Term 3 Week 6

Principal's Report

What a wonderful day we had on Wednesday going green and gold for our wonderful Matilda’s. This wonderful team have galvanised a country in a competition that only few have done before. Is it because they did what we didn’t expect, was it because it was in our back yard or was it because they are a female sporting team often overshadowed by male sporting teams? I’m sure we all have our own reason for getting behind them. For me it was about showing that any team is greater than a single person. We knew Sam Kerr now we know members of the whole team. The fact that they all had a part to play and did their all to work together despite the obstacles pre and during the competition, for me, outshine it all. While Wednesday night’s result didn’t go our way, every Matilda gave their all and even better than that, they were gracious in defeat and have inspired a country to watch a little closer.

Next week is Book Week, one of my most favourite weeks. We get to celebrate books and reading. Reading is the single most important skill we can learn that improves opportunities in our life. Books give us not just opportunities to learn to read but also reflect on the messages within. Have you read The Paper Bag Princess? A great tale of looking beyond the clothes we wear or belongings we have but instead look at the person we are inside. The book Matilda has some great quotes which I’m sure you’ll agree could also be attributed to our Matilda’s:

• 'Somewhere inside all of us is the power to change the world.'
• 'If you are good, life is good.'
• 'Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.'
• 'Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be outrageous.'

At the end of the day, what is the biggest lesson this week and the Matilda’s provide us? Be inspired to do better, be better and celebrate the growth and accomplishments and not the medals. The medals and prizes will come and go but the feeling of doing and being your best will live with you forever.

Anthony Ryan
Principal

Book Week

Next week is the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book Week. This is a week where authors and illustrators around the country are acknowledged and awarded for their work in children’s literature. We will be holding our annual dress up as your favourite book character day on Friday next week, 25 August.

The theme for this year is ‘Read, grow and inspire’ and we encourage all students to read books to grow and inspire their imagination and learning.

Also, as a part of our dress up day next Friday we will be celebrating our Story Dogs program and encourage you to bring a gold coin donation to help support this program. Story Dogs is a fun, unique and exciting program in our school and is built around the appealing idea of children reading to dogs.

The benefits for our school and students include:

• Free reading support for our students.
• Selected Year 2 students receive one on one time, approximately 20 minutes per week, to read with an accredited Dog Team (The dog handler and the dog).
• Fun interesting books are chosen to suit the student’s reading level.
• During the session the handler often speaks through the dog, such as, “Polley doesn’t understand what is happening on this page, could you help her out?” The student becomes the teacher as they help the dog understand, and their confidence soars.
• It makes reading fun for our students so they become confident, lifelong readers.

Renee Proctor
Pedagogy Lead Teacher

Paint the Town Read

On Wednesday 23 August 2023, Coolum State School will 'Paint the Town REaD' as Book Week is released from the classroom and into the community to highlight the importance of reading.  Nearly 500 Prep to Year 2 students will migrate to the town centre, visiting over 20 local businesses who will share a love of reading with our students.  Reading is not just something parents and teachers do…reading is everywhere! 

After visiting businesses, students will congregate for a celebration in Lions Norrie Job Park. Woolworths and Coles have generously donated all of the food and aswell as teams of staff who will work alongside the Salvation Army to provide a wonderful feast for us all to enjoy.  Students will be delighted to round off their day with a Larrikin Puppets Story Time Puppet Show, disco and a receive a book bag gifted by MP Dan Purdie.

This wonderful event brings our whole community together and every business is thrilled to play a part.  Together, we foster a love of reading for every child in our community.  

Huge thanks to all of the local businesses who, without which, this wonderful event would not be possible. 

Sunshine Coast Junior Speech & Drama Eisteddfod

Last week students from Grades 5 and Grade 6, performed in the Sunshine Coast Junior Speech and Drama Eisteddfod at Buderim.

They competed against 40 other drama students from all over the Sunshine Coast. For many it was their first real performance experience. They portrayed such a wonderful variety of characters from a Cheeky Chook to The Ugly Stepsisters. The adjudicator was very impressed with the high standard of talent overall.  Mrs Warren did a fantastic job preparing her solo students and Mrs Nix was very proud of her Duos.

Thank you to our parents, who had to provide transport and gave moral support.

Congratulations once again to all of the students who participated in the Eisteddfod. Coolum State School definitely has talent! We can’t wait for next year!

Jo Nix and Lisa Warren

Science Spectacular with Dr Rob

Our annual ‘Science Spectacular’ was held recently to celebrate Science Week. This special event saw all students invited to engage in a range of amazing science experiments with Dr. Robert Bell (https://www.doctorrob.com.au).

‘Dr. Rob’ conducted various experiments tailored to each year level with the help of students. Throughout the day we saw gravity defying water, stuck books, disappearing cups, an amplified slinky, a singing chimney, balloons that didn’t pop, paper that wouldn’t burn, steel that did burn, magnets attracting and repelling, cans imploding, dry ice rockets firing, a fireball or two and elephant’s toothpaste (I didn’t even know they brushed!).

Thanks to Dr. Rob for such a fantastic day of science!

Andrew Grummitt
STEM Teacher

News from 2A

2A have been learning to write factual sentences about Australian animals this term, as a part of our ‘Writing informative texts’ unit. This past fortnight we have been using nouns and noun groups. Please take interest in these following interesting facts.

