Term 2 Week 2

Principal's Report

I often have cause to be proud of our students yet this week they have made me exceptionally proud of the way they have conducted themselves at the ANZAC Day services both at the RSL and at school. 

Over 40 of our senior students represented our school at yesterday's ANZAC Day Dawn Service at the Coolum-Peregian RSL delivering incredible musical performances. I, as well as the whole school community is enormously proud of all of these students who represented our school with such pride and respect. I know that Peter Lloyd, President of Coolum-Peregian RSL, was very touched by all of their perfomances. 

We held our own ANZAC Day services at school today joined by Peter Lloyd as a special guest. The service is longer than the usual school parade with a lot of standing and listening.  All of our students showed exemplary behaviour displaying so much respect for the occasion.

I would like to give thanks to Mrs Mackay and Miss Gayel for all of their hard work in preparing our students for these events. 

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Anthony Ryan
Principal

School of the Year Competition!

91.1 HOT FM are running a great competition with $10K up for grabs to spend on goodies for the students.

Please make a vote EVERY DAY until the competition closes on Friday 3 May.

The school with the most votes wins. Our Coolum community is amazing. Everyone can join in and vote. Let's make Coolum State School the School of the Year!!!!

Click here:

https://www.hot91.com.au/win/91-1-hot-fms-10000-school-of-the-year/#enter-now

or use the QR code below to make your vote every day!!

Dig into Reading

Keep your eyes glued to the newsletter for our regular Dig Into Reading articles to find out how children learn to read and how to support your child’s reading development.

Learning to read is a process that needs step-by-step teaching and plenty of practise at school and at home. Unlike walking or talking, reading is not a skill that we learn naturally — everyone needs to be taught how to read.

Reading requires two very important skills:

• decoding (reading) the words on the page
• making meaning from the words, sentences and paragraphs that are read.

For children to learn how to decode words, they need to understand how sounds and letters link together. They are taught that:

• words can be broken up into sounds (the word ‘cat’ is made up of 3 sounds: c-a-t)
• sounds can be blended to form words (the sounds c-a-t blended, forms the word ‘cat’)
• the sounds in words can be represented by letters or groups of letters.

Cross Country News

Last week we held our annual Cross Country and Fun Run.

It was fantastic to see the oval awash with colour and parent supporters.  Whether students were running for fun with their mates, points for their team, for physical fitness or to make the school team to attend the Noosa District trial, it was awesome to see so many students out on the oval enjoying the event.

We would like to congratulate the 36 students who will represent us next Friday 3 May at Noosaville State School and we wish them well.

I would also like to thank our wonderful staff for getting involved and making it a great day for our students.

Congratulations also goes to Ninderry who were crowned 2024 house champions.

Age Champions were:

Ben Moody
PE Teacher

Soccer News - A Great Day Out!

Last week around 80 Coolum students from years 4 to 6 attended Maroochydore Football fields for an inter school tournament.

Both our skilled boys and girls were eager for their games.  It was wonderful to see that all our students worked together to form teams, often at the last minute and gave every game their all. Whilst there were some wins, when there were losses there were still plenty of smiles throughout the day, and lots of fun and comradery amongst the students.

A thank you goes to Zac and Tim who came along to help us coach the teams, seven in all! At the end of the day our enthusiastic senior girls made it through to the finals. After a very close game they lost 1 – 0, an excellent achievement.

Let’s Go Plastic Free!

This term our Environmental Team have decided their focus will be on reducing the amount of plastic waste we create in school. They want to set everyone a challenge to reduce the amount of single use plastic they bring to school in their lunchboxes.

On Tuesday 14 May, week 5, we are asking all our students to make a big effort to bring only items that are unpackaged, or packaged using re-useable containers, in their lunchboxes and join us in ‘Plastic Free Tuesday’.  Each class will be asked to show their teacher their lunchbox to establish which class is our ‘Plastic Free Tuesday Champion’.

