Term 4 Week 4

Principal's Report

Dear families

Carnival is here!!! What a truly amazing experience it has been to feel the buzz and hype this week as we prepare for the big event! Huge shout out to Denise French, Renee Proctor and Jacque Morden for their many hours of behind the scenes planning and organising. During the day on Friday we will have the rides and stalls arriving and will have modified access to the school and parking. Thank you for your patience with this. I can’t wait for all of the fun on the night!

This Friday 25 October is World Teachers’ Day. At Coolum State School, we have amazing, dedicated and caring teachers across our school. Teachers play such an important role in the lives of their students, often providing much more than just curriculum, teaching and learning. Teachers spend many many hours working on lessons and activities and plans to get the most out of their students. Thank you to all of our teachers, in the many and varied roles across the school. You really do change lives for the better! Let’s make sure that our teachers know how much they are appreciated this Friday!

At our parade last week, we had some guest speakers come and talk to students about road safety. Next week, the newly installed traffic lights will be commissioned and fully operational. It will be important that students and families use the lights crossings to safely cross the roads around our school. Drivers will also need to take care with these new road conditions. Thank you for your support with this and keeping our community safe.

Our planning and preparation for 2025 is well and truly underway this term. Last week our leadership team attended a regional strategic planning day, where we looked through school data, school opinion survey results and our current plans to map out and co-construct our school improvement agenda for next year. I am also mapping out staffing plans for next year, based on the numbers of students enrolled at our school. If you have intentions on leaving Coolum SS in 2025, can you please let our office know. Also, if you have a Prep aged student starting next year, please make sure that you have your enrolment paperwork completed and returned to Katie in our office. Our next Get Set for Prep day is coming up on Thursday 7 November and is another great opportunity for a successful transition into ‘big school’. At the other end of the continuum, our Year 6 students will have a ‘Q&A’ session with Year 11 student leaders from Coolum SHS visiting us on Thursday 14 November. Our students enrolled at Coolum SHS will then attend the high school on Thursday 26 November.

This week our Year 5 students interested in a Student Leadership role for 2025 (school captains and sports captains) received information about the application process.  I spoke to our Year 5 students at the beginning of this term about this process and what it means to be a student leader in our school. I look forward to looking through the applications in the coming weeks.

Finally, there has been some discussion around Week 11 of this term. I would like to confirm that at Coolum State School, it will just be an extra week in the term, and we will operate ‘business as usual’. There will still be some events planned in the last week of term like year level excursions and the Year 6 Graduation Ceremony. Our final Senior and Junior parades will be at the end of Week 9 (29 November) and our final Whole School Parade will take place at the end of Week 10 (6 December). Some wonderful community events to finish our year!

Shannyn

Shannyn Taylor
Principal

Toxic Plants

Recently we had an incident where a student swallowed toxic seeds from a vine on land adjacent to the school. The student was closely monitored by medical personnel and is now home safe with his loving family. A potentially serious incident was avoided due to some caring friends who reported this incident to a staff member. This incident highlighted the importance of education regarding toxic plants. Below is information regarding toxic plants outlined in the Queensland Poison Information Centre’s website.

Some common plants are dangerous for children. When touched or swallowed, they can be poisonous, cause allergic reactions or lead to physical injuries.

Poisonous or harmful plants can:

• grow in gardens or places where children play
• be used as decorations in the home
• produce fruit, berries or seeds that look edible to children
• have bright colours and patterns that attract children.

Plants may be poisonous or sharp to:

• protect themselves from predators
• spread seeds and reproduce
• adapt to different environments.

Symptoms of poisoning from plants can include:

• nausea and vomiting
• abdominal pain and cramps
• irregular or fast heartbeat
• burning or stinging in the mouth, lips or tongue
• fits or seizures
• difficulty breathing

Please take the time to discuss with your children.

For further information please visit Queensland Poison Information Centre at https://www.poisonsinfo.health.qld.gov.au/plants-and-mushrooms 

Coolum Carnival -Friday 25 October!

The biggest and best evening of the year is almost here! Join us tomorrow, Friday 25 October for so much fun for the whole family. There is something for everyone! We look forward to welcoming you from 3.30pm onwards. 

Armbands and ride tickets purchased prior to the carnival will be distributed to students during school time on Friday. Younger and older siblings who are not enrolled at our school will be able to pick up their pre-purchased armbands and/or tickets from 3:30pm at the ride ticket booth on the oval.

