19 August 2016

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Life certainly does move quickly and some big changes happen as equally fast.

Hopefully you have all heard the news, but I am taking some family leave from Coomera Springs as my husband and I will be welcoming a beautiful 1 year old girl into our family. Thank you so very much to this wonderful community for all of your well wishes and support. To say we are over the moon does not even come close to explaining our feelings and it is made all the more nicer to know we have such great support from school.

I will be starting my leave this Friday afternoon, and will be returning during 2017. During this time our very capable and talented Mr Haley will be taking on the role of Principal. All of you will be very familiar with Mr Haley as he has been a member of Coomera Springs for a long time and has been part of our administration team for 4 and a half years.

Mrs Raffin, another super capable staff member, will be stepping into the position of Deputy Principal for the length of this time. Mr Morris will be Deputy Principal of Years 4-6 for the remainder of this term.

So many changes I know, but extremely capable and talented people are taking on these roles.

I am definitely keeping in contact with the school and very much looking forward to seeing and hearing all of the wonderful news from Coomera Springs.

It is a true pleasure and privilege to be a part of this community and to lead such a wonderful school. I truly do take great pride in our school and I know that all that we have built and worked towards will continue on and will only get better.

Celebrating Literacy across Our School

In term 3, our school engages in an enormous celebration of National Literacy Week. During this term we will host multiple events to celebrate and promote the importance of Literacy, in particular, reading for all of our students.

One of our large community events that we started last year is our Real Men Read event. This will once again be happening, so mark in your calendars for Wednesday 31st August at 3.00pm. we have some fantastic displays organised for our community to enjoy, as well as the Gold Coast Mobile Library coming along again. To give you a small glimpse into this event, we will be having a story teller, a dance demonstration, some great car displays, skateboards, face painting, a jumping castle and The Men’s Shed coming along.

Our P&C have organised for some food to be available for sale on this day.

But even though we have organised for some great attractions, the real focus remains on gathering our community to celebrate and promote the importance of reading, and showcasing that our very important male role models read and read every single day.

And…. One of our other very exciting events is our Book Character Parade. This great event will be happening on Wednesday 24th August starting at 9am in our hall.

This year we would love to extend the invitation to our parents to join in the fun of making characters come to life. So please parents, choose your character and come along dressed up and ready to strut your stuff on the catwalk.

School Logo Upgrade

Something very special that we have been working on throughout the year is a small upgrade on our school logo, as well as introducing a school motto that encapsulates what we truly believe our school is about. This has all been shared at both the P&C and School Council level.

Next year will actually be the 10th year that our school has been operating, so we felt it was timely to sharpen up a few areas for such a momentous achievement.

The logo itself has not undergone a drastic change. We are maintaining the original look, but sharpening the colours to reflect our uniform as well as creating a night sky and using the correct version of the Southern Cross.

One very new addition to our school though is a motto. We have our values of Respect, Integrity and Excellence. However, we have had an absence of a motto. After a lot of research and unpacking what we do at Coomera Springs and what we truly believe in, the motto that we have settled on is:

Our Community Creating Futures

We believe that it takes every single one of us to get the best out of our students and it is our collective responsibility as a community to commit to this. We also believe that through all of the experiences and opportunities that our school provides, we do give our students the best start in their learning journey and transition to secondary school.

So over the next 12 months you will see these changes to our logo and motto rolling out. We will also be putting a call out for some parent support in organising a 10 year celebration.

Take care and I will see you all in 2017

Martine Gill

News from Our Deputy Principals

2017 Prep Enrolments

Prep enrolments for 2017 are now open and numbers are flooding in. We already have over 50 future Coomera Springers. Coomera Springs State School has an exciting transition program so if you have younger siblings, friends or family ready to start Prep please don’t hesitate to enrol your child sooner rather than later.

Word Mania

CONGRATULATIONS to our Year 5 students who have been named National Finalists in the Literacy Plant Word Mania competition. Our Year 5s have placed in the top 10 out of 2300 schools across the country!! This is a huge achievement and it means that our Year 5s are now in the running to be the National Champions! Great work, Year 5!

Coomera Springs Mathletics Invitational

On the first of September teams of 4 students from each Year 1 to Year 6 grade will travel to Movie World for the first Coomera Springs Mathletics Invitational event.

Students will compete against 3 other local schools in a celebration of mental computation skills. Each year level will battle it out in a Live Mathletics challenge until we find an overall winning school.

QParents

Coomera Springs State School is proud to be one the first schools in Queensland to offer QParents.

