Term 4 Week 6 2022
Principal's Report
Can you believe we have only 4 weeks until the end of the year! I love this time of year when we get see the culmination of the work of our staff and students’ tireless efforts from throughout the year. Tuesday nights Music Showcase was tremendous having the opportunity to see our instrumental and choir students perform. Throughout the year these students have accomplished so much together and won many awards, however what I enjoyed most was seeing the joy on their faces as they played and sang for their family and friends. I think that’s better than any gold medal. Words move the mind but music moves the soul and for our music we have the four soul sisters Mrs Mackay, Mrs Russell, Miss Anderson and Mrs Guest to thank for these wonderful opportunities.
Next week is our Dance Extravaganza choregraphed by our own Ms Bollard. Don’t miss it!
SAFEST Update
Thank you to all of those involved in our SAFEST committee meetings. One task has been discussions with Sunshine Coast Council, Queensland Transport and Main Roads to discuss options for the Coolum Yandina Rd and School Road intersection. Below is an excerpt from a letter of thanks from our Local Member Mr Dan Purdie MP for the work you have all done on this.
The SafeST committee work also looks at options for safe active transport to and from school such as the ride smart program. We have many students and parents who ride motorised and non-motorised scooters and bikes to school. Please be aware of the new requirements the state government have brought in to ensure the safety of riders and pedestrians. One thing we could all get better at doing is wearing helmets. In the last few days we have had a number of students fall on their way to or from school while not wearing helmets and suffering significant injuries. Please take the safe options to wear a helmet and protect your head.
As we approach the end of the year, I just wanted to give everyone a quick update on the recent funding announcement to upgrade the roundabout on School Road.
Thanks to your ongoing support, along with the wider community and stakeholders including Coolum Business & Tourism, we’ve been able to secure $5million to upgrade the roundabout to improve safety, and bust congestion.
Public consultation on what the upgrade will look like will get underway in the new year. In the meantime, I would like to pass on my thanks to the P&C, the SafeST committee and the school community who have all played a role in helping us get to this point.
I’d also like to reassure you of my commitment to continue working together to ensure the best possible outcome of this $5 million investment.
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a safe, healthy and happy New Year.
See you in 2023!
Yours sincerely
Dan Purdie MP
Anthony Ryan
Principal
2023 Student Resource Scheme
This year, in 2022, Coolum State School successfully implemented its first year of a Student Resource Scheme (SRS). The scheme’s operation, resource inclusions and participation fees were approved by the school’s P&C Association at the initial meeting held on 25 May 2021. The 2023 contribution will remain at $100.00 per student for the year.
Benefits of SRS
- The purpose of the scheme is to provide the parent/carer with a cost-effective alternative to purchasing the prescribed textbooks and/or resources elsewhere, through reduced prices gained from the school’s bulk purchasing practices.
- The scheme also ensures that students have consistent personal resources for their education and saves the parent/carer time and money in sourcing the prescribed materials elsewhere.
- The scheme is not used to raise funds for other purposes, and revenue collected through the scheme is applied only to the operation of the scheme.
- The scheme ensures that students have the required resources for their education when they commence school.
Please see attached SRS Parent Information for more details and for frequently asked questions.
No payment is required until invoiced in January 2023.
Rebecca Hann
Business Manager
News from Prep R
Some friendly Dragon’s appeared in our classroom at the beginning of term. We had so many questions! We decided to write some letters to find out more about our visitors. Here are some of the questions from Prep R students.
Anna – We are Prep R. How did you get here? |
Finn – How do you just pop out? |
Selena – How did you get here? What were you looking for? |
Felix – Did you come from the dragon stick or did you come from greenscreen? |
Sage – I love you. |
Lara – Are you real or are you not? |
Kingston – I know you’re fake because you are greenscreen. |
Jackson – How much time will your friends be at our school? |
Lennox - Are you fake or not? Were you in our classroom? |
Carter – Where did you come from? Did you come from green screen or did you come from the dragon stick? |
Sequoia – Did you come out of the dragon stick? Thank you for showing your friend red dragon. |
Zoe – Are you real? Did you come out of the dragon stick? |
Jacob – Do you breathe fire? |
Ollie – Do you want to play? Where did you come from? |
Max – I love you. Are you real? |
Lilly – What is your name? and where do you live? Do you live in America or Australia? |
Jaxon – Are you real or greenscreen? Can you come to our class tomorrow? Can you come to my house? |
Chenxi – Come to our class tomorrow. We will have fun but I hope you don’t get our class on fire. I hope you get our letters |
Archie – I saw your friend, red dragon. |
Angus – Are you coming from Jupiter or are you going to the moon? I have heard the moon is made of cheese. |
Farrah – I love you. |
Django – How did you get into our class? |
Starssi – I hope you don’t come in my class because I don’t want you stealing. |
As well as writing letters we have had fun learning about green screen technology and have created an awesome parade performance for this Friday. Please come and see our amazing foyer display where you can read our letters.
