Dreamworld ParkwayCoomera QLD 4209Subscribe:Subscribe: http://coomerass.schoolzineplus.com/subscribe

Email:Email: principal@coomerass.eq.edu.auPhone:Phone: 07 5519 6333

Fax:Fax: 07 5519 6300

8 December 20168 December 2016

Principal’s Report

Award Assemblies and Farewells

We are presently in the midst of a series ofspecial school events at the school. Thisnewsletter contains some of the photos toshare from our Leadership, ECDPgraduation and End of Term Assemblies.Please also continue to monitor our school

Facebook page for updates on our special school events.

This week we are wishing 116 Year 6 students a farewell fromprimary schooling. A special farewell assembly was held onTuesday to commemorate their time with us at the schooland to mark the transition from primary to junior secondaryschooling. We are very proud that a high percentage of thesestudents have been successful with selective entry orscholarship entry into a secondary school of their choice.Coomera SS students continue their ability to be able to be verysuccessful at secondary level.

2017 at Coomera SS

After 144 years, Coomera State School continues to look forways to improve as a school. We are working on some changesfor 2017 in order to further improve outcomes for students.

Here is some of the changes to expect.

We want to further improve student engagementat school.

The aspect that families will see and hear first is our new schoolexpectations with regards to Positive Behaviour for Learning(PB4L). We are moving to three clear and visible expectationsat the school which will be clearly communicated to ourcommunity in a variety of child friendly and age appropriateways. This will be matched with our new positive behaviouracknowledgement system where all students will be able toachieve positive acknowledgements for positive behaviours.

We want to make the Australian Curriculummore relevant and accessible for ALL students.

During 2016, teaching teams worked on tailoring and targetingthe Australian Curriculum in Mathematics for our students. Thisincluded providing more learning time and different teaching forstudents who needed it to learn at their level.

During 2017, we will be working on making the AustralianCurriculum in English as relevant and accessible for ALLstudents as possible. It is intended that students will have moretime to learn and to demonstrate achievement whilst ensuringthat all students can achieve the highest possible levels oflearning.

We will provide more explanation of this during the Meet theTeacher and other opportunities when school resumes.

Meet the Teacher Sessions

Our processes for Meet the Teacher and Class Notification willoccur prior to school starting. This will occur on:

Friday 20 January 2017

• Prep Meet the Teacher sessions 2 - 3pm

Our P&C Uniform Shop will be open on Friday 20 January, 2017from 12 noon until 5pm.

Information on class allocations and maps will be availableoutside Prep buildings for Prep classes and outside theTuckshop for Year 1 to Year 6 classes. This information will beavailable from 1 hour prior to the Meet the Teacher sessions.

For families who wish to access this information prior to thistime, it will be available through the school website from 4pmon Thursday 19 January 2017. Families will require each child'sunique EQ ID code to look up the class list. The EQ ID code willbe emailed as a reminder over the next week.

Government House Recognition for Mrs Hague

We congratulate Coomera State School teacher, Mrs JanineHague, on her recent recognition at a special reception atQueensland Government House for Creative FuturesRecognition Awards. Mrs Hague was presented by theQueensland Governor for services in support of her work withchildren with Autism at the Coomera ECDP.

Christmas Wishes

This week, we acknowledge our families leaving us as theirchildren graduate to other schools or are moving. We thank youfor your support as part of the Coomera School community andwe extend our best wishes for the future to your young people.We look forward to hearing great things.

We look forward to seeing the families of our continuingstudents back here on 20 January for our Back to Schoolevents prior to school commencing. We thank you for yoursupport during 2016 and we look forward to working with youin 2017.

We take this opportunity to wish all of our families a safeand happy summer school vacation, special time together withfamily and friends and a very Happy Christmas.

School resumes on Monday 23 January 2017.

Have a safe and happy holiday!Chris McMillan

Chris McMillan | PrincipalCoomera State School | South East Region

Prep to Year 2 End of Year Report

Wow, what a year! We are coming to the end of the schoolyear for 2016 and students are looking forward to a well-earnedbreak. During the year, our students have made new friends,created stronger relationships, developed and consolidatedknowledge and skills in a wide range of areas, and explored theworld around them. It is a wonderful thing to watch a studentgrow and develop, persevere and achieve their goals.