Thank you to all those parents who have registered for QParents. This means every registered parent now has the opportunity to access to their children’s student records at their fingertips, anytime, anywhere. Haven’t received an invitation from us yet? There’s still time! Please let us know immediately. Or if you are simply looking for further information, videos and FAQs on QParents, visit:

The QParents web and mobile application provides a more convenient, easier way for parents and legal guardians of Queensland state school students to interact with their child’s school. Parents will have secure, online access to their child’s student information, anytime, anywhere, through a smartphone, tablet or computer.

QParents allows parents to connect instantly with their child’s school to access and manage their child’s student information, including:

• Attendance and absence details, as well as the ability to notify the school of an absence
• Behaviour information
• Academic report cards
• Class timetables
• Viewing unpaid invoice details, payment history, and making payments online
• Viewing and updating student details, including medical conditions and address
• Enrolment details

QParents will assist both staff and parents in sharing and responding to information in an efficient and effective way.

It won’t replace the traditional ways you communicate with our school, but it will provide another way to communicate with us.

The benefits of QParents

Convenience and time savings for parents

• Parents can view or update their child’s details without having to contact the school
• Secure 24/7 online access.
• Available anytime, anywhere — access QParents on your smart phone, tablet or computer.

Greater transparency of information

• Improves accountability between parents and schools by providing parents with timely access to their child’s information online.
• Allows parents to engage more deeply in their child’s schooling

Improved administration efficiencies for schools

• Allows schools to streamline their administrative processes and cut down on printing

What is a QParents Account Owner (QPAO)?

The school will nominate one parent or legal guardian for each student to be the QParents Account Owner (QPAO). The QPAO will be able to register for QParents to access and manage the student’s information online. A student’s QPAO will be able to view the student’s information and submit requests to update some of the student’s details.

The QPAO will also be able to invite other people (such as another parent or family member), to view the student’s information. Once invited, these people can register for QParents as “delegated viewers”. A delegated viewer can see the student’s details, but cannot make updates.

Registering for QParents

Prep parents will receive an invitation email or letter from us containing your unique invitation code in week 3 with all remaining parents receiving an invitation in week 7. Simply follow the instructions in that email or letter to complete the QParents account registration process.

If you do not want to register, you can just ignore the invitation and your child’s student information will not be available to anyone through QParents. Or, if you want another parent to be the QPAO, you can advise us and we will send them an invitation email or letter with their own unique invitation code.

For more information on the online identity verification process, see:

Where does the information about my child come from?

All of the information that is presented in QParents comes from the IT system that is used by all Queensland state schools. Schools will continue to manage student information in this system, and the information will be extracted and presented in QParents.

Will my child’s information be secure?

Yes. QParents is a secure portal that meets strict industry standards. Only people with the right to access information about their child will be given an account; no one else.

If you don’t want to register for QParents, your account will not be created and your child’s information will not be made available through QParents.

Help and contact information

For help, visit the link below or call 13 QGOV (13 74 68)

Triple P

Upcoming Triple P Seminar’s:

Triple P

Continued Triple P Seminar’s:

Parents all over the world have the same kinds of problems. Toddler tantrums, fighting at home or at school, a child who won’t go to bed, a defiant teen, or one who never seems to listen. The good news is the Triple P – Positive Parenting Program can help.

Triple P is a parenting program that helps make raising kids (and teenagers) easier. It gives you tips and ideas to help you deal with the big and small problems of family life. Triple P is NOT “one size fits all”. You can do as much, or as little as you like. Parenting is usually lots of fun. But every parent has times when things can get a little tricky. Like when your toddler won’t eat his/her dinner. Or your five year old won’t pick up their toys.

Coomera Springs in partnership with the Benevolent Society will be running the second of three 90 minutes seminars starting at 3:15pm this Wednesday 17th August.

All sessions will be held in our school library and we hope to see as many parents in attendance as possible. Stay tuned for further information.

NAPLAN ONLINE - TRIAL OF THE NEW ONLINE ASSESSMENT PLATFORM

You may have heard that NAPLAN Online is being introduced from 2017, with an aim for all schools to be administering NAPLAN online by 2019.

NAPLAN Online will provide better assessment, more precise results and faster turnaround of information. Your child’s results will be returned to you faster, within a couple of weeks rather than a couple of months.

Our school has been selected to trial the new assessment platform (the computer system the test will be taken on). This trial shouldn’t be seen as a ‘test’ of content; it is a chance for the new platform to be tested in a real-life classroom environment. This trial is called the Platform Trial and Readiness Test (PTRT).

During August 2016, students in Years 3 and 5 will participate in a trial of the assessment platform, by undertaking one online readiness test that includes examples of the new NAPLAN online questions. This test will take approximately 45 minutes to complete.