A quick survey will be carried out by teachers before morning tea on Tuesday. Students will be scored out of 2. Full marks for those who have no single use plastic. One point if your lunch box mostly contains re-useable items, but maybe you have one or two single use e.g. muesli bar or yoghurt sachet but no more! Zero points if your lunchbox contains mainly single use plastics. Teachers will then give their score sheets to our Environmental Team representatives who will collate the scores and choose our Senior and Junior Class of the week to announce on parade.

We have been fortunate to have been provided with two trophies, created by our own fabulous sculptress, Indigo, 6G. These will be awarded on parade on Friday May 17 and then again in Term 3.  We are hoping by Term 4 to make this a weekly award and for ‘Plastic Free Tuesday’ to become a habit for our students.

So, what does a plastic free lunch box look like?  Here are some photographs taken this week from some of our amazing students. Can you see which students are already on board with reducing plastics and which ones are working towards this goal?

Watch out for the next newsletter, and our parade items, where our team will share tips and tricks on how you can achieve a perfect lunch box.

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Coolum AllStarz News

The Coolum AllStarz have been training super hard in preparation for their first competition which will be held this weekend at St Teresa’s Catholic College in Noosa. 

With over 150 students showing interest in February and 94 trying out for just 24 positions, the final team were selected over a series of weeks.  Thanks to our wonderful judges who helped with the audition process:  Mrs Mackay, Mr Moody, Mrs Nix.

Congratulations to the following team members:

Marli 4A, Edie 4B, Ruby 4F, Ava 4P, Arlo 5P, Mikayla 5P, Madison 5T, Pearl 5T, Tegan 5T, Sophie 5W, Caitlyn 6D, Delilah 6D, Eadie 6D, Indiana 6D, Milly 6D, Alice 6G, Charlie 6G, Khaleesi 6G, Abby 6Q, Alice 6Q, Charlie 6Q, Indi 6Q, Lani 6Q, Maya 6Q.

Led by Co-captains Indi and Lani, the AllStarz team for 2024 proudly performed two routines on both our Senior and Junior parades on Friday-their Jazz and Lyrical dances.  They did an amazing job for their first performance in front of an audience.  We wish them all the very best on Saturday as they compete in POM, Jazz, Lyrical, Hip Hop and Contemporary.

Gooooo Coolum AllStarz!

Year 1 Master Chef

Last Friday, the Year One students participated in our annual Master Chef cook off challenge! The contestants included Mr Ryan, Mr Prokopuk, Mr O’Brien and Mr Stanieg.

The students were asked to be the judges and vote for the best and most creative birthday cake made by the contestants. Mr P was the winner with his amazing version of a bike track cake that included a bridge, marshmallow cushioning for protection and a pool of water to cool off at the end of the track. It was a very exciting afternoon!

The students will use this experience to assist them with writing their own procedure on how to make a pizza.

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STEM News

STEM/Technology Units 

This term, students in Years 1,2 and 3 have been working towards their Technology focussed units in our STEM room. 

Year 1 students have been working in the Design Technologies area with our Food and Fibre unit where they are discovering about where and how food and fibre are produced. We have been planting basil in the school garden and will be using both modern and traditional food preparation methods to make pesto for our pizza later this term. 

Year 2 students have been engaging with moving objects. They will be investigating materials and their properties and use their understanding of forces and motion as they plan and produce their own toy for a Terrific Toy Expo at the end of term. 

Finally, our Year 3 students have been investigating Digital Systems like computers and other electronic devices to understand how they work and problems they solve. They are now learning about computational thinking and how they can use algorithms to represent a sequence of stepsand branching to code their own computer game. 

It has been fantastic to see the level of engagement in the classroom with students working toward these tasks. 

Cornelia Sutton
STEM Teacher

SafeST Meeting

The next SafeST meeting will take place on Tuesday 14 May at 1.45pm at Coolum State School.  This is the perfect platform to discuss any thoughts or concerns you may have around roads or parking. Everyone is welcome. 

News from 6Q

Greetings from 6Q!

The students have returned from the Easter break full of energy and enthusiasm for the upcoming term. The term has started with a bang with so many 6Q students involved in all of the extra-curriculur activities offered by Coolum State School. Our class is full of rock stars, Allstarz, swimming champions, soccer players and cross country representatives. All students involved in these activities deserve to be applauded for their effort and commitment to their chosen interests.