Here is an overview of the P-2 learning experiences this year:

Prep

What a year we have had in Prep this year!

Prep would like to share with you some of the things we havelearnt.

The Prep Alphabet

A is for adding, with numbers big and smallB is for blocks, we built and watched them fallC is for counting, it’s so much funD is for dancing, to the beat of a drumE is for effort, we’ve put in lotsF is for friends, they are topsG is for glow sticks, we sang like a starH is for health, we have come so farI is for information, we know more than the normJ is for journals, we wrote up a stormK is for kindness, you just need to lookL is for library, we’ll find it in a bookM is for maths, we are all wizzesN is for numbers, we can also do quizzesO is for outstanding, in all that we tryP is for play, let’s pretend we can flyQ is for questions, never fazingR is for reading, we are amazingS is for science, it’s really neatT is for tuckshop, a special treatU is for understand, learning is funV is for Viney Park, we run and runW is for writing, we wrote a letterX is in excellent, we will even get betterY is for year, it’s gone so fastZ is for zoom, it’s been a blast!!

Thank you to all our teachers and teacher aides for your help.

Year One teachers, we can’t wait to show you what we can do!

A reflection from Prep students:

“This year we have loved play time, work time, playing oniPads, home corner, reading books, dressing up, singingChristmas carols, doing homework and doing artwork”

“We have loved play time, handwriting, visiting the library,reading, playing with friends, sitting nicely and wateringthe gardens.”

“We loved Christmas activities, playing soccer, visitingthe library and borrowing books, writing, and playing inthe playground.”

“This year we enjoyed art, handwriting, playing games,lunch time, going to the library, music, maths, drawingand the prize box!”

“Over the year we have liked counting to 100, play time,handwriting, art, free play, reading books and doingChristmas books.”

• Year 1 to Year 6 Meet the Teacher sessions 4 - 5pm

• Uniform Shop will be open from 12 – 5pm

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Year 1

We have finally made it to our last week in Year One, and whata fun year of learning we have had! We would like to share whatwe have been up to in Term 4.

We have been busy little bees in English this term. Our writinghas improved as we can now write 4 different types ofsentences – command sentences, statements, questions andexclamations. After reading a fantastic book called TheLighthouse Keeper’s Lunch we used our new skills to write aprocedure for how to make a disgusting sandwich.

In Maths, we have been solving a lot of addition and subtractionproblems. We have been working hard on using our thinkingstrategies when adding and subtracting numbers, like countingon, counting back, doubles and using ten.

If you heard lots of loud, strange and wonderful noises comingfrom our classroom, it is because we have been investigatinglight and sound in our Science lessons. We had lots ofinteresting toys and instruments to help us with ourinvestigating.

For Humanities we had a visit from the Fire Brigade where wewere lucky enough to learn all about the special equipment onthe Fire Truck and at the end we were all so excited to squirtthe huge hose high up into the air.

We all enjoyed a break from the classroom when we wentto swimming lessons. We are looking forward to our DiscoReward Session. We hope everyone enjoys their Christmasbreak because the Year One students definitely will!

Look out Year Two teachers! Here we come!

A reflection from Year 1 students:

“We all really enjoyed learning about maths and we likedthe coding game we did in computers.”

“We really liked playing sport, doing art, especiallymaking Rudolf and Santa Claus art. We loved CMCmaths, that was really good. We enjoyed Science andEnglish and playing with Lego, Duplo and blocks. We likebeing bigger now.”

“One really good thing about our teacher is that she usesan entertaining voice when she reads.”

“Our class has enjoyed Maths and we really like doingart.”

“We loved maths and especially figuring out the missingnumbers. We also liked doing art and craft, cutting outand colouring in.”

“Our class liked having fun and learning. We liked codingon the computers and we enjoyed handwriting, Scienceand Maths.”

Year 2

Arnika: We have spent a total of 199 days with our teachersand I just wanted to say I have really enjoyed being in Year Two.

