Term 1 Week 6

Principal's Report

How quickly time flies! We're already more than half way through term 1. While out and about before and after school it’s wonderful to hear the conversations between our students and their parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, about what their day has been like at school. At times I hear the frustration in the adult’s voice when the child responds with 'nothing'! Well of course we know they did something. Sometimes they have done so much and the day seems so long or they are simply tired after their day at school, it’s easy for them to say nothing. How, with a focused question about their day, it’s amazing what you can uncover. Below are some suggestions of questions to replace ‘how was school today?’

How and when we ask these questions makes a big difference in the information we receive from our kids. First, you don’t want to ask all of these questions on the same day. You might ask one or two. After a while, you’ll figure out which ones elicit the most meaningful responses. You’ll want to ask during a time when you have the ability to focus so that your child feels they have your full attention.

1. Tell me about a moment today when you felt excited about what you were learning.
2. Tell me about a moment in class when you felt confused.
3. Think about what you learned and did in school today. What’s something you’d like to know more about? What’s a question you have that came from your learning today?
4. Were there times today when you felt that one of your classmates demonstrated care for you?
5. Were there any moments today when you felt proud of yourself?
6. Tell me about a conversation you had with a classmate or friend that you enjoyed?
7. What do you appreciate about your day?
8. What did you learn about yourself today? 
9. Is there anything that you’d like to talk about that I might be able to help you figure out?
10. What are you looking forward to tomorrow?

Student Investiture

It was an extra special parade on Friday last week where 44 student leaders were inducted for 2023. It was wonderful to welcome so many family and friends who joined us to watch the students receive their badges. I give thanks to special guests MP Dan Purdie, Councillor Maria Suarez and Coolum State High School's Deputy Principal, Mr Terry Proctor who gave their congratulations to the students.  I would also like to thank the P&C for providing a wonderful morning tea for the students and their families to enjoy.  

Student Investiture 2023

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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 3B

This term in English, we have been learning how to create a persuasive text. To make our writing more persuasive we can include persuasive devices to convince the audience of our opinion. Persuasive devices include rhetorical questions, emotive language, exaggeration, facts, and personal pronouns. Here are some examples:

Do animals eat people? Kaiya

I am so hungry I could eat Mount Everest. Bodhi

You must admit tennis is the best sport. Kerby

I am so hungry I could eat a school of sharks. Nate

Our class will be a mess if we don’t clean up now. Fox

Did you know that over 2000 turtles die every year? Tilly

Are you really going to eat healthy food when you could eat delicious chocolate? Eva

Did you know some wildlife is endangered? Immy

Over 1 million sea creatures die each year due to plastic. Santana

You will always have fun playing tennis. Ari

How would you feel if you were an animal attacked by a predator? Olive

Did you know the Easter Bunny brings chocolate? Mason

I am so hungry I could eat a whole cow by myself. Callan

I am so hungry I could eat a whale. Blake

You are one of my best friends you have to agree. Henry

Did you know everyone in the world has a birthday? Evie

Would you like to eat the exact same food every day? Aivrick

Do you like mouth-watering chocolate? Aria

Did you know that learning helps you with everything? Zarli

How would you feel if you cried every day? Caleb

Did you know Christmas is on the 25^th of December? Frankie

Did you know thousands of trees get cut down every year? Ruby

I am so hungry I could eat 300 burgers. Sunny

Kristy Broadley
Teacher of 3B

News from 4M

Wow! 4M is having a very busy start to the year! This term we have started our swimming lessons and we have Year 4 Camp happening in Week 8! We have our parade item in Week 9! Last week our artwork was displayed in the foyer and this week we have this item in the newsletter!

In amongst all of the extra things that we are doing, we have found time to work on our writing. We have examined our goals for writing a narrative text and have received feedback from our peers and from Ms Morris to try to improve our writing. Our main goal is to included descriptive language features and dialogue. Soon we will be ready to write our new chapter for The Twits.

4M has also found time to explore our skills and interact with each other during our Maths Groups. 4M is fun! As you can see, we have been working very hard during Term 1!

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Laura Morris
Teacher of 4M

Japanese Word of the Week

はい (hai) : Yes

いいえ(iie) : No

Use “hai” as a positive/affirmative response in conversation. To deny or negate, say “iie,” or “no.”

Brad Yaxley
Japanese Teacher

Coolum AllStarz Dance Team 2023

After a lengthy audition process, our final team of 25 dancers have been selected for the Coolum AllStarz Dance team of 2023.  Well done to all of those students who tried out – it certainly was a tricky process to narrow it down to just 25. 

Congratulations to Bonnie, Lani, Zoe, Angeline, Otila, Annabelle, Scarlett, Alice, Indi, Caitlyn, Charlie Co, Macy, Jaycee, Willow, Violet, Charlie Ca, Milla, Lara, Asher, Isabel, Tegan, Maya, Indiana, Mikayla and Anika. 

Over 125 auditioned and a huge thank you to the judges – Mrs Mackay, Mrs Nix, Mr Moody and Miss Storm for making the job much easier for Miss Bollard.  Your time and effort has been much appreciated.

Congratulations to our Co-Captains for 2023: Anika and Milla. 

Well done, girls! Looking forward to another exciting, fun and successful year. Go Coolum AllStarz!!

Sam Bollard
Coolum AllStarz Coach

Sport News

Huge congratulations to the following students who have been selected to play for the Noosa District team in their specialist sport:

Boys Touch 

Jonty, Jyda and Christian

Girls Touch 

Zoe, Angeline, Bonnie and Willow

Girls AFL 

Bonnie, Macy, Maya, Sophie and Matilda

Boys Basketball 

Fletcher, Ben, Finn, and Jonty

Swimming 

Ryder, Alice and Sophie

This is such an awesome achievement. We wish you all a fun and successful year representing your district!

Ben Moody
PE Teacher 

STEM Makerspace

Our STEM room provides a broad range of equipment ranging from iPads and robots to a variety of materials and tools to support the technology learning area.

The latest area is our makerspace. A makerspace provides a specialised collaborative work space with equipment to support creative activities including our Design and Technologies tasks, woodworking as well as art and craft projects. It is available to students in all year levels as part of our STEM initiative and includes our 3D printer. In addition, our makerspace is used for student led projects at lunchtimes. Mr. Russell also leads a woodworking group on Thursdays.

This fantastic resource is possible thanks to our P&C Enterprise Fund. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our dedicated P&C Association for all the work they do helping to provide the best resources for our students at Coolum.

Andrew Grummitt
STEM Teacher

Watch out! Earthquake hits Coolum State School!

Well… a very small, pretend one anyway. As a part of our current Science unit on 'Natural Disasters', Year 6 have been investigating the effects of earthquakes and testing engineering solutions in order to earthquake-proof a building. This would not be possible without the generous assistance of Coolum State High School's Science Department. Thanks also to Head of Department, Paul Olsen, who organised everything and Josh Moores, the genius and chief engineer, who built our “Shaky Table” earthquake.

P&C Annual General Meeting

The Coolum State School P&C Association AGM will be held on Wednesday 22 March 2023 at 6.30pm in the P&C Centre. We also welcome your attendance on Zoom, from the comfort of your own home - notify your online attendance by emailing: pandc@coolumss.eq.edu.au by noon March 22 and we'll send you the link. 

Look out for our info tent on all things P&C, outside Parade on Friday 17 March. 

Denise French

P&C Manager

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 and submit reasons for absences.

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!

1. Do you live close to school?
2. Do your children have a bike or scooter?
3. 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