Reminder that 'Cash is King'! Come prepared so you can get straight into the fun!

Dig Into Reading

Welcome back to the regular Dig Into Reading articles.  This week we encourage Prep to Year 2 parents and carers to watch the DoE and P&C Qld Twilight Reading Session via the link below. 

Click here to access the Department of Education and P&Cs Qld Twilight reading session for parents and carers. The session provides information on Queensland’s Reading Commitment and how to support your child’s reading at home. Click here for a fridge poster outlining ways to support your beginning reader.

News from 2A

This term, Year 2 are learning about how Earth's resources are used and the importance of conserving resources for the future of all living things. Students are also learning how to write and deliver a persuasive presentation.

We hope that our ideas (below) will persuade our school community to make little changes that collectively, will make a big difference to our planet.

Angela De Paula Assis (Mrs D)
Teacher of 2A

News from 5T

We have had such a great year, jammed packed with so many fun and interesting adventures and learning experiences. School Camp, Gold Rush Museum, Star Lab, Colour run and a school disco just to name a few!

During week 1 this term we got the opportunity to participate in a leadership program called UPP (Unleash Your Personal Potential) which included goal-setting, wellbeing, growth mindset and more! Such a great time of year to build on these skills as we prepare to be the leaders of our beautiful school. The students were able to learn new strategies in engaging, relevant, challenging, practical and inspiring ways.

Here’s some of their thoughts about their favourite things:

Harry  – I enjoyed doing the cup stacking.

Jordy – I liked the marble game because you had to run around each other and try and make it in time.

Ricky – I liked when we did the keep the ball in the air game because I could kick the ball.

Austin – It was interesting when we did the tennis ball get in the bucket.

Liam – I liked the part where we had to roll the marble down the pipes.

Harry  – I liked the fun games like the knee game and the big ball games.

Madi – In the UPP program my favourite thing was when we got with a random person and went over to the try balance a stick on our fingers, the goal was to get it down to our shins without dropping it or grabbing it. We did it 2 times.

Jack – I lived playing all the activities like the puzzles, blind cup stacking and all the other activities, it was also fun when we met a new friend and did activities with them.

Kenzie – My favourite thing about the UPP program was meeting new people and playing the games especially the pipe and marble because we all worked together as a team.

Jaxon – I enjoy playing games and having fun with friends.

Adam – I liked the UPP program because of all the activities.

Sky – Meeting new people and getting to know their personality. I also like Pete (the male teacher) because he was funny and kept us entertained.

Ivy – I liked when we played the games and when we had to work as a team!

Skylah – I liked doing the amazing race with my friends.

Winter – My favourite thing at the UPP program was making new friends and playing fun games with people I don’t know.

Pearl – I liked the knee game at the start.

Seb – I liked doing c cool handshake with Pete on the stage.

Makyla – My favourite thing was having to communicate and work with each other to finish the games like having to throw the ball and keep it up 25 times.

Tate – I really liked the frisbee throwing.

Will – Doing the amazing race with my group.

Taeyah – I liked when we played the knee game where we had to get points by tapping the knees of our partner, although it was a challenge it was fun.

Lara – In the UPP program we attended I enjoyed the game when we had to keep hitting the ball up and not hitting the floor even though we weren’t that good, I still enjoyed it.

Willow – I didn’t get to attend the UPP program but I enjoyed the Gold Rush excursion in Term 3. I liked learning about the olden days and panning for gold.

Alix Tinkler
Teacher of 5T

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Premier's Reading Challenge

2024 Reading Challenge Winners

A massive congratulations to all the students who took part in this year’s 2024 Premier’s Reading Challenge! We saw an incredible surge in participation, with many students going above and beyond by completing more than one reading record – how brilliant is that?

Now, it’s time to announce our superstar readers who claimed the top prizes for Coolum State School! Drumroll, please… 🥁

The students loved receiving their extra special certificate and QBD book vouchers. 1F celebrated with a yummy ice cream party. 

In 2023, our school read an impressive 7,672 books, but this year, we smashed that record, reading a whopping 9,937 books! We were so close to the big 10,000 mark, and with your enthusiasm, I’m confident we’ll hit it in 2025!

Every student who joined in the fun should have received their special certificate from the Queensland Premier. If your child is still waiting on theirs, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at sgers8@eq.edu.au and I’ll get it sorted for you.

Let’s keep up the amazing reading and aim even higher next year!