Jimmy: We have learnt so many wonderful and fantastic newthings this year. We wrote hilarious poems, cool characterdescriptions, perfect procedures, interesting information

reports and we even got to make up our own event for a storywritten by a famous author.

Arianna: That’s right! My event was about an enormous fizzybottle. When they were glued to the bottom of the house andquickly shaken they made the house fly. It was like a rocketblasting off. Unfortunately the heavy house landed in a puddleof fizzy drink and it slowly floated back to where it started.

Charlie: Awesome work Arianna! I wrote an event about alittle toy boat. It was about an enormous octopus that gentlygrabbed the tiny toy boat and quickly spun him around. Withinmoments the little toy boat didn’t know what way was up ordown. He felt as dizzy as a spinning top. Fortunately he safelyslipped out of the octopuses slimy arms and floated to thesurface.

Harmony: Oh that sounds like fun Charlie. I noticed somethingamazing in your writing.

Charlie: Really? What was it?

Harmony: You used lots of noun groups in your story.Enormous octopus, tiny toy boat and slimy arms.

Charlie: Yeah, that’s true. Miss Pollard said that we need to usenoun groups in our writing to make it interesting.

Harmony: You also used a simile, which helped me build apicture in my head of what was happening. I like writing storiesbut I especially enjoy reading books as well. I was so excited toreach Lexile this year.

Charlie: Congratulations! Reading is very important.

Arianna: You’re right! I have been working on my decodingskills and comprehension strategies. Year 2 have transformedinto inferencing detectives and we have been answering lots oftricky questions in class. We always use the clues in the text tohelp us find the answers.

Jimmy: Oh girls, I am so glad I have the chance to talk to youbecause I need some help to solve a problem. I want to bringsome healthy sandwiches to our call party tomorrow but I don’tknow how many to make? If there are 24 students in our classand each sandwich is cut into 4 pieces how many sandwichesdo I need to make?

Arnika: Well if each sandwich has 4 pieces, it is really easy tosolve. All you need to do is count in 4’s until you get to 24.So that is 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24. I’m holding up 6 fingers so thatmeans that you need to make 6 sandwiches.

Bronson: WOW! Great problem solving Arnika. Alright team. Ihave another challenge for you. I am thinking of a number andI want you to guess what it is. Here are some clues to help youout. It has 3 digits. There is a 4 in the hundreds house, a 3 inthe tens house and a 7 in the ones house. What number am I?

Arnika: That’s easy it’s 437! What would the number be if Iadded 10 to it?

Jimmy: That’s another easy question. Well if I add another 10to the tens house that would make it 447. (Pause).

Alright team, I would like you to teach everyone how to moveshapes. You are going to need your hands. Hold them up likethis. When we transform a shape the shape can change its

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position and or orientation. They’re fancy words for place andthe way it faces.

Arianna: I didn’t realise how important the environment aroundus is. Air water, vegetation, soil and animals are the Earth’samazing natural resources.

We have explored what they are, how we use them and manyways that we can conserve them so that we always have them.Often I see people from Year 2 turning off dripping taps, placingtheir rubbish into the bin and even caring for our plants bywalking only on the footpath.

Charlie: So as you can see we have been busy learning lots ofexciting things this term.

Harmony: Yes indeed! Not only have we worked really hardbut so have our parents. Year 2 would like to say a big thankyou to all our amazing, helpful, kind, fabulous, magnificent andfantastic parent helpers. Thank you for changing our readerseach day and helping us with our learning. We would also liketo say a special thanks to our wonderful teachers, Mrs Lawler,Mrs Ellinor, Mrs Weir, Mrs Van de Linde, Miss Nagorcka, MrsSaville and Miss Pollard for making Year 2 TERRIFIC!

A reflection from Year 2 students:

“We really loved doing art this year.”

“I have enjoyed Maths, Science and art.”

“We really love MATHS in this class!”

“This year we really liked learning about Maths and lovedwhen we got to do Art.”

“We have enjoyed learning new things. We like doingMaths and have really loved doing Art.”