Participating in this trial is important as it will help us ensure we have adequate internet connectivity, and whether students have access to sufficient number of devices for NAPLAN testing. During the trial, schools will have the opportunity to practice managing the classroom logistics for an online assessment and the new test administration processes.

Feedback from schools participating in the trial will inform transition to the online assessment as well as provide valuable feedback to shape the final development of the NAPLAN Online platform.

The readiness test has not been constructed to assess curriculum knowledge, but rather to provide students an opportunity to experience the types of questions that will be included in the new online assessment.

Participation in this trial is a key step to ensuring a successful NAPLAN online experience.

Ipad 1:1 class 2017

Thank you to all who managed to attend the 1:1 iPad information sessions for all Year Three and Prep parents who have children entering Years 1 & 4 in 2017.

An expression of interest was e-mailed out last week. This information helps determine possible staffing/ classroom structures for these year levels in 2017 and is a vital part in the iPad program process.

If you would like another copy of the EOI please make contact with me.

The purchasing portal is now open and ready for orders. There are multiple payment options, including a 6 months interest free selection. Please select the following link to access the portal.

Taylor Haley/ Elvis Gegić/ Acting Deputy Gabby Raffin

News from our Chaplain

Chappy News

It is good to be back in school after being away for a Chaplaincy conference in the previous week. I have no new stuff to report on, but if you still have old bikes and scooters you no longer want and that need a bit of TLC, then contact me at benf@chappy.org.au and we can get them to the school to be fixed by the mini men shed.

Food for thought

So yesterday, Todd Firth, the previous Chaplain dropped in to see how I was going and to catch up with students and teacher he worked closely with. It was encouraging to see that even though he has been gone now for over 18 months, the students and staff were still excited to see him. It got me thinking, how often do we focus on being that person that people will remember for the right reasons?

So often we get bogged down with just doing life, but where is the significance in that? There are people that I came across that I still remember fondly due to the fact that they took the time to invest into me and guide me in the right way.

What are we doing for the younger generations? Are we just leaving them to their own devices or are we walking side by side with them to help guide them through this thing called life?

Chappy Ben

News from our IT Department

Dear Parents and Carers,

Are you subscribed to our newsletter?

Do you see it off the website, emailed from the school or our Facebook or twitter accounts?

Would you like to get it emailed to you as soon as it is released…?

Please click on the link below to receive it via email as soon as it is released!

Further into the Sign Up process is the option for you to choose your association with the school (e.g. Staff, Parent, and Student)

News from our Music Department

Footsteps to Fame

Footsteps to Fame is now underway with lots of fabulous and talented students coming along to impress us with their auditions. Please remind your children to check the schedule for their audition time. If they do miss their timeslot, there will be one more opportunity to get their audition done towards the end of week 7. Once all auditions have been done, the Semi-finalists will be announced. Semi Finals will occur at the end of this term with the Grand Finals happening in Week 2 of Term 4.

There will be a Junior and a Senior competition, with three categories students can enter: Singing, Dancing and Mix It up (Comedy, magic show, juggling, instrumental music etc).

Auditions will be commencing in week 5, Semi-finals will occur towards the end of Term3, and the Grand Final will be in week 2 of Term 4. The winners from the Grand Final will be performing at the school fete in October!

There are prizes for the Grand Final winners, more details about that to follow soon!

There are a few rules, please see below:

1. Each act must be no longer than 5 minutes
2. Students may only enter in ONE category, and ONE performance group. In other words, each student is only allowed to perform ONCE.
3. Students in the dance category are NOT to perform any type of flip or aerial stunt. Safety comes first!
4. Students performing in the Grand Final must have performed in the auditions and semi-finals as well. A new student may not join a group that has already performed just for the Grand Final.

We are very excited about this bug event and can’t wait to see all the talent!!!!

MUSICAL SHOWCASE EVENING

The Musical Showcase Evening will be held on Wednesday the 7th of September at 5:30pm in our hall. This will be a very exciting evening of music and entertainment. All of our Instrumental Music ensembles will be performing, as well as our Choirs, the Drumline, the Teacher Band and some visiting high school students from Upper Coomera State College.

This is a great opportunity for parents of potential Instrumental Music students to come along and see what the program has to offer.

The event will be catered, and there will be a small entry fee applicable. We also hope to have teacher performances and some visiting high school performers as well.

Our whole school community is invited to come along and enjoy some wonderful entertainment. Light refreshments will be served before the show. Gold coin donation for entry.

The date is Wednesday the 7th of September at 5:30pm.

