Dear mums, dads, carers and colleagues

Congratulations to the Year 5 students who were competing for the student leadership roles of Head of School and Head of Student Council for 2020.  The process is quite gruelling and the personal capacities of leadership and citizenship of these children is remarkable.  Congratulations to their parents.  Your parenting and guidance for them has been very successful.  

Good at learning - Good at life is the new direction that our school will be taking from next year.  We want all students to be engaged in Deep Learning to develop a set of skills and attitudes and that will enable this.  You can find out what this will look like by visiting our newsletter section each week.  The times ahead are very exciting.

Well done to the school staff on their recognition once again as an Apple Distinguished School earlier this year.  Apple Australia presented us with our banner this week.

Busy times ahead

There are just 15 school days remaining for 2019 and it is certainly going to be a busy time ahead as we celebrate the year completed and prepare for the next year.

The calendar at a glance:

Week 38

• Monday 25 November
  • Prep swimming

• Tuesday 26
  • Prep swimming
  • School Council meeting

• Wednesday 27
  • Prep swimming
  • Final day for chess club & chess club party
  • Alliance debating competition (Round 4) at Coomera Rivers

• Thursday 28
  • Prep swimming
  • Time to shine concerts (x2)

• Friday 29
  • Prep swimming
  • Cluster chess competition at Coomera Rivers

Jobs for families

• Complete the Student Resource Scheme paperwork for 2020 and return it to school
• Prepare book packs for 2020
• Organise vacation care bookings
• Finalise all 2019 school accounts

Week 39

• Monday 2 December
  • Prep 2020 student orientation

• Tuesday 3
  • Prep 2020 student orientation
  • Year 5 surf safety (Group 1)
  • P&C meeting

• Wednesday 4
  • Prep 2020 student orientation
  • Year 5 surf safety (Group 2)
  • Alliance debating competition (FINALS) at Coomera Rivers

• Thursday 5
  • Prep 2020 student orientation
  • RI Concert

• Friday 6
  • Prep 2020 student orientation
  • Annual Sports Awards assembly (Years 5&6)
  • New families BBQ after school
  • Christmas concert
  • Outdoor movie night

Jobs for families

• Prepare uniforms for PLUS sales next week
• Finalise all 2019 school accounts

Week 40

• Monday 9
  • Swimming fun day (Years 3&4)
  • High school transition day (Year 6)

• Tuesday 10
  • Swimming fun day (Years 5&6)
  • Report cards available on QParents

• Wednesday 11
  • Junior school awards assembly (Prep - Year 2)
  • Report cards emailed home

• Thursday 12
  • Senior school awards ceremony (Years 3-5)
  • Year 6 graduation ceremony (Sharks function centre)

• Friday 13
  • Last day of school for 2019
  • Free dress day (Sell uniforms to PLUS)
  • RED day at the cafe (cash only day)
  • Year 6 day at Wet n Wild

2020 classes

Teachers will email families on Thursday 23 January, welcoming your child to their class for 2020.  The Privacy Act prevents the school from sending a list to families.  

Book drop off and meet the new teacher

The school will be open on Friday morning 24 January so families can drop in to the school to meet the 2020 teachers, find the new classrooms and drop off book packs.  This is designed to make the first day of school much simpler for you.  

Have a great weekend

Kind regards

Vic

This week we recognised the Year 5 students who were selected to attend Leadership Camp last week. These students did a fantastic job in not only representing our school but also themselves.  From this group of 28 students, 12 were shortlisted to attend an interview on Friday with Mr Graham, Mrs Artz and Mrs Profke.  Each student handled an interview situation far better than some adults and have shown we have some very capable and worthy student leaders for next year.  On Thursday 12 December during our Senior Awards Assembly, we will announce our 2020 Head of School and Head of Student Council.  The wait now begins...

Congratulations to the following students for receiving a Student Excellence Award this week.  They not only got to hang out with the leadership team for a little while but they also received a very cool pencil!

Through Deep Learning

From previous newsletters, you will have learnt that Coomera Rivers has joined the Deep Learning movement! While the focus in 2020 will be to develop our students understanding and acquisition of the six Deep Learning Competencies, better known as the 6C's, 2019 has already seen some classes 'dip their toes in the pool' by creating learning experiences that foster deep learning. Teachers are in the process of designing learning experiences that build on learner strengths and needs, create new knowledge using real-life problem solving and help all students identify their talents, purpose and passion. Our goal is for our students and community to be 'Good at Learning - Good at Life.' In coming newsletters, we will share with our community what exactly are the 6C's. We look forward to learning with and alongside you.

Over the weekend, Jesse-Rose bravely decided to don a new haircut.  The aim?  To donate her long hair to make a wig for cancer patients who have lost their hair through medical treatments. We are very proud of you Jesse-Rose, and think you look amazing!

Rugby union:

Last weekend Maison represented Australia at the Under 12 in the Junior Oceania Rugby Union tournament where Australia played teams from other countries including Samoa, New Zealand and others.  Congratulations Maison on a wonderful achievement.  