So that just about wraps up the year. We hope all our Coomerafamilies have a wonderful break and we look forward towelcoming you all back in 2017!

End of Term Assemblies

This week we have celebrated the fantastic learning that hastaken place during term 4. Students, families and special guestshave attended sector assemblies to reflect on the learningjourney and acknowledge outstanding achievements.

Our Prep-Year 2 sector gathered on Wednesday morning andYears 3-6 on Monday morning. At each assembly two studentswere recognised from each class. Firstly, a Citizenship Awardwas presented to a student who has consistently conductedthemselves in an exemplary manner. The Academic EndeavourAward was then presented to a student who has made greatgains in their learning. These were then followed by the LOTE,Lexile, Peer Mediator and Student Councillor Awards.

Congratulations to our following award winners:

Class Academic

Excellence

Academic

Achievement

Citizenship

PrepA

Morissey B Millie T Seantayne R

PrepB

Ellie Mc Summer P Cianna D

PrepC

Kaleb J Bailey B Zac J

PrepD

Henry W Mason R Teisha P

PrepE

Tina Hano Jayke C Taylah S

1A Ashton Hatfull Tallen B Te Rina K

1B Ashley A &Lochie H

N/A Leila A

1C Lily D Taliah C Brodie W

1D Caitlyn H Scarlett B Lily H

1/2G Hailey G Piper N Kyzin H

2B Morgan E Cadence H Chloe B

2C Ainslie R Koby B Alexis T

2D Siani E Malcolm R Hunta O’

2E Khara G Fox S Makinley L

2F Charklie S Kiera M Jimmy G

3A Ella W Ranaia K Renee T

3B Chelsea-RoseF

Sidharth S Jarvis T

3C Elisha S Will R Saxon B

3D Charlotte I Destiny O Eve B

3E Kain J Ava G Gemma K

4A Emily Mc Joshua T Jada K

4B Jessica B Isabella R Lauren Mc

4C Breeanna K Ella Mc Zachary B

4D Kaeli E & OliviaC

N/A Charlie F

4E Lily R Shanté D Keira A

5A Leah H Zack B Katie M

Jron O5B Nikita G

Brianna T

N/A

5C Isobelle W N/A Rebecca E

5D Ewan L Jason H Danielle F

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Class Academic

Excellence

Academic

Achievement

Citizenship

Jack W5E

Jordan R

Immogen W N/A

6PLC Kaleb A Kaylah Y HaydenEdgar

6A Breanna B Ethan G Riley Mc

6B Katie F Ethan W Kialla-Skye B

6D Ella H Aimee G Flynn B

6E Olivia I Jacob T Ruca F

SEP

SEP SeniorEncouragement Award

Lily Couper

SEP Citizenship Award Kaleb Anderson

SPECIAL AWARDS

Jarred Mac Donald Year5

Ewan L

Quota Citizenship Award Anshika G

Peer Mediator of Year Breanna B

School Chess Champion Riley M

Chess Champions Yr 4 Joshua T

Yr 5 Lachlan J

Yr 6 Riley M

School CheckersChampion

Bronson C

Checkers Champions Prep Dominic B

Yr 1 Caitlyn H

Yr2 Bronson C

Yr3 Kaden D

Library Breanna B

Japanese Kirraley Mc

ICT Breanna B

MusicExcellence

Olivia I

Leadership2 – 4 awards

BreannaB

KatieF

EthanW

RucaF

Michael Crandon Awardx 2

Tara F Tait R

Principal’sAward x 2

Olivia I Ella H

GCCC Award x 2 CharlieH

Grace M

SPECIAL AWARDS

Stuart Robert LeadershipAward

Olivia O

Mary McCallum Spirit ofAustralia Award

Cairo R

SPORTS AWARDS

South Coast Regional Rep. Irvine Tiomai

Sportsperson of the Year TBC

Responsible Behaviour CertificatesAt the end of each term ResponsibleBehaviour certificates are presented tostudents who have strived throughout theterm to follow school behaviours,expectations and have consistently workedto the best of their ability, both in theclassroom and playground environments. Itis therefore expected that students who

