Term 3 Week 4

Principal's Report

Dear Coolum Families,

As we dive into the heart of Term 3, I am excited to share some of the great things happening in our wonderful school.

Our Environmental team have been busy encouraging our school community to make more environmentally friendly choices. A huge thank you to our P&C for sponsoring their latest ‘keep cup’ project. This group of young environmentalists, led by Mrs Moore, are always looking for ways to engage our students and build their understanding of a sustainable future. They confidently share their messages on parade and genuinely make a positive impact in our community. I encourage everyone to show the Environmental Team support and focus on their catchphrase- “For the Earth to Thrive, Pick Up 5” and to pick up any litter that you see in our school and maybe even beyond! Collectively, we can make a difference!

Thank you to all of those who have already completed the Parent/Caregiver Survey. If you have not had a chance to complete the survey yet, please note that the online surveys will remain open until Friday, 22 August 2025. This is your opportunity to provide feedback about what our school does well and how we can improve. To have your say, check your email for an invitation from the Department of Education titled School Opinion Survey for parents and caregivers, 2025. Can’t find your invitation? If your family has more than one parent/caregiver, check that they haven’t received the invitation and/or check your junk email folder. This information is incredibly valuable for us. Your opinion matters.

You may have noticed that our Outside School Hours Care extensions have begun! This is very exciting and a long term project of our P&C to upgrade facilities of this wonderful service to best support students and families. Please be aware of the works in this area, particularly as the bike racks have moved. I have asked students to walk their bikes into the school to try to avoid potential collisions with pedestrians. Thank you for reminding your child of this.

Save the Date! Coolum will celebrate Book Week in Week 6, starting with Paint the town READ on Tuesday 19^th August!  Again, we are so lucky to have so many of our community members coming together to celebrate the importance and joy of READING! Our youngest students in the school (Preps to Year 2s) will visit 2 community businesses and have a story read to them. There will then be lunch and special show at Jack Morgan Park before they head back to school. Then on Friday 22^nd August at our school parade, we will have our Book Week Dress up day and our annual fundraising for Story Dogs! Story Dogs enables a child and a dog with their volunteer handler a weekly one-on-one reading session held at the child’s reading level throughout the course of a school year. The literacy program is based on the Reading Education Assistance Dogs (R.E.A.D.) model. The READ program has successfully proven the educational benefits of reading to dogs since 1999.

Story Dog Volunteers are guided on working with children to go at the child’s pace and use the calming presence of the dog to support comprehension during each 20 minute reading session. Books are chosen to be fun and interesting and are matched to the literacy level of the student. During a session, the volunteer handler often speaks through the dog. Adapting the learning environment by involving the dog such as “Simba doesn't understand what is happening on this page, could you help him out?” encourages the child’s confidence to navigate ‘teaching’ the dog in a trusting and shared learning environment. We love our story dogs and their handlers at Coolum SS. If you would like to know more about the program, their website link is below.

https://www.storydogs.org.au/

Thank you for your continued support and partnership. Coolum State School is more than just a place of learning—it’s a community where every child is encouraged to thrive.

Have a great fortnight,

Shannyn

Deputy Principal News

Wow—it’s already Week 4! As I always say, the second half of the school year seems to fly by faster than the first!

Year 5: Goldrush Stories & Gympie Gold Mine Excursion

Our Year 5 students have dived head‑first into their current unit, writing historical narratives from the perspective of a child living on the Australian Goldfields in the 1850s. They’re exploring what life was like for young people in that era—everything from panning for gold to enduring long days underground.

To bring this history to life, next week the Year 5s will visit the Gympie Gold Mining & Historical Museum. This hands‑on excursion is hosted by passionate local volunteers and gives students firsthand experience with gold‑panning, mining machinery, original exhibits and a feel for the working life of the 1860s and beyond

We’re excited to hear from students who predict they’ll come home “sooo rich”—even a few gold flakes would be a thrill!

The museum sits on the former No. 2 South Great Eastern Mine, and includes preserved machinery, a ten‑head stamper battery, mine shafts, and original artifacts

We anticipate the trip will inspire and enrich their writing. I’m looking forward to seeing how much “gold” our young prospectors bring back—in narrative style or actual flakes!

Year 6: Cultural Exposition Research

Year 6 students are crafting informative texts (written and multimodal) on chosen countries in preparation for our Cultural Expo Day in the PCC later this term.

The diversity of chosen countries continues to amaze—every new research topic is broadening curiosity and encouraging deeper investigation. The students are motivated to explore traditions, language, food, geography and artefacts, and translate this into engaging displays for their peers and the school community.

I’m eager to see the final presentations—it promises to be a vibrant celebration of culture and global learning!