Another exciting event on the horizon is the first high school transition day for the graduating year 6 class of 2024. Next week the students will visit Coolum State High School to get their first taste of what life will be like when they head off to high school next year. Wish us luck!

We have a class motto in 6Q that we try to follow each and every day both in and out of the classroom. The motto is HARG. If you see a 6Q student, just ask them what it means, it might be something you would like to try as well!

Jason Quinn
Teacher

Building a national picture of child health

From May 2024, our school, along with thousands of others across the country, will participate in the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC).

The AEDC is a teacher-completed census (similar to a questionnaire) which provides a comprehensive picture of how children have developed by the time they start their first year of full-time school.

The AEDC is an Australian Government Initiative and is completed nationally every three years.
The data collected through the AEDC is used by schools, communities and governments to better understand children and families’ needs, and identify the services, resources and support they need.

AEDC data is reported at a school, community, state/territory and national level. AEDC results for individual children are not reported and the AEDC is not used as an individual diagnostic tool.

Some teachers have found that completing the AEDC made them more aware of the needs of individual children and their class, and that the data was useful for planning for transitions to Year 1 and developing programs.

Participation in the AEDC is voluntary, however the AEDC relies on all schools with children in their first year of full-time school participating in the collection. Parents/carers don’t need to take any action unless they choose not to include their children in the census.

To find out more about the AEDC and how it is being used to help children and families visit: www.aedc.gov.au.

Japanese Word of the Week

__ wa Doko Desu ka? (はどこですか) – Where is __?

Where is the __? This is useful even if you can’t understand the answer, because once you ask, people will be able to point you in the right direction, or even help you get to where you’re going!

In Japanese, it’s __ wa doko desu ka? (simply fill in the __ [blank] One key vocabulary word that often goes along with this phrase for travelers is eki, which means station (for example, Shinjuku eki is Shinjuku station).

Brad Yaxley
Japanese Teacher

P&C Mother's Day Stall

Come along and support our Mother's Day stall......

Dental Van News

The Dental Van is currently treating Year 1 at Coolum SS. If you would like your child to be seen, please return completed forms to the office. If you need a Medical History/Consent Form please visit the school van.

A Free Dental Check-up and subsequent dental treatment is now available to Year 6.

Medical History/Consent Forms have been issued to all classes in Year 6.

Please return the dental forms to the school office as soon as possible.

All other grades will be offered treatment throughout the rest of the school year.

For any enquiries, please contact the mobile dental van on 0418 889 478.

RideScore Active Schools

Register Now

Do you live close to school?

1. Does your child have a bike or scooter?
2. Would you like your child to get an active, healthy and fun start to the day?
3. Would you like a system that tells you automatically when they have arrived or left school?

If you answered YES to these questions, then RideScore is for you!

We are one of 11 Sunshine Coast schools that are enjoying RideScore Active Schools Program funded by councils Transport Levy.

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 will be open to students who are able to ride a bicycle or scooter to school.

Participating students receive a personal sensor (beacon) to attach to their bicycle or scooter. The school bicycle storage facility has a Bluetooth reader that detects the signal from the beacon and sends a notification to the nominated contact to inform them that the student has arrived at/or departed the school. 

Each trip is recorded by the RideScore app, providing incentives when the students reach their milestones. Earn great prizes:

• 20 Trips – Mystery prize
• 70 Trips – Movie ticket
• 120 Trips – Bli Bli Aqua Park voucher

Activities will be planned throughout the school year to promote and encourage riding and scooting, including fun events and bicycle skills classes for all year 4 students.

This program was developed in 2022 with a Federal grant funding from the Move it AUS program, with the support of Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) and Stockland.

How do I register?

Step 1 - Download the app (search ‘RideScore’), complete your registration details

Step 2 – Receive your sign on bag (posted within 1 week) that will include:

• Your child’s beacon & instructions on how to pair and fit
• A scorecard (your app will also keep a live score)

Step 3 – Start riding and scooting!

Visit the RideScore website for more information, great resources and safety tips.

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.

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 . 

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.