receive a Responsible Behaviour certificate have demonstratedconsistent responsible behaviour, have not received anyOrange and Red slips, classroom stars exceed steps or havedemonstrated consistent or remarkable improvement in theirbehaviour and attitude. Parents of students who have beenissued with Red or Orange Slips or Classroom Steps will havealready been informed, after having sighted and signed theslips. All students are encouraged to take responsibility for theirbehaviour and continue to strive to make responsible,independent choices to work towards achieving a ResponsibleBehaviour certificate. Students receiving their fourthResponsible Behaviour certificate for the year will be presentedwith a gold certificate and students receiving their third, secondor first for the year will receive a bronze, silver or blue certificateconsecutively.

Responsible Behaviour certificates for Term 4 will be handedout on the Tuesday in the last week of term. Students in Prepto Year 5 who receive a Responsible Behaviour certificate willbe invited to participate in a School Disco Reward session inthe school hall. Year 6 students who receive a ResponsibleBehaviour certificate will be invited to participate in a day offcampus at Ten Bin Bowling.

Staff and students who joined the 2015, Term 4 RewardSession enjoyed themselves immensely and can be excitedabout this year’s session too!

Office News

50 MOST COMMON parenting questions

Check out these awesome 50 most common parentingquestions and their answers by clicking here:

http://www.parentingideasclub.com.au/Quick-Tips?page=4

Some of the questions include:

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Q - My kids can be cruel to each other. How do I stopsibling put-downs?Q - How do I get my child to stop being defiant andanswering back?Q - How do I get my kids to school on time? They are soslow in the morning.Q – My kid refuses to go to school and each morningand we have tantrums and tears. I’m at the end of mytether, please HELP!

Coomera Staff Health & Wellbeing Committee

Thank you to ‘The Press Café’ at Coomera Waters for donatinga $40.00 voucher to the Coomera Staff Health and WellbeingCommittee. The Health and Wellbeing committee has rewardedthis prize to Mrs Dijana Ioane for her wonderful work as theStudent Engagement Coach.

The Press Café is open from 7:30 am to 3:30 pm and canbe found at Kestral Lane Harbour Village Parade, CoomeraWaters.

https://www.facebook.com/thepresscafecoomera/

Call: 0420 940 577

Thank you to ‘Organica Cosmetic and Laser Clinic’ at UpperCoomera for donating an $80.00 Organica Facial to theCoomera Staff Health and Wellbeing Committee. The Healthand Wellbeing committee has rewarded this prize to Mrs KerriUnderwood for organising the fabulous Carols by Glow Light.

You can find Organica Cosmetic and Laser Clinic at Shop 5Brygon Reserve Shopping Centre, Upper Coomera.

http://www.organica.net.au

Call (07) 5529 9111

A photo of the two ‘unsuspecting’ gorgeous ladies below(Dijana on the left and Kerri on the right) who received theirawards this week!

Finance Update

Please note that the Finance office is closed Week 10 for endof term financial procedures. Payments can still be made onlinevia internet banking and BPay.

BPOINT Payments

Student Absence Notification

It is a lawful requirement to send your child to school everyday unless you have a valid and reasonable excuse i.e. illness,hospital appointments. In the event of your child being absentfrom school, please notify us by;

Get Microsoft Office 2016 free of charge

Did you know your child can get Microsoft Office 2016 free ofcharge, just for being a student at Coomera State School? Allyou need is your child’s school email address to sign in.

To help prepare your child for success this academic year,the Department of Education and Training has teamed up withMicrosoft to provide free Office 2016 to every Queensland state

• Phoning the student absence line 24/7 on 5519 6360or email 0124_StudentAbsences@eq.edu.au.

• Send in a note or Medical Certificate with your childon the day he/she returns to school

• Seeing the office staff member in person who willupdate the absence in our system.

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school student. With Office 2016, your child will have access tothe latest version of Word for writing, Excel for spreadsheets,PowerPoint for presentations, OneNote for organisation andnotetaking, and much more.

You can install a complete version of the latest Microsoft Officeon up to five compatible PCs and Macs, five tablets and fivesmartphones. Your Office subscription lasts for as long as yourchild is a state school student.