Eisteddfod

Our String Ensemble, Junior Band and Senior Band have all been to the Gold Coast Arts Centre to compete in the Gold Coast Eisteddfod over the last two weeks. All of the groups did a fantastic job representing our school – they all sounded terrific!

Music Centre of Excellence Class

2017 will see another opportunity for our current Year 2s to enter into a Year 3 Music Centre of Excellence class. There will be an information afternoon scheduled at the end of this Term. More details to follow!

News from our PE Department

JUNIOR SUMMER COMP Coomera Comets Touch Football

Registration Dates at Coomera Touch Fields

• Friday 12th August 2016 from 4pm
• Friday 19th August 2016 from 4pm

COMMENCES = Friday, September 2ND 2016
GRAND FINALS = Friday, December 9th 2016

Individual Fee = $120

Team Fee (Coomera reversible singlet supplied) = $990
*Team prices are based on 10 players per team; extra players will be charged $50 per player

Team Fee (your own singlet) = $890
*Team prices are based on 10 players per team; extra players will be charged $50 per player

Email: coomeracometstouch@yahoo.com.au  - Facebook: coomeracomets

Queensland Country Women’s Association

Each year our school participates in the QCWA (Queensland Country Women’s Association) School Children’s International Competition. Each year there is a different country of study for children of all ages to participate and create art works aimed at different levels; from colouring sheets to posters and information reports. This year the country of study was Greenland. At our school, students in Prep, Year one and Year two were invited to attend a colouring club with Mrs Hodder during lunch times. The entries were delivered to the Coomera branch of the QCWA where they were judged at a regional level. We are delighted to announce that our school had 11 winning entries. Some of those entries will go on to State judging with other QCWA branches.

To receive the certificates and prizes, students were invited along with Mrs Hodder, to a presentation and morning tea at the Coomera QCWA Memorial Hall.

Congratulation to the winning entries:

Prep

Jessica L – Second
Ella R – Third
Laila B - Highly Commended
Kiahna R - Highly Commended

Year One

Miya V - Highly Commended
Larissa D - Highly Commended

Year Two

Jelena U – Second
Miranda C – Third
Havana- lee - Highly Commended
Taleela H - Highly Commended
Sienna G - Highly Commended

Mrs Hodder with some of
the girls that attended
the QCWA morning tea.

News from our Librarian

Dear Parents and Carers,

Please don’t forget about our Annual Book Character Parade. Every Year to celebrate book week Coomera Springs has a wonderful Book parade. This year will be no different.

It is being held next Wednesday 24th August 9am in the hall.

Happy Reading,
Sue Marriott.

News from our Classrooms and around the School

We love to show you what is going on around our school and in our classrooms.

Under 8’s Day

Club Sphero

Club Sphero- That’s how we roll!!!

Club Sphero kicked off with a bang in Week 5 with 140 students from Years 2 to 5 showing interest in the extra-curricular offering; one of the many the extra-curricular clubs our teachers offer. In order to ‘earn’ their way into Club Sphero, students were required to complete a brief 25 words or less application. During the Week 6 assembly the lucky 20 Club Sphero members received the good news from Sphero himself in the form of a video message.

The club will now meet every Wednesday during first break to develop their understanding of robotics by creating and completing mini challenges. Club members will use a variety of apps to get our new spherical robotics to change colours, dance, jump and navigate different courses.

Using a variety of apps allows students to control the robots using a variety of methods:

• coding,
• draw’n’follow,
• gamification and
• augmented reality.

Prep

Prep had a great time at our Prep Olympics.

Grade 2

WALT design and construct an outfit for the Rio Olympics from recycled newspaper.

Grade 5

Year 5 Olympic torch relay

News from our P&C President

Camp out!

Want to come and have some fun as well as a campout on school grounds?

Friday 2nd September from 4pm til Saturday morning, games, activities, food included. For more information or for the registration form please email Sharon on coomeraspringspresident@gmail.com

Volunteers Needed

Do you have a spare hour 1 or 2 days a week? We are looking for volunteers to help in our uniform shop. The uniform shop is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings between 8.15am and 9am. If you could spare some time to help please see Kylie in Frankies Tuckerbox. Without our fabulous volunteers we wouldn’t be able to run our uniform shop and Frankies Tuckerbox.

Good bye for now

Our next P&C meeting will be held on Wednesday 7th September at 6pm in the staffroom, next to the Resource Centre. We would love to see you there. If you have any questions or would like to assist the P&C in any way, please do not hesitate to contact me at pandcpresident@coomeraspringsss.eq.edu.au

Sharon Sharp
P&C President

Community Notices

Upper Coomera Physio

What is UC Physio?