Year 6: Inter‑School Sports Gala Days

Our Year 6cohort will participate in two Sports Gala Days soon:

This Friday: Girls will compete in netball; boys in OZTAG.

In Week 6: Girls swap to OZTAG, while boys take on basketball.

These gala days are fantastic opportunities to represent our school, work as a team, and enjoy friendly competition with other schools in our district. The excitement and school spirit are always high on these days!

Save the Date

Colour Run – Thursday 18 October. Mark your calendars now for our annual Colour Run —it’s always a colourful and fun event for everyone!

Terry O’Brien

Deputy Principal Years 5 and 6

2M News

Crikey! 2M Went Wild at Wildlife HQ!
Last week, our adventurous Year 2 explorers headed off on an unforgettable journey to Wildlife HQ Zoo – and WOW, did they have a wild time!

With curiosity at full throttle, students spent the day gathering real-life research to inspire their upcoming information reports and presentations.

The stars of the day? The cheeky monkeys swung, climbed, and entertained us with their playful tricks, while the reptile enclosure had hearts racing with its collection of slithering snakes, spiky lizards, and creepy-cool critters.

From feeding times to fun facts, animal chats to up-close encounters, there was never a dull moment. Students were buzzing with excitement, asking thoughtful questions and soaking up every wild minute.

By the end of the day, there were tired feet, big smiles, and countless stories to share. Many declared it the BEST excursion EVER – and we couldn’t agree more!

A huge thank you to all of our amazing parent helpers who joined us on the day – your support, enthusiasm, and helping hands made it all possible. We’re so grateful for your time and energy!

Now, it’s time for our young zoologists to bring their research to life in their writing – and we can’t wait to see what they create!

Check out 2M’s favourite animals from the day.

Coco – My favourite part of Wildlife HQ was looking at the baboons. My favourite animal was the spider monkeys because they are cute and I liked seeing them climb. I liked the Koalas because they were sleeping and they were cute too.

Bailey - On Thursday me and my class went to Wildlife HQ. My favourite animal was the diamond python. It was so cool and it was really really big.

Fern – On Thursday we went to Wildlife HQ. My favourite animal was the capybaras, but the capybaras had a fight so we couldn’t see them. But my favourite was the owl monkey and squirrel monkeys! We saw a lizard that looked like it had 2 heads, one was its head and one was its tail.

Hunter – Yesterday on Thursday we went to Wildlife HQ and the first thing we saw was the spider monkeys. My favourite animal was the spider monkey because they were doing lots of tricks and one climbed to the very top of the very big tree in the enclosure and it jumped off it. Some of the facts I learnt were that Baboons bums are red for cushioning and females become three times their size when they are pregnant. I also learnt that the sun bear there was the only sun bear in the world bred in captivity. I even learnt that male adult baboons weigh up to 21.5 kgs, while adult females only weigh up to 9.5 kgs. Me and my friend Flynn were writing down the name of every animal at the zoo, we spent so much time writing them down we almost missed the bus. We had a good day at Wildlife HQ.

Nullah – On Thursday we went to Wildlife HQ and my favourite animal was a koala. They were so cute and fuzzy and they were very sleepy. Ayla tried to wake them up. My group was me, Isla, Riley, Eleanor, Ayla and Fern. But the capybaras weren’t there! My other favourite was a meerkat. They always would come right up to the glass and say hello. They were so cute and little.

Isla – Yesterday we went to Wildlife HQ. We saw the koalas and other amazing animals. But the capybaras had a fight and went to the vet! Poor capybaras. My favourite was the wolves and koalas. It was the best day ever! I love excursions!

Angus – On Thursday my favourite thing at the Wildlife HQ was the animal dingo. Dingoes have some fun facts. Fact 1 dingoes colour orange helps them blend into muddy dirty water. Fact 2 they have pointy ears to hear very well.

Demi – My favourite animal was the emu. A emu has a pointy beak.

Sunny – Yesterday which was Thursday, me and my class went to Wildlife HQ (which stands for Wildlife Head Quarters Zoo). It was one of the best excursions. My favourite animal was probably the spider monkeys. They were like acrobats high up in the tallest tree in their giant enclosure. It was so fantastic! The other animals also had brilliant tricks too. The excursion was so sensational.

Mia – I really liked seeing the meerkats. I was very excited to see the Capybaras, but they were at the vet. The koalas were very cute.

Mav – My favourite animal was the porcupine.

Riley – I wanted to see the capybara but they had a fight so they had to go to the vet. So my favourite animal was a sun bear. I love sun bears. I also like the baboons because 1 of them was called Leila and my sister is called Leila and I also liked the red panda.

