Term 1 Week 2 2023
Principal's Report
Welcome back to the new school year. We have had a fantastic start this year with 1010 students looking splendid in their uniform and getting back into their learning from day 1. A special welcome to the new families to our wonderful community. We also welcome some new staff to our school, Mrs Pelling is acting Deputy Principal while Mrs Sharry is on leave, Mrs McGrane and Mrs Lucas to prep, Mrs Fisher to year 4 and Mrs Tinkler to year 5.
While many of you will have a had a chance to meet your child’s teacher already, next week’s parent information sessions provides an opportunity to hear more from your child’s teacher about what they will be learning this term and how the classroom operates. There are many events planned for the term such as swimming for years 2 and 4, leaders investiture, year 4,5 and 6 camps, NAPLAN, cross country, dress up days and the school disco. We have many ways to keep you updated on upcoming events such as the newsletter, Facebook, notes delivered by students and emails. Please ensure your details are up to date so you can plan for these events.
Talking to your child about school
While wandering around the school at the end of the day it’s wonderful to hear parents, grandparents and caregivers enquiring about their child’s day at school. ‘What happened at school?’ ‘Nothing!’ Does this sound familiar? We are now 2 weeks into school, you know that your child has had a full and engaging day at school; involved in many activities, experiences and social interactions. Often children feel that their school experiences are not important or interesting. Parents, on the other hand, do genuinely want to know how their school day was. This can result in a sort of cat-and-mouse game; the parent probes, the child evades, the parent asks again, the child evades again, and so on. Usually, it is the parent who gives up first. Most children can be exhausted after a long day at school and discussing their day is the last thing on their mind. When they get home, they generally need a healthy snack and some ‘tune out’ time before they are ready to share some of their day with you. I’ve listed below some of the strategies that families can use when asking the ‘What happened at school?’ question.
- Create a family ritual in which everyone shares something about their day at dinner. Start by talking about your day. Make sure that everyone has a chance to talk, but also has the option of ‘passing’ if they don't feel like contributing.
- Rather than posing a general question, ask about a specific event or class. For example, ‘How was parade?’ or ‘What did your class do in English today?’ Try to phrase your questions to invite answers that are longer than ‘yes’, ’no’ or ’okay’. Questions that begin with ‘What did you do in ...?’ are often better for this purpose than ones that start ’How was ...?’ or ’Did you ...?’
- When your child does respond, give them your full attention. Let them know that you're listening by asking clarifying questions, such as ‘Do you mean that….?’ or ‘Let me make sure I understand…’
- Keep open channels of communication with your child's teacher. Teachers who know that you are interested and friendly are usually glad to keep you abreast of what's going on. While this helps you to understand what is happening in your child’s class each day you can also seek further clarification of your child’s responses if needed.
- Respect your child's privacy, but let them know that you are available whenever they feel like sharing their thoughts. When children don’t feel they are being continually ‘forced’ to talk about their whole day, they will often willingly recall special parts of their day.
Anthony Ryan
Principal
2023 Student Resource Scheme
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 for full details of SRS scheme. If you have not already completed the documentation sent home please do so asap and return it to the Administration Office. Should you require a further copy of the documentation, it is below for you to print, or collect a hard copy from the Administration Office.
Payment is now overdue. If you have not yet paid, we look forward to receiving it.
Rebecca Hann
Business Manager
News from Prep C
What a great start to school Prep C have had! The students have been busy exploring their new environment and learning all about Coolum State School. In the classroom, they have been painting, drawing, building, doing puzzles, listening to stories, exploring the Smartboard, and getting to know each other. During outside play, they have been completing the obstacle course, practicing the monkey bars, swinging, engaging in sand and water play, bike riding, and dressing up. We went to our first PE and Health lessons; we visited the library and we went to our first Parade. The students in Prep C have shared their ideas about what they might learn in Prep or what they have enjoyed doing so far.
Louis – I will learn about letters and numbers.
Hendrix – I will probably learn about animals and building.
James – I might learn about going to the moon.
Kiki – I love drawing.
Elkie – I’ll learn how to make beautiful pictures.
Remi – I might learn about doing stuff like reading books.
Angus M – I’d like to learn to write my name.
Frankie – I will play with playdough.
Luna – I might learn how to make slime.
