Term 3 Week 6

Principal's Report

Dear Coolum community,

I hope that you are all staying dry and have not floated away in all this rain!!
During this weather we often have to make changes to plans to accommodate the changed conditions. The rain usually brings additional risk to activities and this needs to be mitigated through changes and adjustments (like Paint the Town Read) or postponed/cancelled like our Sporting Gala days. We never want to have to make these decisions and know that students will often be disappointed, but safety is our priority, so thank you for your patience during these times.
Student attendance is so important to school success.  Students not only learn more, they maintain relationships better the more often they are at school. Every day missed is an opportunity missed for the future. Please support your child to thrive by supporting their attendance every day. In addition to this, the first part of our day is the prime time for teaching and learning. Students should get to school around 8:15 - 8:30 am to make sure that they are able to enter class on time and be ready for prime learning. In the afternoons, I have noticed a number of families picking up their children before the bell. While at this may be helpful to beat the traffic at our school at the end of the day, it is often difficult to get students to the office in this afternoon session (2-2:40pm). If you can wait, this is preferable for students to finish the day with final messages, and reduces the pressure through our office and interruptions in the classroom to send students to be collected. Thank you if can assist with this.
Finally from me- we always talk to students about taking on feedback with their learning. Teachers know where students are in terms of their achievement towards their assessments- and our teachers have been trained to provide students with clear feedback to help support students to move forward towards their goals. This week I provided a work sample to Year 4 students on their current term unit- a book review presentation. The students in 4M watched my review, looked at the marking guide and decided on a grade for my work. I achieved a B! I was aiming for an A, so some work to do. They did suggest I try again and have more energy. Thanks for the feedback 4M!! Seriously- how great are our students!
Have a great fortnight,
Shannyn Taylor

Deputy Principal News

Mrs Taylor, Mr O’Brien and myself have been visiting our local Kindergartens and meeting with our 2026 Prep students. They are an energetic bunch and love telling us all about anything that pops into their mind. Our conversations with the staff were centred on Prep readiness. Obviously, there are some key indicators such as toileting and following simple instructions, however the reading, writing, mathematics and the learning to be an active student is something educators teach our Prep students on a day to day basis. This learning continues throughout their educational journey. We are encouraging our pre-prep families to attend our Get Set for Prep days on Thursday 4 September 9:00am-10:30am and Tuesday 28 October 9:00am-10:30am, to gain further insight into the excitement of Prep 2025.

Our staff are currently working on a checklist for prep readiness and some things that families can work on over the next 6 months. 6 months is quite an amount of time to continue development.

The rain continues to interfere with our school routine, mainly our ability to send students out to play safely with excessive ground water and slippery conditions. Our first aide room always has an influx of casualties in slippery conditions. We will endeavour to allow student to run and play when safe, however the Health, Safety and Wellbeing team will make a decision on whether to allow students out on break with the safety of our students and staff as the first priority. Just keep in mind that students may come home after being inside the classroom most of the day!

Danny Stanieg

Deputy Principal P-2

DEPUTY PRINCIPAL NEWS

As we move into the second half of Term 3, it’s a good time to revisit some important reminders for all our Year 5 and 6 students to help keep our school safe, happy, and running smoothly.

Important Reminders for Year 5 and 6 Students:

1. Hats on, always!
   A friendly reminder that all students must wear a broad-brimmed hat when outside during playtimes and outdoor activities. This is part of our SunSmart policy and helps keep everyone protected from the sun.
2. Jewellery Guidelines:
   The only jewellery items permitted at school are watches and small, plain stud or sleeper earrings. This helps ensure student safety during play and learning times.
3. Mobile Phones:
   If students bring a mobile phone to school, it must stay in their school bag for the entire day. Phones should only be taken out at the end of the school day if necessary.
4. Safety First – Walk on the Concrete:
   We’re seeing quite a few injuries at the moment – I think we’re up to 11 students in slings or plaster! Please remind your children to walk (not run) on the concrete paths around the school to avoid any accidents.

