Term 4 Week 11

Principal's Report

Dear families,

Dear parents and caregivers,

Wow! It’s hard to believe that we are at the end of the school year already! My time here has flown by this year and it has been wonderful to get to know the Coolum community better. As we approach the end of this wonderful year, I want to express my gratitude for your support and dedication to our school. We have partnered together through a genuine investment in what is best for your children, and our students have continued to develop, have shown resilience, curiosity, and a love for learning.

I would like to sincerely thank our P&C executive team, members and volunteers. Coolum SS has a very proud community culture and this is led by our P&C. They have not only financially contributed significant resources going directly into student learning, but they connect our families to our school so that we can work together for our students. Working together does make a difference.  

During our recent P&C meeting, I shared our improvement plans for 2025:

We have already made great strides in both of these areas during this year months will be looking to embed our practices in curriculum next year and also review our current engagement and behaviour management systems to align and deliver the supports needed to our students.

Class construction is currently being finalised and we will have a review in the new year prior to school starting and class placements going out to families. This final check in the new year is to make sure that classes remain balanced after any changes that may occur over the holidays. I am working on a 41 class model again and am currently looking at our numbers daily to make sure that we have the configuration right. At this stage we will have the following sectors and Deputy Principal supervisions:

In the final weeks of school we elected our school captains and student leadership roles for 2025. Here are our student leaders for 2025:

As 2024 comes to a close, I wish you and your families a joyous holiday season and look forward to seeing you all in the new year!

Coolum Community Awards

Coolum Community Awards

At the end of each year, we look at the successes of our students and take time to celebrate those who have been successful within the school community and made an impact on the greater community. We celebrated this during our final parade by awarding an RSL bursary, a Saint Vincent de Paul bursary, and this year, we began the Shame Urban Community Award.

RSL Community Excellence Awards

RSL Community Excellence Awards

Each year the RSL present the “Coolum-Peregian RSL Student Excellence Awards” which is a community bursary that goes to our year six students. This year we were proud to be given two bursaries. These were presented by Mr Peter Lloyd, President of the Coolum-Peregian RSL Sub Branch to two year 6 students who have not only excelled within the school environment, but have also demonstrated outstanding connections to the wider community.

Our first recipient of the Student Excellence Award was Arwen Brown.

Arwen is a remarkable young achiever with a diverse range of talents and a strong commitment to environmental advocacy, the arts and her studies at Coolum State School. Last year, her talent in macro photography was recognized when she received a Highly Commended award for her stunning image of a spider in a beautifully intricate web. This year, Arwen's creative brilliance shone again when her artwork was selected as one of ten winners in the Fantastical Sharks and Rays competition. Her imaginative portrayal of an endangered ray won her category, and her design was recreated by a renowned artist and displayed at the Australian Museum.

Arwen's passion for environmental stewardship is evident through her involvement in the Sunshine Coast Council's Youth Leaders Program for Kids in Action and her active volunteer work with the Maroochy Wetlands Sanctuary in Bli Bli. She has played a vital role in maintaining the sanctuary's audio boards along the boardwalk, demonstrating her dedication to community and conservation. As a member of Coolum State School's Environmental Team, Arwen actively promotes the reduction of plastic use and inspires her peers to adopt sustainable practices.

In addition to her environmental contributions, Arwen is an accomplished performer and musician. She was a key member of the Coolum State School Musical cast, a dedicated participant in the Senior Voices choir, and a talented member of the instrumental music program. Arwen’s dedication extends beyond her artistic and environmental contributions. She consistently achieves exceptional academic results, excelling across all curriculum areas.

Arwen's achievements and contributions make her an outstanding recipient for this award, reflecting her creativity, leadership, academic excellence, and passion for the arts and environmental conservation, and commitment to her community. Congratulations to Arwen.

The next recipient of the RSL Student Excellence Award was Jeremy Sampson. Jeremy is someone that embodies the spirit of a group of people so very dear to the RSL community - our beloved Anzacs. When things don’t go according to plan, it’s very easy to just give up and not finish the task that you started. Just leave it to someone else to do. However, in a similar way to how the Anzacs displayed amazing courage in the face of an unexpected situation, Jeremy demonstrated an unbelievable strength and determination to finish the job he had started. In April of this year, he stepped up to perform a valuable service to our local Coolum-Peregian RSL Club and to the wider Coolum Community at the Dawn Service. But, when things didn’t quite go the way as rehearsed, rather than just give up, he steadied himself, found his focus and finished the job. He finished the job not only for himself, but for his community, and for those that have given the ultimate sacrifice for our country.  This act of pure courage, even gained the attention of many Veterans and members of our local RSL club who were present that day, including the President Peter Lloyd.