Dingoes have a short ginger coat with white paws. Dingos live on K’gari. Cooper B

Emus eat seeds and colourful fruits. All emus have long powerful legs and three toes. Ivy

Tasmanian Devils eat frogs, birds and fish. They are carnivores and eat nearly any type of food and reptiles. They have four legs and a tail. Skyla

Sharp spikey echidnas live up to 30 years. They are mammals. Jax

The dingo is dog like and has four legs, a bushy tail and a broad head. They have a ginger coat with white feet and short fur. Jakobi

Tasmanian devils live in Tasmania in a variety of habitats. Zoe

Sulphur crested cockatoos are very white and very skinny. They eat nuts, roots, seeds and berries. Caden

Fat wombats live in burrows and sometimes share the burrows with other wombats. Lennox

The sulphur crested cockatoo is 44-55 centimetres tall and has white feathers, a yellow crest and a large black bill. Miller

Chunky wombats live up to 15 years. They are marsupials and are warm blooded. That means wombats are mammals. Hermione

Large dangerous crocodiles are carnivores. Crocodiles eat fish, birds, mud crabs, snakes and turtles. They live in Australia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Jason

Tall feathery emus live between five to twenty years in age. All emus are large bright and beautiful animals. Jarrah

The heavy crocodile weighs 1000 kilograms. It is a reptile with sharp teeth. They are night hunters and live for 40-70 years. Lucas

Strong kangaroos have very sharp claws. Kangaroos have very fast powerful hind legs. Olly

Bilbies have large hairless ears. All bilbies have soft silky fur. Small bilbies have a light long tail. Charlotte

Kangaroos have big strong feet that they pound the ground with to warn other kangaroos. They live on flat open plains and grasslands. Ravi

The friendly kookaburra uses laughter to establish territory among family groups. Kookaburras live in urban areas such as parks and gardens. Ryder

The small furry bilby is a marsupial. That means they have pouches. It is a mammal, which means it has warm blood. Bilbies live between 6-10 years. Derek

Strong kangaroos have powerful hind legs. They live between 10 and 23 years. Cooper R

All emus have strong powerful legs with three toes. Elijah

Small furry bilbies eat seeds, grass, fruit, spiders, termites, lizards and larvae. Mabel

Echidnas are mammals that live around 30 years in forests. They have dense brown/black fur. They have sharp claws and spikes. Megha

Female kookaburras lay three eggs. Both the female and male sit on them. Kookaburras do not migrate. They have a large bill. Luna

Echidnas have white spines. Their length is 60-100 centimetres and they weigh 5-10 kilograms. Johnny

Large wombats live in deep burrows up to 30 metres long and several metres deep in Australia. Isobel

Dingos are canines and live on K’gari. They live in woodlands and grasslands. It’s not a friendly animal. Taya

Leigh Atkinson
Teacher of 2A

News from 4S

This term students in 4S have been learning to write a travel itinerary. In week one we wrote a practice piece about Coolum. Students brainstormed lots of ideas about what a family and adventurer visiting Coolum might do for entertainment and what local restaurants they might like to visit. Students showed lots of enjoyment writing this piece as they could showcase their local knowledge and expertise.

In the past few weeks we have been writing a similar piece but based on an unfamiliar destination, Thailand. Students have been really stepping up to this challenge. We watched lots of travel guide style videos and did lots of research in order to write our Thailand itinerary. Students have also been enjoying using atlases to assist with world mapping.

From this week onwards we move on to our destination for assessment. Children are able to pick between Hawaii or Paris for their assessment piece. Though they are two very different destinations, at this point students have quite clear ideas about which one they would most like to visit and write about.

We have also been learning about weathering and coastal erosion. This was enhanced by a visit from the Coastal Discovery Van in week 4. Students were able to witness simulated erosion using a wave tank and could then add features such as reefs and underwater vegetation in order to minimise the effects. They left with some very valuable knowledge about how to best protect the coastline of the many coastal villages around Australia.

It has been very pleasing to see students so engaged in their learning throughout the course of the term.

Steve Perry
Teacher of 4S

Japanese Word of the Week

いただきます(itadakimasu) : Phrase said before eating food

ごちそうさまでした (gochisosama deshita) : Phrase said after eating; also means “Thank you for the meal.”

In Japan, it is customary to say “Itadakimasu” before eating (literally, “I receive [the food]), and “Gochisosama deshita” (“Thank you for the meal”) when you are done eating. These both express gratitude to the people who prepared the meal, so please use to show your appreciation. It is also polite to say the expression “Gochisosama deshita” to the restaurants front staff before leaving.

Brad Yaxley
Japanese Teacher

Coolum's Got Talent

Does your child have a special talent that they'd be willing to showcase on stage at school??? If so, we want to hear from them!! 

Our exciting competition, led by Miss Sharise, takes place on Tuesday 12 September. So you have plenty of time to plan and prepare for your act. 

If your child has any questions they should see their class teacher or Miss Sharise.

We're looking forward to it already!

P&C News

Come and check out the leader board at PiCColo!

Cleaning Tender for Coolum OSHC

Coolum OSHC is cleaned five nights a week term-time and during school holidays, after 6pm. Insurance and Working with Children blue card mandatory. For further information, please contact: pandc@coolumss.eq.edu.au

Tenders close 31 August 2023.

Denise French
P&C Manager

Information from Coolum High School

Other News and Events...

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!

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