Year 5 Update

Our Year 5 students are currently fine-tuning their historical narratives, inspired by their recent excursion to the Gympie Gold Museum. The visit offered a wealth of fascinating information about life during the gold rush of the 1850s. The expert staff at the museum shared stories and facts that have truly brought the era to life, and we’re already seeing this reflected in the students' writing. We look forward to seeing some golden pieces of work soon!

Year 6 Update:

Year 6 students are fully immersed in their multimodal information reports, where they’re researching and presenting on a country of their choice. Many classrooms are now beautifully decorated with cultural artefacts and colourful displays that reflect the countries being studied. It’s been wonderful to walk through and experience the diversity and creativity – our Year 6s are doing an outstanding job!

Gala Day – Postponed:

Unfortunately, tomorrow’s Gala Day has been postponed. Mr Moody will communicate the rescheduled date once it's confirmed. Thank you for your understanding.

A Personal Message

As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. I want to let you know that I will be finishing up at Coolum State School at the end of this term – September 19.

After 40 incredible years in education, the time feels right for me to hand over the baton and take some time for myself before stepping fully into the world of retirement. This decision comes with a mix of emotions, but as a wise colleague once told me, Leave when you’re still loving the job – that way, the memories are magnified. That advice has stayed with me, and I’m following it.

It has truly been a pleasure to finish my career at Coolum State School. The community here is something very special – warm, welcoming, friendly, and full of positivity. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to work with such wonderful students, supportive families, and dedicated staff. You’ve all made my final chapter in education one of the best.

Thank you to the entire Coolum community – I will take these memories with me and treasure them always.

Warm regards
Terry

Deputy Principal

Years 5 and 6

3W News

With Book week this week we have been exploring our favourite books. In class we have been reading as a class George’s Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl.

Stevie- Baby sitters club

Jakob- Bad Guys

Felix- Stay

Tex- Hot Dog 2

Lara- The New Girl

Byron- Dog Man

Zahra- Any book

Marlo- Ninja Kid

Oakland- Bad Guys

Mia- Pizza and Taco

Carter- Wings of Fire

Alfie- My Big Fat Smelly Poo Diary

Lily- Pizza and Taco

Margot- Pizza and Taco

Starssi- Pizza and Taco

Flynn- Pat Cummins Dare to Bowl

Molly- Dragon Girls

Evie- When I’m Feeling Happy

Zaid-

Marlow- Dog Man

Remy- Land o Vel

Django- Hot Dog

Perrie- Pizza and Taco

Solly-

Paint The Town READ

Despite the rain, nothing could dampen the joy of reading at Coolum State School’s Paint the Town Read celebration! Our Prep to Year 2 students embraced the day with smiles, stories and plenty of fun.

A highlight of the event was the Treasure Hunt Interactive Adventure Show, which had students laughing, learning, and engaging with the magic of books.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to the many people and businesses who helped make the day special:

• MP Dan Purdie for generously gifting every student a book and bag
• Stacey and Mia from Dan Purdie’s Office and Mr Pat Cavanagh representing Coolum Copy and Print for joining us to share their love of reading
• Coles, Woolworths and the Salvation Army for keeping us fuelled with fresh fruit and a delicious sausage sizzle
• And to our many local businesses for your support – we are sorry we couldn’t visit you all this year

Events like this remind us of how powerful community is nurturing a lifelong love of reading.  Thank you to everyone who contributed to make Paint the Town Read a success!

My New Gallery

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Parent Teacher Interviews

A reminder that parent teacher interviews will happen in week 9 this term, September 8-12. Keep your eyes out for an email that will come to all parents in the next few weeks that will give you a code for the School Interviews portal to make your booking. The following classes have teachers who will be on leave during this time so a separate message will come from these teachers to arrange the interview at an alternative time The classes are Prep G, Prep R, 1S, 1F and 2J.

Allstarz

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

Next Week our Year 6 Legacy Bake Sale is back.

Next week, 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.  Each Year 6 class has been allocated a group of students to sell to and have been asked to provide a tasty baked good on their sale day

On class days students will be able to bring a $1 coin to buy a treat.

Our year 6 students will be bringing in a variety of baked goods for you to purchase and 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.

If you are unable to make your day, please see Mrs Moore and she will help you buy a treat another day.

Bake Sale Days

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

Student Of The Week

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. 

Ride Score

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