But Jeremy’s act of courage, determination and great respect isn’t just limited to the ANZAC Day event. Every day, he can be seen giving his best, striving to be the finest he can be, always aiming to give of himself to those around him – be it friends, other students, teachers or staff.  From the classroom to the stage, the sporting field to the community, he has been an exemplary role model to every student here at Coolum State School, and we are sure he will continue to do so in his future. Well done Jeremy.

My New Gallery

Urban Community Award

Urban Community Award

This year Shane Urban presented, in its inaugural year, The Urban Community Award. This will be an annual award for a student in Years 1- 5 who shows outstanding contributions to their school and community. It has been created through our P&C in honour of Shane Urban’s dedication to the Coolum SS P&C and also his community. The recipient of this award will receive their name on the perpetual shield and also a bursary in recognition of their efforts. This award recognises acts of kindness and community spirit and is aimed at encouraging students to make a positive impact and follow Shane’s example of service and generosity. This year the recipient of the Shane Urban award was presented to Goldie Vowels. Goldie is a student who consistently nominates for events and activities in our school. She has represented our school on ANZAC Day in the choir and also at the Carols at St Marys. She is a Student Council representative, in our Instrumental music program and attended an Invitational sunshine coast instrumental music day. She attended the Music Fest and was also in Shrek, The Musical. Outside of school, Goldie has been involved in planting trees in sand dune restoration projects, Clean-up-Australia Day at Yaroomba and cleaning micro-plastics from our beaches. We congratulate Goldie on her amazing contribution and receipt of the Shane Urban Award.

In this award’s first year, we had many students who demonstrated commendable community efforts. This year we also made special mention of another student for their dedication in our community. Kerby Brown in Year 4. This year he participated in Kids in Action and was an active volunteer with the Maroochy Wetlands Sanctuary in Bli Bli. Kerby is another great role model for our students and we are delighted to congratulate and recognise him for his effort.

My New Gallery

Saint Vincent De Paul Award

Saint Vincent De Paul Award

Each year, St Vincent de Paul Coolum branch, gives a $500 bursary to one of our Grade 6 students who is going to Coolum State High School. This year the Saint Vincent De Paul Award was presented by Sue Caffery and Amanda Rickman. It is chosen on civic merit based on community mindedness, good citizenship, outstanding demonstration of generosity, fairness and goodwill. The recipient of this award this year embodies all of these traits. The winner was Max Harvey from 6Q. This year Max has displayed outstanding school spirit and commitment to all aspects of his schooling. As a Student Councillor he exhibited strong leadership qualities and a desire to play a part in improving the school for his fellow students. He was a mentor for younger students and a positive role model for all. Along with his numerous other roles this year he represented the school in multiple sports, was a member of Maths Olympiad and part of the fantastic school rock band. He has achieved all of this while being exceedingly kind and considerate to all staff and students, his behaviour and attitude are always exemplary. Congratulations Max.

Noosa District School Sports

Noosa District School Sports (NDSS) Awards

Coolum has had another excellent year in sport and it was with great satisfaction that on our final parade I could announce those students that had been selected as NDSS finalists.  These students have gone above and beyond in their sporting fields of interest. This year I was proud to announce the Coolum finalists.

Maya Falkbring who made the Noosa District Team for Soccer, Touch, AFL and represented the Sunshine Coast School Sport Region in Cross Country. Jeremy Sampson who represented the Sunshine Coast School Sport Region in AFL and finally Isaac Ives who made the Sunshine Coast School Sport Region AFL team.

A huge congratulation to you all.

Swimming Carnival Age Champions

Last week at our Year 5 and 6 Swimming Carnival the atmosphere was buzzing. The highlight was, as always, the dance pass. It was taken out by a proud Peregian who had to fight off Cooloola who were in close competition with their awesome moves. Our overall winners of the Carnival were Ninderry who added this success to an outstanding year of triumphant victories.

Our Age Champions this year were, for year 6, Alice Small, Howie Price and Taj Petith and our Year 5 Champions were Max Dadswell and Maya Claridge. Well done everyone.

It was another great day of fun and sport, well done Coolum.

My New Gallery

Fabbo 4s & Fantastic 5s

🎄🎶 Last week, our amazing Fabbo 4s + Fantastic 5s went down to St Mary's Aged Care Home to spread some Christmas Cheer with their singing of Carols & songs! The residents and staff were so very grateful for the effort that our lovely singers went to in making sure everyone was happy and smiling and singing along, and the festive spirit was certainly evident with everyone there! Well done to the singers involved. What wonderful community spirit you all displayed! 🎶🎄

My New Gallery

Salvation Army - Box of hope

Salvation Army – Box of Hope Appeal, a proud moment for Coolum,

A huge thank you from the student council and the Salvation Army for everything the Column community did to make the Box of Hope charity appeal a magnificent success last week.

