Dear Mums, Dads, carers and colleagues

Week 10 seemed to be all about MUD.  The rain and continual showers left our play areas saturated for a few days and the puddles seemed to continually collect the rain.  This was once a common event around this time of the year and I recall as a child, that Easter was often a rainy period.   This seems to have repeated as we wait for the first Sunday after the first full moon following the Ides of March.  

While we dodged the mud and puddles at school, it was quite the opposite at Year 6 camp this week.  While the rain remained mainly on the coastal areas, the black soil of the Lockyer Valley was the key feature for a lot of students and teachers.  The mud pit mix was incredible - and perhaps deceptively deeper than Taj anticipated.  The photos are quite amazing and I wish our parents a lot of luck with the laundry this weekend. 

Our STEM Olympiad team competed at Pimpama State Secondary College on Thursday and once again, I was proud of how they represented us.  And then the Easter Hat Parade, the Easter RI concert, our Prep Art Galleries and Volunteers Afternoon Tea brought our celebrations of Term 1 to a close.  

Term 2 starts

School resumes on Tuesday 23 April.  Our major events start with our ANZAC day services on Wednesday.  We have two separate services at school - one for junior school and one for seniors.  Please see the newsletter for more details on these.  And then on Thursday, our community participates in the Upper Coomera community march and service on ANZAC Day.  Students need to wear their formal uniforms on both these days.  

Read on to see some of the activities that headlined this week as well as the photo galleries of smiles .... and mud.

NAPLAN is coming

If your child is in Year 3 or Year 5 this year, you need to peruse the four items in this newsletter about NAPLAN.  Students will be completing the 2019 tests on their iPad so they must have everything ready.  You do not need to purchase anything additional to the regular school requirements but children will need their device, earphones and the NAP browser app.  It will also be a great idea to attend the parent information session.  Please be ready.

I hope that your family enjoys a safe and relaxing Easter vacation period.

Kind regards

Vic

Congratulations to our students who received a Student Excellence Award this week.  I am very proud of you.

2019 saw a big change for our Year 6 camp with students embarking on a team and character building experience at Emu Gully which is located just outside Toowoomba.

Our Year 6 students participated in activities that are framed to provide a simple historical context of epic events such as The Western Front, the Siege of Tobruk, The Tunnel Rats of Vietnam, The Bridge over the River Kwai and the Kokoda Track. After each activity, students were encouraged to focus their reflections on the core character values of Courage, Mateship, Perseverance and Sacrifice - a timely exercise as Anzac Day approaches.

Our students spent the first day learning to think of others and work together as a unit by developing their communication and listening skills. This set the precedent for the challenging activities to follow.

The Commando Cable Crossing relied heavily on full team participation and balance and was one of the first activities to see students fail... a very important life lesson in which everyone was encouraged to persevere and try their best.

Escaping from Colditz saw groups climbing through tunnels and getting their team to safety before the enemy caught them. It was a great activity for problem solving and planning and this particular activity brought out student’s (and some teachers) fears of being in a dark enclosed space.

The swinging log was a tricky activity that appeared to be an individual challenge however students soon learned the power of team spirit as an ingredient for success. There were students who failed the activity first time round but on their second attempt, when teammates encouraged and supported each other, they succeeded. What a great way to highlight the importance of team spirit.

Tunnel Rats was another activity performed in the dark that saw many students show courage by facing their fears. The team’s mission was to save a wounded soldier and bring him/her to safety while working together to communicate what was ahead of them in the tunnel and hoisting each other up to safety.

The Bridge over River Kwai was a super nerve racking activity as two people needed to cross over each other on a plank of wood that was balancing 3m above water. Some students did this with ease while some required loads of support and encouragement. A few of the teachers even had a go at this and their legs were still shaking once on solid ground!

Students once again worked together when rowing boats full of supplies and transporting injured soldiers. They needed to withstand stormy weather (hoses) and bombs (swinging sandbags) that tried to stop them in their travels from one end of a river to the other.

And then there was mud... And lots of it! The 'Kokoda Track' was replicated and saw our students wading through rivers of mud. Groups worked together to help their mates up and over the obstacles. The idea was to leave no 'man' behind - we all finish together. This activity was a favourite along with the monster waterslide, swim and diving boards in the dam afterwards.