Leo – My favourite animal at Wildlife HQ was the dingoes and the snakes and the emu, because the are my favourite animals.

Ayla – My favourite animal was the wolf. I learnt some interesting facts about the red baboon. Interesting fact about the red baboons butt is it protects them and scares predators away and it helps them sit down.

Charlie - My favourite animal was the naughty spider monkeys, because they were a bit funny and very good at climbing trees. The baboons were soooooo funny! Because of their red bottoms. An interesting fact about spider monkeys is their cousins are lemurs. Did you know that male baboons weigh up to 21.5kg while adult females only weigh up to 9.5kg. My third favourite animal was the sun bear.

Sarkis – I wanted to see a snake at Wildlife HQ.

 Finn – My favourite animal was the Tasmanian Devil. I liked the tassie devils because they were very cute and were funny to watch as they ran around their enclosure and went through the logs.

Flynn – We saw kangaroos, Tasmania Devils, free range emus, dingoes and also baboons with red bottoms and lots of other animals. My favourite part was the baboons because they were crazy and funny! We went to this room that had snakes, frogs, lizards and turtles. My favourite part was the room with the snakes. Then we saw the zookeepers walk the dingoes.

Jarrah – My favourite animal was the spider monkeys.

Harry – I loved the dingoes and sun bear at Wildlife HQ and I loved the emu.

Penny –There were not many people except the kids from my school. We were with 2H and 2R. My favourite animal was the small monkeys with the moustache because they looked very funny and cute.

Kai – My favourite animal was the spider monkeys because the spider monkeys swing branch to branch.

Zeke – I love Wildlife HQ because they did all the speeches and I got to see all my favourite animals. My favourite animal was the meerkat.

Eleanor – On Thursday my class went to Wildlife HQ and my favourite animal was the meerkats and the frog in the reptile area, there was a big snake.

3T News

Last Monday, the Year 3’s were lucky enough to participate in a fun movement circuit where they got to explore how their body works.  Students participated in:

• Super Jumps (strength, lower limb)
• Grip-o-meter (strength, upper limb)
• Heart Race (cardiovascular recovery)
• Steady Statues (balance and proprioception)
• Plank Power (core strength)

Students had a lot of fun exploring these movements and enjoyed seeing who could hold a plank for the longest!

My New Gallery

Spelling Bee

Spelling Bee School Round

I have been delighted to see our competitors giving it their best shot at the Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee Contest this week to see who has the best spelling skills at Coolum State School.  Across years 3 to 6 we have had 141 students register to compete. We beat last year’s record number of participants!

To find out the results, everyone will need to remain patient for a few more days. Round one will finish on August 22across all schools in the country, with results being released on August 25. The results are based on accuracy and speed of spelling. Once they have been collated, the Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee Team will confirm those who will move on to the State Round. Once school has this information, a note will be sent to those who will be competing in round two, explaining the time and date of their next session. Students will be involved in the state round on either September 1 or 2, at morning tea. If they are unavailable at this time, they will need to speak to Mrs Moore who will endeavour to make alternative arrangements for them.

Fingers crossed to all our entrants.

Mrs Moore – Spelling Bee Coordinator

Book Week Dress-Up Day & Story Dogs Kindness Day

How Kind is Coolum? You better believe it, we are amazing!

At Coolum, the students and staff enjoy showing how kind they can be everyday but some days we like to make even more special than others and Friday August 22 is one of those days.

Book Week Dress up Parade

We are thrilled to invite our school community to celebrate Book Week 2025, which marks an incredible 80 years of celebrating books and reading across Australia! This year’s theme is “Book An Adventure!” – and what better way to spark imagination, curiosity, and a lifelong love of reading?

All students from Prep to Year 6 students are invited to come dressed up as their favourite book character! Let’s fill the school with wizards, wild things, and wonder! Join us at parade to admire the costumes and rejoice in a love of reading.

Story Dogs and Kindness Day

As part of the Book Week parade, we will also be celebrating kindness at Coolum. We would like to invite you to help us out. On this day our Student Council are working with Mrs Bryan and the Story Dogs volunteers to promote Kindness and recognise how generous our Story Dog volunteers are to our Coolum Students, like Mel, Rhett, Gail and Polly shown here. The Story Dogs program helps children build confidence through reading with dogs and these wonderful ladies and their pooches give their time freely to support our students.

Please send a gold coin donation with your child on Friday August 22 to help demonstrate how much Coolum appreciates the support they provide to our students.

Be Kind

There is nothing more welcomed than a kind word to brighten someone’s day. On Friday we will be encouraging our students to tell their friends, teachers and family, in fact anyone they are connected to, how wonderful they are and thank them for all the little things they do to make their lives a little easier. We will be providing pens and paper at the start of the day for students to write a thank you note or message, which they can then hand deliver.  Who do you want to thank today?