Ask your child to follow these simple steps to get Office:

http://www.education.qld.gov.au/office2016

Sports News

Help us secure funding to improve our sportingequipment & facilities

P&C News

Tuckshop Update

There will be no Flexischool available from Thursday 8thDecember onwards. Tuckshop is closed on the last day of

term, Friday 9 December with only a sausage sizzle availablefrom 1st break.

Please remember that at the end of each term, the Tuckshop ison a very limited menu and may not have all items for sale.

“PLEASE NOTE THAT FLEXISCHOOLS IS NOTAVAILABLE THIS THURSDAY OR FRIDAY”

School Banking

It has been wonderful to see so many students participate inSchool Banking this year. School Banking is a great way to formgood savings habits from a young age.

This year we have seen many new Youth Saver accountsopened and over 2500 deposits made! As a result the schoolhas earnt $1280 in commission.

Well done to all our Term 4 Class of the Week and ConsistentSaver of the Year Award recipients.

Week Class of the Week

1 3C

2 4B

3 1A

4 2F

5 5B

• For PC and Mac, visit portal.office.com, login usingyour school email address, click through to installand follow the onscreen process.

• For tablets and smartphones, download from yourapp store and sign in with your school email address.

• Visit the link below for instructions on how todownload and install Office 2016 to your personalhome computers. If you have any trouble, contactthe office on 5519 6333.

• Prep to Year 2 will order via their classrooms

• Year 3 to Year 6 can purchase their sausages at theTuckshop window during 1st break only!

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Week Class of the Week

6 2B

7 4C

8 5A

Year Level Consistent Saver of the Year

Prep – Year 1 Tayla B

Year 2 – Year 3 Phoenix Fatu

Year 4 – Year 6 Casey Biber

Community News

BreastScreen Qld (BSQ) Gold Coast Services will be closedover the Christmas/ New Year’s period.

Bookings can be made before December 23 this year and thenagain after January 9 by phoning 13 20 50.

Please book in for your free BreastScreen at one of ourlocations:

Women 40 years and older are eligible to attend every twoyears, with women aged 50-74 strongly encouraged to attend.

A breastscreen every two years is the most effective way todetect cancer early. For more information visit the link below.

http://www.breastscreen.qld.gov.au/

Diving – School Holiday Activity for Kids

SIBA Soccer

SIBA Soccer is a fun, safe and structured one hour after schoolprogram held at Coomera State School. For more informationincluding bookings, please email simon@sibasoccer.com.au orcall Simon on 0434 897664.

Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens

Friends of the Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens, whichis a not for profit organisation, is again presenting educationalactivities at the Botanic Gardens during the upcomingSeptember school holidays.

One of the roles of Botanic Gardens is to educate thecommunity about the importance of plants and Friendsvolunteers provide these activities. Studies are now showinghow important it is for children to interact with nature.

• Southport,

• West Burleigh,

• Helensvale or at our mobile:

• Beaudesert (now until December 16),

• North Tamborine (January 9 – January 25) and

• Nerang (January 30 – February 23).

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Cricket News: The Junior Heat Clinics are back!

Skateboard lessons are now available atCoomera Skate Park!

Skate coaching sessions at Coomera Skate Park are nowavailable after school at 4pm. See attached flyer for moreinformation!

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This one is just for girls!

FREE Parenting and Well-being programs

AMART Sports: Community Kickbacks

St Mary’s Christmas Celebrations

Bring home a big brother or sister and bringFrench Culture to Life!

Why not volunteer to host an international student from Francenext year? We have a small group of delightful French studentscoming to Australia for 10 weeks to immerse in local Australian

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culture, experience our High schools, sports, environment andlifestyle. All the French students are around 15 years old, speakexcellent English, have their own spending money, we cover allschool expenses, and we arrange all aspects of their program.They are looking forward to joining an Australian family for ashort term. It’s fun and interesting to help these young peopleachieve their Australian dream. If you’d like know more, pleaseemail your interest to Rob at Inter Cultural Management onrl@scce.com.au.

Table Tennis Holiday Fun

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