Student – I love drawing.
Noah – I want to learn how to play with people and make new friends.
Indigo – I think I will learn letters, not numbers.
Jack – I will learn how to use the Bee-Bots.
Hugo – I might learn 4 + 4.
Sailor – I like playing on the playground.
Leon – I just like painting.
Angus G – I will learn 2 + 2 and 2 + 1
Archie - I will learn about poisonous creatures.
Zara C – I like listening to stories and drawing pictures.
Indie – I will learn some numbers and I want to learn to sing.
Zara R – I like reading stories.
Bodhi – I want to learn about numbers.
Prep C photos
Lisa Calder
Teacher of PRC
News from 1W
1W have had an absolutely wonderful start to the year. Beau, Isla, Luna and Zoe were all a bit nervous on the first day. Edward, Sage and Sienna were excited to begin year one. Jonah was frustrated that his teacher’s smartboard took so long to load. Luckily Archie, Selena, Archer, Django, Lilly and Zaid like their teacher. Zoe K, Wade, Lakey, Kali and Felix think school is great. Malia said she was happy at school, and Madison said that her favourite thing she’d done on the first day was learning.
When asked what they wanted to learn this year I got some very interesting answers. Sienna wants to learn how to count to 928. Not to be outdone, Kaiden wants to learn how to count to 1000. Hugo and Jonah want to learn to count to 100, which is exactly what we’ll do this year. Isla wants to learn about animals, Archie wants to learn about reptiles and Archer is keen to know more about dinosaurs. We’ll definitely cover two out of those three topics.
It looks like an exciting year ahead in 1W with lots of learning to come!
Judy Williams
Teacher of 1W
Japanese Word of the Week
おはようございます (ohayou-gozaimasu) : Good morning
こんにちは (kon’nichiwa) : Hello (during daytime only)
こんばんは (konbanwa) : Good evening/hello (during evening/night)
In Japan, the words used in greeting vary depending on the time of day: morning, noon/daytime, and evening/night. In the mornings, say “Ohayou-gozaimasu” (lit. ‘Good morning), during the day say “Kon’nichiwa,” and in the evening/at night, “Konbanwa” (lit. ‘Good evening’).
Brad Yaxley
Japanese Teacher
Sunshine Motorway, Pacific Paradise to Coolum, duplication planning
The Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) is inviting feedback on future plans for the Sunshine Motorway between David Low Way interchange at Pacific Paradise to north of Yandina-Coolum Road.
Planning for the 10 kilometre motorway link includes doubling the motorway's capacity from two to four lanes, to improve safety, reduce congestion and improve efficiency.
Considering feedback received from initial community consultation carried out in late 2021, TMR has developed a preferred option for the project which includes the following key features:
- increased motorway capacity from two to four lanes
- upgrade the Yandina-Coolum Road roundabout to a grade separated interchange
- provision for south-facing ramps at West Coolum Road
- signalisation of Yandina-Coolum Road, School Road and South Coolum Road intersection with pedestrian crossings
- new active transport pathway adjacent to the Sunshine Motorway
- realignment of Yandina-Coolum Road, west of the motorway
- Smart Motorways infrastructure, including Variable Speed Limit Signs and CCTV cameras
- fauna fencing to provide greater protection for wildlife
- culvert and drainage improvements to improve flood immunity in low-lying areas
- additional water quality treatment devices to reduce impact on Maroochy River health.
Have your say...
TMR is now seeking community feedback on the preferred option. This feedback will be used in future project planning and design stages when funding becomes available.
To view the preferred option and provide feedback via a short survey click the button below.
Consultation closes 26 February 2023.
Contact the project team
Phone: (07) 5451 7055 (Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5:00pm)
Email: NCR_Planning_Comms@tmr.qld.gov.au
Post: Department of Transport and Main Roads
PO Box 1600
Maroochydore Qld 4558
Ben Moody
PE Teacher
Job vacancies
We are looking for School Crossing Supervisors and cleaners. Please see below for details of how to apply for these positions:
Cleaners wanted
Casual relief cleaners required. If you'd like to join our wonderful school community on a casual basis and help keep our learning environment, clean, safe and inviting please see Rebecca in the office or email bsm@coolumss.eq.edu.au for details. Experience and blue card preferred but not essential.
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
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