Susan Gers
Teacher and Premier's Reading Challenge Extraordinaire 

Rock Band Tour

Last Friday our amazing Year 6 Rock Stars and Vocal Rock Singers ventured off on our annual Coolum Primary Rocks Tour! The tour van was packed full of equipment and the bus was packed full of highly energised rock stars ready to rock!! 'Rock Shock', 'Undecided' and 'Vibing Vocals' were on tour! 

First stop was Palmwoods State School where songs such "I Love Rock n Roll" and "Rockin' All Over the World" got the audience up and dancing on their feet very quickly! Next stop was Woombye State School where the audience sure knew these rock stars were "Born to be Wild" and the audience once again gave everyone a big "Roar"!!! Both schools we visited were amazed and impressed by the talent of these year 6 students, and were so appreciative that we took the time to put on a rock concert for them.

It was an unbelievably rockin' day and there are new parts on the Sunny Coast that now definitely know that Coolum Primary Rocks! Well done to each and every one of our singers, guitarists, bass players, keyboardists and drummers, and massive thank you to Mr Welch, Mr Joe, Miss Sarah, Mrs Mackay and our sensational work experience rock band guru Ky, for being the best roadies any rock band could ask for! 

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Japanese Culture Festival

Rising Up

‘Rising Up’ was made by two young Australians, Kal Glanznig and Joel Bryant in partnership with Take 3 for the Sea to give Australians of all ages hope in the future and this week Kal visited our Year 6 students to answer their questions.

In a world dealing with a changing climate and a degrading ocean, particularly impacting young people, 23-year-old young Australian changemaker and Take 3 For the Sea ambassador Kal Glanznig goes on a journey across the world to uncover the untold stories of hope and solutions to the climate and ocean plastic crisis. With a strong optimistic outlook, he aims to inspire and empower the youth of today by showing them how they can rise up, conquer their internal doubts and take action to make a difference. Our year 6 students watched the documentary as part of their STEM unit investigating ‘fast fashion’ and upcycling and then were able to spend the afternoon quizzing Kal on his life.

Kal answered questions from our students: -

• How can people help? Year 6 are leaders and opportunities to make a change.  Start small picking up plastic and encourage others to help and things will build from there. 
• Why are there so many plastic bottles in Samoa? Coke changed from glass to plastic but they had no recycling plant in Samoa so people just dropped them. 
• What's the future for plastic? It's up to all of us, we have the power to decide to reduce plastic. 
• If you had a magic wand, what would you do? If I had a magic wand, I would get every young Australian to do one thing. Maybe they picked up one piece of plastic, hold one conversation about changing habits for the better, or pass their old clothes on to others, mine all go to my little brother.
• Why do you travel around? I just want to help people work out what we can we do improve things and look at how I can help and inspire people to get involved. We need to stay optimistic; we can make a difference. Don't be negative, stay positive and share this message with parents and the community so that we can get our message across.

Recent studies have shown that climate change stresses over 2/3 of young Australians and negatively impacts their mental health. Kal believes it is a journey to make and find solutions but we can all do it, rise up! Through this journey their team has discovered hope and is going around the nation to engage with the youth to share their message. Hopefully we inspired some more students to make a difference today.

Environmental News

Next week we will be running our Plastic Free Tuesday Competition between our classes to see which class has the least single use plastic in their lunch boxes. At Coolum we believe every day should be plastic free and our Environmental Team are working hard to spread that message.

Hopefully you can help us to reduce plastic waste on this planet.

Friday is our fabulous Coolum Carnival. Please remember, as you are walking around the various stall, to pick up any rubbish you see and pop it into our bins.  Our containers for change bins will also be in use.  These bins all have a round hole in the top and are ONLY for cans and bottles that are eligible for recycling through the 10c scheme.  All funds raise go to our P&C.  Please be mindful what you put in these bins as the 6Q Can’s Collection Team has to sort it all every Friday.

Thank you in advance to our Waste Warrior rubbish collectors for working extra hard next week to clean up our school.  We now have a junior team operating from the year 1 eating area, thank you to everyone getting involved.

Prep 2025 Enrolments

Prep 2025 enrolments are now open. Please collect an Enrolment Pack from the office. Our Enrolments Officer Katie will be happy to assist you with any questions or queries that you may have.

Japanese Word of the Week

Gohobi (   ) = A small reward for working hard

Gohobi is often used by parents and teachers for rewarding children who have worked hard. Similarly, it is also used in the same way as “ I got little something for you”.

Brad Yaxley
Japanese Teacher

Other News

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.