dress; and sharing stories, information and customs with each other. The choir was a highlight with students singing 'We Are Australian' for students and community members before school commenced.

With Ms Waide

Student Excellence Awards 

Prep gallery

With Ms Waide

Student Excellence Awards 

Year 1 gallery

With Mrs Gatti

Student Excellence Awards 

Year 2 gallery

Celebration of learning 

This week, students in Year 2 went to the Aquatic Centre at Pimpama Sports Hub. The swimming lessons were an enjoyable, informative, and constructive experience, providing students with skills that can be applied to any aquatic environment, especially living on the Gold Coast. What a wonderful way to end Term 1.

With Mrs Gatti

Student Excellence Awards 

Year 3 gallery

Celebration of learning 

Term 1 Narrative Writing: 3J have been working hard all term learning the structure of narrative stories and how to make them exciting. They all wrote amazing stories for their assessments. They were too good to keep to ourselves, so after publishing, we took them down to Prep CH to read to a buddy. 3J also chose a picture book from the iCentre to share with their buddy and had a colouring in to complete together. Both classes had such a great time, the photos show it all. 

With Mrs Gatti

Student Excellence Awards 

Year 4 gallery

Celebration of learning

Students in Year 4 have been busy in Science recently with designing and constructing arcade games to demonstrate their understanding of contact and non-contact forces. Students also conducted investigations, posed questions and made predictions about their arcade games.  

All classes in Year 4 held lunch time arcade sessions to test and share their projects with other students around the school. The lunchtime arcades were a huge success and proved to be a popular playtime attraction. 

With Mr Meijboom

Student Excellence Awards 

Year 5 gallery

Surf Safety

Year 5 classes spent the Thursday or Friday at the beach learning all about surf safety with our very own Gold Coast Lifesavers.

Let's face it

This term, Year 5 students have been learning the composition of the face through self-portraits using pencil and charcoal. Students carefully followed instructions for placement, line and shape of facial features and learnt a number of charcoal techniques, before putting their learning into a final charcoal portrait. We had some very proud artists upon completion, especially from those who didn't think they had a creative bone in their body.

With Mr Meijboom

Student Excellence Awards 

Year 6 gallery

ACE, REACH and STEMD programs

Selected Year 6 students enjoyed 2 days at Pimpama State Secondary College to participate in their excellence programs. These included:

The ACE Project is an innovative ‘think-tank’ business enterprise experience.

The REACH program is a short extension program that is engaging, accessible and entertaining aimed at students who have a passion for Performing Arts – dance, music, drama.

The STEM Olympiad is a rigorous academic program that concentrates on Mathematics, Science and the design process.

Representative Sport

Broadwater Rugby League

Congratulations to Paysin, Keanu, Carlos, Bailey and Onyx who have been selected in the Broadwater Rugby League teams. Good luck at the South Coast trials.

Broadwater Rugby Union

Good luck to Bailey, Tyrell, Paysin, Carlos and Hugh who will trial for the Broadwater Rugby Union team next term.

Broadwater Netball

Well done to Shayla and Roxanne who trialled for the South Coast Netball team. I know you played really well. Better luck next time.

South Coast AFL

A huge congratulations to Scarlet and Kaea who have been selected in the South Coast AFL team. They will now compete in the state trials which are coming up next term.

School Cross Country

Our first carnival of 2023 was a huge hit. Everyone looked amazing in their house colours. We saw plenty of laughs, smiles, dances, some singing and of course - some running. Thank you to the students, teachers and families who came to support our day.  It's always great to the Coomera Rivers community in full swing.

Congratulations to Colman house.  They were the cross-country champions for 2023.

Age Champions

Carnival gallery

Coomera Rivers State School students will participate in the Queensland Engagement and Wellbeing Survey between April 26th - May 12th. 

This survey asks questions about many aspects of students' wellbeing, engagement and experience at school. Data from the survey will help the school to monitor; school culture, school engagement and student wellbeing.

If you do not wish for your child to participate or would like more information, please email your child's classroom teacher prior to April 26th

Associate Professor Michael Cowling (Central Queensland University), Dr Joanne Orlando (Western Sydney University) and Dr Kwong Nui Sim (International College of Management Sydney) are undertaking an Australia-wide study for the federal government to help parents get the right support as children become more independent users of technology.

Can you help? They are looking for 15 families with a child aged 10-13 years to talk about the challenges they are facing with childrens’ online safety, and where you are getting it right.

Families participating will receive a $100 gift voucher.

Interviews can take place in zoom, in your home, or at a cafe near you. Interviews will take around 30 minutes.  Interested? We’d love to hear from you. Contact us on j.orlando@westernsydney.edu.au