This week we were gifted with our Apple Distinguished Schools banner and plaque for 2019 - 2021.

Apple Distinguished Schools are seen as centres of innovation, leadership and educational excellence that use Apple technology to inspire creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking.  They showcase innovative uses of technology in learning, teaching, and the school environment and have documented results of academic accomplishment.

Across the school, we have seen a significant shift – our students and staff are ‘stepping-outside-of-their-comfort-zones’ and are leveraging technology to enhance and transform teaching and learning capacities. Congratulations to all staff and students for this achievement and the support of our families and community for enabling our learners to develop these important skills for their future.

With the end of year approaching, we are thinking about our new families and children starting school in 2020.  The Department of Education has lots of information and resources on The Early Years Count website to support you and your child during this major milestone.   Your child’s kindergarten program provider will be preparing their Kindergarten transition statements in November.  The statements are all about your child’s learning and development in kindy, and will include your suggestions to support your child’s positive transition from kindy to school.  You and your child will have an opportunity to contribute to the statements and include information about their unique strengths, abilities and motivations.

When you receive the transition statement you will have the option to sign the parent/carer consent form so that the kindy can send the transition statement directly to your child’s new school on your behalf.
This streamlines the process and will support the school to make sure that your child’s learning continues from kindy to Prep.  You can also use the statement to have conversations with the school about creating a welcoming place that meets the needs of you and your child.

To find out more about starting school, the transition statement and the parent/carer consent form, visit The Early Years Count website

We know you would have heard about our delicious, nutritious menu by now, but do you know where a lot of our meal ideas come from? Our students love their breakfast and afternoon tea at OSHC. They love it so much they want to be a part of the planning!

We provide opportunities as often as we can for our students to suggest food ideas. Their ideas are then written on the whiteboard on the wall in the OSHC room for our educators to use when we are planning the menu. This cycle ensures our students are eating food they love while getting nutrition and helps our educators plan a menu that everyone can enjoy!

We’ve tackled lots of delicious meals from smoothies, to sausage rolls, potato salad, sushi, pigs in blankets, sausage sizzles and even started growing our own herbs to put in our cooking! an exciting menu that involves our students and families is great for our service. If you have any ideas that you would like to share, please write them down and post it through our green for growth mailbox next to the sign-in iPad.

Bookings are open now

As we near the end of the 2019 school year, it is time to start considering your before and after school care needs for 2020.

Booking requests are open now for and placements are limited and are filling fast!  Click here to enrol for BSC and/or ASC in 2020 and submit your booking request.  Booking offers for BSC and ASC in 2020 will begin being emailed to families in Week 9 (Monday 2 December 2019).  Families need to accept and confirm bookings offers within 48 hours to finalise the booking process.

Please find below a guide to completing the booking request for your convenience.

Please note - QikKids website is not optimised for use on mobile devices, including iPads and mobile phones, so the enrolment process will need to be completed on a computer.

Coomera Rivers Outside School Hours Care is now taking bookings for our Summer 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 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

The school and P&C conduct a tender process each couple of years to identify a preferred supplier for school books.  Kookaburra are the current suppliers after winning this tender process.  They offer a competitively priced and convenient option for parents however, you are still able to choose to visit the back to school sales to collect the items yourself should you prefer.  On-line ordering has opened.

Join us at our last P&C meeting fro 2019 to be held on Tuesday 3 December at 6:00pm.  If you have an agenda item please email the Secretary with the details by no later than 9:00am Monday 2 December.  

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.

As part of our Christmas celebrations we will be raffling  Christmas hampers.  We are asking families to consider donating items to be used in the hampers before Friday 29 November.

To ensure we have a range of different items to fill our hampers with, we are requesting different donations form each year level.  The donations we are requesting are:

Prep - Christmas Decorations
Year 1 - Craft and puzzles
Year 2 - Biscuits
Year 3 - Sweet treats
Year 4 - Hot and cold drinks (no alcohol)
Year 5 - Baking goods
Year 6 - Laundry items

A donation table will be located at the back of Corporate Services from 8:00am until 8.30am daily during the donation drive.

Once again, we thank you sincerely for your support.

Prep

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

Tickets on sale now!

Tickets in our annual Christmas Hamper Raffle are now open for sale on Flexischools and close on Wednesday 4 December at 4:00pm.

The lucky winners will be announced at our Christmas concert on Friday 6 December.

We would like to invite our 2020 families to our playground party.  We encourage new families joining our community in 2020 or existing families with a child starting in prep in 2020 to join us.

This is a great opportunity to meet other families and for your children to become more familiar with our school.

If you would like more details or if you would like to RSVP to this event please email the P&C. 

As of the start of Term 1 in 2020, the Surfside afternoon school buses will display a new school number which will be different to the morning and current afternoon school numbers.  We advise all students and parents to check the Surfside School website for updates before Term 1 starts in 2020.