The evenings of Day 1 and 2 alternated between a fun Trivia Night organised by Mr Burrows and Mr Raffin and a Night Walk that was really scary. Some groups were asked to use their imagination of jumping out of a plane with a parachute but in fact they were sliding down a 25m slide in pitch black. So many students demonstrated courage by stepping out of their comfort zone and facing their fears. Their teachers couldn’t have been prouder!

What a great way to finish the term. Congratulations to all participants and a big thank you to all our staff who made this camp possible!

Students from Prep and Year 1 dazzled parents and community members with their creative Easter hats and enthusiastic singing at the Easter Hat Parade on Friday morning. They were even treated to a visit from the Easter Bunny himself.  Check out the photo gallery.

Pullovers and jackets:   Please ensure that your children have the pullover for their formal uniform and the tracksuit top for the sports uniform.  Stocks for new items are good in most sizes but don't wait until the cold arrives before you order them as yours will probably be the size that runs out - it always seems to be that way.  

Uniform blitz: A uniform blitz is starting in Week 1 of next term.  The focus will be on socks.  Please make sure that your children are in the correct uniform each school day.  If something has happened and your children are out of uniform, simply notify their teacher.  Teachers will not issue uniform infringements if they have a note of explanation.  Students will receive a detention at lunch break for not being in correct and complete uniform.  

Click on the link below for a copy of the Student Dress Code policy

Well done to the Year 4 Secret Sentence Agents this week who have been focusing on their writing and grammar.  Their secret mission was to solve the case of the missing punctuation and conjunctions. The agents were required to identify, edit and write simple, compound and complex sentences.  The Secret Agent name tags and wristbands, plus the code breaking tasks, were a bit hit!  Well done to our very clever teachers.

Eight children from Years 5 and 6 were selected to attend Pimpama State Secondary College to represent Coomera Rivers State School at the 2019 STEM Olympiad. The students who participated included Kade, Oscar, Chloe, Sebe, Bailey, Eden, Amelie and Claire.

The Olympiad was designed to be fun, engaging and accessible to competent students with interests in Mathematics, Science, Design and problem solving. Students participated in a team challenge which required them to solve a crime that happened on Wednesday 3rd April at 1500 hours. A person had broken into Mrs Turner and Mrs Smith’s office and stolen the $5000 budget for the Stem program. There were 6 Science teachers as suspects. With a lot of problem solving and mind challenges involving scrutinising hand writing, fingerprints, hair samples, foot print analysis, using microscopes to examine clothing and chromatography, we figured out that Miss Nolan was the thief.  She is a Year 11 Biology teacher! The group that presented the most comprehensive evidence won a trophy.  It was a wonderful day and we are all looking forward to the next Stem Olympiad.  (Writen by Eden)

Cross-Country:    Congratulations to our Cross-Country team who will be attending the Broadwater district schools carnival on April 30.

Girls Touch Trials:     Senior girls who are interested in trialling for district touch, there will be a school trial on Tuesday April 23.

Inter-school Sport:      In Term 2, Coomera Rivers will be participating in Semester 1 Inter-school Sport. The sports on offer are Soccer(mixed), Netball(girls), Touch(girls) and Rugby League (Boys). Selection is open to students in Year 5 and Year 6.  Inter-school sport season commence in Week 6, Term 2.  There are bus costs involved so we will have selection trials early in the term.  

Prep Art Gallery

What a great success! The students loved having their work displayed and seeing their sold signs and the families thought they did an amazing job. We have raised approximately $500 towards resources for our second Music room, we will post some pictures of our new instruments when we receive them!

      
Wakakirri

We have now finalised our Ballet and Emergency Services groups and after the holidays on Tuesday (1st day back) we will try out students for the Swimming roles (In 4P at 12:15 with Miss Parker and Mrs Hardwick) and Basketball (12:45 at the Basketball Courts with Miss Findlay).  If your child is not interested or selected for one of those roles, they will be a school dancer. After the Swimming/Basketball try outs we will try out our main characters.

Our first rehearsal is Thursday 2 May from 2:30 to 3:30pm. You should have received your invoice by now, please make sure you have it paid by Wednesday 1 May, otherwise your child will not be able to attend rehearsals and will lose their spot on the team.