That’s all folks, from the fabulous Prep R.
Storm Rickard
Teacher of Prep R
News from 3P
3P have been having an amazing 2022! Here are just a few of the highlights:
- 91.9 Sea FM visited our classroom and Maya won ‘Under the Pump Kids’. The whole class got to go to Aussie World!
- An excursion to Sea Life where we got to learn all about living and non-living things.
- Right now we are learning all about Fantastic Mr Fox and his adventures.
- Last term we learned all about Australia and created some amazing reports and displays about some of the features of Victoria.
- We wrote Fantasy Narratives that experienced an environmental disaster using characters we invented.
- NAPLAN!
- Term 4 Swimming
- Maths, Maths, Maths!
- So many stories shared about awesome family adventures – camping/fishing/hiking trips, travelling the world, visiting family, birthday parties, etc.
- We learned about spinning Earth, heat energy and matter in science.
- Our awesome parade performance last week. Here are some of our hilarious jokes:
Why did the cow cross the road? To get to the udder side.
Why did the other cow cross the road? To get to the mooooovies.
How do chickens bake a cake? From scratch!
Why did the farmer call his pig “Ink”? Because it was always running out of the pen.
How did the farmer fix a hole in his pants? With a cabbage patch.
Why did the farmer want to bury all of his money? To make the soil rich.
What do you call a pig that does karate? Pork chop!
Why was the artist taking a long time drawing a fox? Because he paid too much attention to de-tail.
Amanda Perina
Teacher of 3P
Chess News
Four weeks ago, the battle to become the Coolum State School Chess Champion for 2022 began. 16 willing participants put their hand into the ring to see if they could be master the board and be victorious. Our numbers dwindled until only Cayden, Riley, Cruz and Lachlan remained. Our semi-final round left Cayden and Cruz top of the table.
On 8 November, in front of an audience of 18 eager students, the boys entered into battle. It was very tense with a silent audience watching on with bated breath. There were several close calls but both boys held their nerve. After a thrilling game Cayden backed Cruz into a tight corner and Cruz had to concede defeat. A delighted Cayden was named the 2022 Coolum State School Chess Champion.
Thank you to everyone who participated it was wonderful to see so many people put themselves forwards. Our Chess Club will continue to meet in the LOTE room every Tuesday at 12.45pm until the end of term, all are welcome.
Judith Moore
Chess Club
Student of the Week
Other News and Information
Reporting your child's absence
If your child is absent from school it is important that you notify us as soon as possible. To report your child’s absence please either complete the short form available on the website at https://coolumss.eq.edu.au/our-school/absences or telephone us on 5471 9300.
Absences may be reported both on the webform and on the telephone in advance for planned absences.
We thank you for your assistance.
QParents
Did you know that the QParents portal is available for Coolum State School? QParents enables schools to offer parents secure access to information about their child. Parents can communicate directly with the school and update their child’s address and medical conditions, submit reasons for absences and make online payments for school invoices.
QParents is available to all families and not just our new families! If you would like to receive your unique invitation code and child's EQ ID please email us info@coolumss.eq.edu.au to request this.
Contact details
Have you changed your mobile number recently? Have you moved house?
It's important that we hold up to date contact details for you and your nominated emergency contacts. If you would like to update your details please pop in to the Administration Office or email us at info@coolumss.eq.edu.au .
RideScore Active Schools
REGISTER NOW!
- Do you live close to school?
- Do your children have a bike or scooter?
- Would you like peace of mind knowing your children have safely arrived at school?
If you answered YES to these questions, then RideScore is for you!
We are one of nine Sunshine Coast schools that have been invited to trial the RideScore Active Schools Program in 2022.
What is RideScore?
RideScore is an incentive-based program delivered by Sunshine Coast Council and We Ride Australia to increase active travel to and from school. The program is open to all students who ride a bike or scooter to school, as these can easily be fitted with beacons.
Participating students will receive a personal sensor (beacon) to attach to their bike or scooter. The school bike storage facility will be fitted with a Bluetooth reader that detects the signal from the beacon and sends a notification to the nominated contact that the student has arrived at or departed the school gate. Please note that the beacon is not a tracking device, it only records school arrivals and departures.
Data is collected by the online platform, enabling incentives to be offered at certain milestones.
Activities will also be planned throughout the school year to promote and encourage active travel, including cycling education classes for all Year 4 students.
How do I register?
Step 1 - Download the RideScore App (Search for ‘RideScore’ in the App Store or on Google Play)
Step 2 – Receive your sign on bag (will be distributed via the classrooms) that includes:
- Your child’s beacon & instructions on how to pair and fit
- Bike Lock
- Scorecard
- Road Safety Information
Step 3 – Start riding or scooting
Step 4 – Visit the RideScore website for great resources and safety tips
Newsletter Sponsors