When we first thought of the idea of helping the Salvation Army collect items for families in need, we had no idea that our students would all be so enthused to help. Captain Matt who arrived from the Salvation Army in his SUV was overwhelmed as he walked into the PCC by the huge number of donations under the Christmas Tree. He was stunned but quickly rushed to get other vehicles to come and help him transport the marvellous quantity of donations that we had collected. In fact, it took five cars, filled from top to bottom by our wonderful Councillors, to transport everything back to the warehouse for sorting.

Once at the warehouse, the donations were sorted into hampers for those in need and will be distributed over Christmas. The look of awe and incredulity shown by the junior students as they added their donations to the wonderful senior school contributions was heart-warming. Your efforts rallying around to support people in our local community showed Coolum school to have a wealth of kindness, a huge amount of community spirit and a very big heart. We were all very touched by the contributions of those that were able, and on behalf of the School Council and Salvation Army, we would like to thank you again and wish you all a very merry Christmas.

Coolum you out did yourself, thank you 😊

My New Gallery

School Council

School Council – What a Year!

As 2024 draws to a close, it's a good time to reflect on the achievements of our wonderful School Council once again we have been blessed with a supportive group of students who've gone out of their way to help our community and give a little extra to make the school run smoothly. This year has been an awesome year for the school council with so much involvement in supporting our school and local community. The team came up with an abundance of ideas themselves and shared ideas from their classes and whilst we weren’t able to enact them all we certainly made an impact. They were especially proud of getting new basketball nets.

We started the year with our Diabetes Awareness Day fundraiser and then it was off to Parliament House during Budget Week where we were welcomed by Dan Purdy. They were involved in supporting the P&C during their Easter, Mother’s Day and Father's Day stalls. The Year 6 Councillors organised the Legacy Bake Sale and successfully raised enough funds to complete the Yarning Circle, a place to meet and talk outside the Year 6 classrooms.  They participated in the Salvation Army Box of Hope appeal which surpassed everyone’s expectations and if that wasn’t enough last week, they organised interhouse soccer matches for years 4 to 6.

Many of our councillors are involved in other school activities, Rock Bands, The Musical, Tournament of Minds, Waste Warriors, Year Level Mentors to name but a few but they were a kind hearted and reliable group who generously gave of their time and we thank them for that and wish them every success for 2025, may it be equally filled with community spirit.

My New Gallery

Story Dogs

As the school year comes to a close, we find ourselves saying goodbye to a remarkable Story Dogs volunteer who has been an integral part of our school community for the past three years. We want to take a moment to express our deepest gratitude to Ev and her wonderful dog, Raffa, who have dedicated their time each week to help foster a love of reading in our students.
For three years, Ev has come into our school with a warm smile and a heart full of kindness. Alongside her loyal companion, Raffa, they have created a special space for our students to grow their confidence and passion for reading. Thank you, Ev and Raffa, for all your dedication, kindness, and support. You will always be a beloved part of our school community.

Dig into Reading

For your child to maintain their literacy skills and reading habits, it’s important for children to continue reading over the school holidays.  Perhaps you may encourage your children to continue their daily reading routine by exploring these free activities ……

• Joining or visiting the local library and exploring the different types of texts such as imaginative texts for example stories, poems, traditional tales, plays or comics or informative texts, such as magazines, newspapers, instruction manuals or recipes.
• Visiting the 10 innovative story seats, located in 10 of the Coast’s most stunning local parks. Take a story to share. https://library.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/visit/story-seats
• Play word, board and card games
• Visiting The Toy Library, designed for ages 6 months to 12+ years, it includes a range of games, puzzles and toys to engage every curious young learner.

      https://library.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/visit/toy-library 

• Listening to audiobooks. Children and adults can find themselves captivated by a narrated story. Music and sound effects are also part of the production and make listening to an audiobook a truly immersive experience. Even though it’s not technically reading, audiobooks support reading and literacy skills by building vocabulary and modelling fluency.  Audiobooks are fantastic for long car rides to holiday destinations or to use when winding down at bedtime.

One of the very best things that parents can do is to show their child/ren how much pleasure you too, get from reading. So grab yourself a book, settle down, read and enjoy the holidays!

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.

Other News

Containers for change

Containers for Change

Next year our Containers for Change School Collection Day will be around the Easter break. Between now and then if you would like to donate your containers to our P&C, please take them to any Containers for Change facility and quote the code C10190364. The proceeds of your deposit will be sent to Coolum State School.

Every can kept out of the waste system is a good thing for us all.

Merry Christmas

Denise French

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.

CDC Queensland Bus information

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.