The School Council would like to thank you all for making today a great day 😊

Bake Sale

Year 6 Legacy Bake Sale is back! (Week 7)

Put the date in your diary. In Week 7 our year 6 students will be selling delicious treats at morning tea and second break to raise money for their legacy gift for 2025.  If you want to help make this event a great success, here is how you can get involved.

Bring a $1 coin on your bake sale day and eat a treat.

Our year 6 students will be bringing in a variety of baked goods for you to purchase and yes, there will be some gluten free options.  The treats will be sold outside the First Aid room at the start of each break.  Class teachers will make sure that anyone who would like to buy can do so on their purchase day.

Bake Sale Day

Monday 25 August

1^st break 6D will serve to PRR and Year 1

2^nd break 6N will serve to PRT and Year 2

Tuesday 26 August

1^st break 6G will serve to PRC and Year 3

2^nd Break 6E will serve to PRB and Year 4

Wednesday 27 August

1^st break 6Q will serve to PRG and Year 5

2^nd break 6S will serve to PRS and Year 6

Premiers Reading Challenge

2025 Premier’s Reading Challenge

We are nearly halfway through the Premier’s Reading Challenge for 2025. I hope your children are enjoying the challenge to read as many books as possible in the three-month period.

The PRC is a way to encourage students to develop a love of reading for life. The students are encouraged to select a range of fiction and non-fiction books suited to their reading ability and record books read during the reading period, from 6 May to 22 August. Students can collect a copy of the reader record form to tally books read throughout the challenge from their classroom teacher or from the PRC website. You are welcome to return more than one record sheet. We encourage them to see how many books they can read in the challenge period. The more books read, the greater our school total can be.  

To complete the challenge:

• Prep to Year 2 must read or experience at least 20 books
• Years 3 and 4 must read at least 20 books
• Years 5 to 9 must read at least 15 books.

Experiencing books can include shared reading, listening to stories, or reading picture books. The aim for the 2025 challenge is to encourage students to make time to read. Last year saw more than 216,000 children from around the state participate.

Every student who completes the challenge, and returns the completed record reader form, will receive a Certificate of Achievement.

To make it extra fun, we have some special Coolum State School prizes. There will be a prize for:

• the class that reads the most books
• the top individual reader from each year level
• the top reader of the whole school.

As a treat this year, all students can earn five spirit points for their house team with every sheet that is completed, signed by a parent, and handed in.

If your child wishes to participate in the PRC, please return the completed record reader form to your class teacher by 25 August 2025.

Book suggestions are available on the PRC website:

https://prc.median.com.au/BookList

Happy reading!

Susan Gers

PRC Coordinator

Coolum State School

Religious Instructions News

Religious Instruction News.

Is your child enjoying Religious Instruction (RI) this Year? It is being delivered each Thursday after lunch by Mrs Ronslee and Ms Is to the Year 2s, Mrs Blair, Mrs Smith and Mrs Lucy to the Year 3s and Mr Leckenby and Ms Hanneke to the year 4s. We love our students and their enthusiasm.

At the moment many of the classes are learning about Jesus’ disciple Peter. In this unit they are exploring how Peter’s faith developed over time including his struggles and successes. They reflect on their own challenges and successes and explore more through the games and quizzes which are presented.

Some of the RI team are planning their costumes for Book Week. Book an Adventure is such a great theme! There are so many people in the Bible who had amazing adventures.

Also in the planning pipeline is a Puppet Show and Concert by Quiz Worx to be held in the JC Hall on 30^th November for all students attending the RI classes and their families.

If your child is enrolled in RI you might like to ask them what they enjoy about their class. If you previously opted your child out of RI, and you’d like them to give it a go, you can always send a quick email to the office (info@coolumss.eq.edu.au) with the child’s name, grade and a message as simple as “I wish to my child to participate in the religious instruction program being offered during school hours.

If you would like to know more about the RI curriculum beyond the information on the extracurricular tab of the school webpage please contact Terry O’Brien or me at lucywittholz@gmail.com

Lucy Wittholz

RI Co-ordinator

Student Of The Week

Academic Competition

Lost property

Lost property is situated next to the uniform shop. It is filling up with lost jumpers and jackets. There are also lots of water bottles and lunch boxes that will be disposed of on Friday, as due to health reasons, they can not be held over the holidays. Please check lost property before Friday for any misplaced items. Please fully name (first & last names) all items brought to school, that way they can be returned to the student.

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. 

SSA Bowls

Ride Score

CDC Queensland Bus information