UC Physio offer physiotherapy services including musculoskeletal, paediatric, women’s health (pre & post-natal), neurological, pre and operative rehabilitation and respiratory conditions. We are able to offer a range of exercise programs that improve and maintain physical strength and function.

Sprains & Strains
Aches & Pains
Sports
Children
Pre & Post Pregnancy
Incontinence
Clinical Pilates
Hydrotherapy
Aqua Bump Classes

Where is UC Physio?

Level 1
21 Coomera Grand Drive
Upper Coomera QLD 4209

We are opposite the trade entrance to Masters in the Coomera Grand Complex

Phone: 55 618 111
Fax: 55 618 344
e-mail: admin@ucphysio.physio

PO Box 327
Upper Coomera QLD 4209

General Physiotherapy

• Musculoskeletal problems
• Spine (Back/Neck)
• Shoulders
• Poor posture
• Sport Injuries
• Pre & Post-Operative Rehab
• Respiratory
• Osteoporosis (vibrodisc)

Women’s Health

A Women’s Health Physiotherapist will help people with pelvic floor issues (eg. Incontinence, prolapsed), pregnancy discomforts (eg back, pelvic, and leg pain), and post pregnancy issues (eg abdominal separation, mastitis and breastfeeding issues).

Kids Physiotherapy

Babies and children often require specialised assessment and treatment that can’t be effectively assessed unless the clinic is specially set up to look at these i.e. developmental delay, movement disorders and neuromuscular conditions.

Workcover, DVA and Third Party

With appropriate referral from your doctor we are able to assess and treat, and report back to your referring doctor.

Clinical Pilates

Clinical Pilates is an excellent way to manage poor posture and ongoing chronic problems. It is especially effective in the hypermobile and post-operative populations. Specific DMA assessment and treatment is also very effective at treating dysautonomia when there is a spinal contribution.

Aquatic Physiotherapy

Aquatic physiotherapy programs can be used for joint pain, gait re-education, strengthening, postural control, fitness and balance. It is suitable for many conditions including muscular dystrophy, arthritis, chronic pain conditions, rehabilitation post injury and post-surgery.

Phone: 07 5561 8111

Gold Coast Health Oral Health (Dental) Services

Please note the Dental Van is no longer at Coomera Springs. To find your nearest van please call 1300 300 850 and to arrange an appointment for your child call:

The Oral Health Client Service Centre
1300 300 850
Monday – Friday 8.00 am – 4.30 pm
Excluding Public Holidays

Child Dental Benefit Schedule Vouchers are accepted. When your child’s $1000 cap is reached, there will be no out-of-pocket expenses provided your child meets *eligibility criteria.

* Eligibility – All Queensland resident children aged four years or older who have not completed year 10 of secondary school.

Junction Café

Junction Café is located in Coomera Square shopping centre. We are open for breakfast, lunch and Thursday night for dinner.

Open from 7:00 am to 4:00 pm 7 days
Thursday from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm

Plenty of room for mums to come in with pushchairs and enjoy a coffee while the kids plays at their own little table.

We are looking at hosting small cooking demonstrations on a week day morning with our Chef utilising pantry staples with a few simple chef twists. Afterwards there will be a Q&A with the Chef over a coffee or tea for those that are interested please phone 5580 0060.

Our menu has the good ol’ classics for breakfast with some added favourites, like, overnight oats, omelettes, lifestyle choice and the iconic hash stack. This runs all day

Lunch has a street food vibe, which has bagel burgers, soft shell tacos, street wings, Thai salad, BLT and a lot of mouth-watering favourites to offer.

We also offer fresh made to order sandwiches, wraps, Devonshire teas, toasted sandwiches and a few gluten free alternatives, to name a few.

Our Devonshire teas and ham, cheese, tomato toasted sandwiches are on a permanent special at $5.00.

We are a Pay it Forward café. So what does this mean? We collectively pool tips and donations, which are topped up from sales. This is given back to the community by way of tokens. These can be exchanged for a meal or drink for those that are finding it a little tuff.

We also host morning tea and scones for residents of the local aged care facilities with the Pay it Forward programme.

Follow us on Instagram: #junctionatcoomera

Coomera Cubs Baseball Club

Gold Coast Lego Brick event

The Gold Coast Brick Event will be at the new Gold Coast Event Centre at the Racecourse on the 17 & 18 September will be a fantastic event for all ages with over 30 dioramas and LEGO exhibits, LEGO play areas and much more. This is an event not to be missed.

Choose how to add this event to your calendar:

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Other Calendar Google Calendar, Yahoo, etc. - Download .ics file

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