2 March 2018

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

We are right into the swing of the second half of term and school life is incredibly busy. There are quite a number of school events occurring over these next four weeks, so please keep on reading through any correspondence and marking these dates in your calendar.

Leadership Assembly

Last week we held our leadership assembly where we formally recognised the successful students who have been elected into leadership positions for 2018.

During Term 4, 2017, we had an incredible number of students put themselves forward for consideration for one of these positions and it is very important to recognise and congratulate this action. It took a lot of courage and belief for every single one of our students to go through this process, and listening to the speeches last year was a privilege.

With all voting finalised, we were able to announce the successful school leaders for 2018. This year, school council representatives were finalised and now everyone has received their much anticipated badge.

We wish all of our leaders and councillors a successful year and we look forward to working with them.

New Prep Adventure Playground

Construction is almost complete on the new prep adventure playground. The anticipated date of completion is Friday 9th March.

This is a very exciting conclusion to a long standing project and issue for our school.

Whilst there was some conjecture on Facebook regarding the installation of this playground, I am more than happy to clarify with our community that no P&C funds have been used in the completion of this playground. This project has been a long standing issue for the school. In fact, from the beginning of my principalship in 2012 it has been a priority. At this time, the P&C were working hard to raise funds to address the workplace health and safety issues being caused by the daily and continued bark/dust issues.

I also had this matter referred to regional facilities for investigation. However, the outcome was that either the P&C or school would need to find the funds to address and rectify the concerns. The school has worked long and hard to get to this point of resolution for what has been both a facilities and workplace health and safety priority for our school.

I would love to have all of the money in the world to fix every issue that exists, however, schools do a yearly review and work accordingly within our allocated budgets. We also work hard to secure any additional funds through grant applications.

Yes, I agree with many of you that air conditioning is important. However, this does not detract from identified priorities in our school. I do ensure we work through a clear and thorough process of improvement and one that is reviewed and prioritised regularly, and as Principal, I retain the responsibility of this decision making.

Providing safe and adequate play spaces for our students is as equally important in this process. In 2008 the school opened with 90 students. In 2018, we started our school year off with just over 900 students. With this growth comes the responsibility to have enough equipment available to ensure there is safe and appropriate play options available. Our future focus will be on providing more options for our older students.

Our P&C continue to work extremely hard on providing opportunities for fundraising towards air conditioning and the next roll out of installation is due in the next school break. This is by no means an easy or cheap exercise, and it will take time.

Commonwealth Games

In only a matter of weeks the spotlight will be cast on the Gold Coast for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. This is an exciting time for the Gold Coast, and has brought with it some significant infrastructure.

I hope you have all been keeping on top of the community announcements being made regarding the altering of speed limits on the M1 starting at Springwood and the anticipated road closures during the event itself.

School life will continue as normal in the lead up, with the only change being Monday 16th April which is an additional Student Free Day. This is to allow for the exodus from the Gold Coast and for the buses being seconded during this time to make their way back to their assigned depots.

When Kids Experience Problems at School

Article by Michael Grose

Every parent wants the best for their children, and that includes wanting them to have great experiences at school. By and large, Australian schools deliver on that expectation. They are generally safe places for kids, staffed by hard-working teachers who have the best interests of their students at heart. Achievement, discipline and student wellbeing are high on the list of priorities for most teachers.

Nevertheless, despite the best teaching practices things do go wrong at school. Most kids experience learning difficulties from time to time. Conflict and peer rejection are a normal part of school life. The developmental nature of childhood means that there will always be some turbulence, particularly around key transition ages such as the start of adolescence. During these times young people frequently experience a dip in their learning as well as significant relationship difficulties. Kids will often come home from school with grievances, and call on their parents for assistance.

Your approach as a parent when your child has difficulty at school can make a huge difference to their resilience and to their future relationships with teachers and peers. This includes not only any advice you may give and the way you give it, but also the way you approach the school, if that becomes necessary. Unfortunately, anecdotal evidence suggests that there’s been a significant increase in aggressive incidents at schools involving parents reacting to their children’s grievances. This presents a danger to teachers, harms the all-important teacher-parent relationship, and sets a bad example to children about how to resolve differences.

Here’s a seven point checklist to help you stay focused and be effective if your child experiences difficulty at school.

1. Be empathetic first
   Kids, like adults, like to vent. They will often benefit simply from having told their side of a story to a trusted source. Often they just want their parents to understand what’s happening, so your first response should be an empathetic one. That is, your child should feel you understand them and take them seriously. “That’s awful. I’d be upset too if someone stole my lunch” is the sort of response kids want to hear when they are genuinely upset.
2. Stay calm and take your time
   It’s natural as a parent to want to protect or defend your children, particularly when you think that they’ve come in for some unfair or poor treatment. But acting when you are full of emotion is not always smart as emotions make us prone to over-reaction and jumping to all sorts of possibly incorrect conclusions.
   Rather than getting on the phone straight away to organise a meeting at school, take your time to think through how you might assist your child. Time generally provides greater perspective, which will likely lead to a better response from you.
3. Get all the facts
   Getting the facts about the situation can be really tricky. Kids are faulty observers and often only see one side of a story when there’s a problem with a teacher or a fellow student. They sometimes can’t see that perhaps they may have contributed inadvertently to a dispute at school, or perhaps said something that may have upset a teacher. It’s your job to help your child or young person process what happened in an incident, so that all the facts emerge and you can fully understand their place in any problem. Keep asking questions to enable the complete story to unfold.
4. Assess whether to go to school or not
   Often problems can be dealt with at home, simply by talking through an issue and giving kids some common sense tips to help them cope. However, if your child has a recurring problem that he can’t solve himself, or you think adult intervention may be needed to sort out a relationship issue with a teacher or peer, then consider meeting with your child’s teacher or year-level coordinator.
5. Use the right channels if you take the issue to school
   Approach the school calmly, going through the school office or directly to your child’s teacher if that is the usual protocol. If you have already established a relationship with the teacher concerned, then it’s often easier to approach them directly.
6. Look for solutions rather than blame
   Parent-teacher meetings usually get nowhere when either party blames the other. State the problem as you see it and view your child’s teacher as an ally, not a foe. “I’m really worried about Jeremy. He’s been acting strangely lately and I need some help” is the type of approach that will elicit a helpful response. Talk about your concerns and keep the discussion focused firmly on what’s best for your child. Listen to your teacher’s viewpoint, valuing a different perspective.
7. Stay in touch
   Be realistic with your expectations, remembering that some problems can’t be solved to your satisfaction, nor will they be resolved straight away. Be prepared to work alongside your child’s teacher over the long-term, which means maintaining communication with each other.

Parenting is easy when things are going well, but testing when your children struggle or experience difficulty. Stepping back and taking a long-term, reflective view is often the best approach when your child experiences difficulty at school.

Have a wonderful week!

Kind Regards

Martine Gill
Principal

Student Leadership Induction Ceremony

On the 22nd February we officially welcomed our School Leaders, Sports Leaders and Student Council to their positions of office during our Student Leadership Induction Ceremony. It was wonderful to see so many family members in the hall to share such a great achievement with our 2018 leaders. We look forward to seeing you grow as leaders in our school community and anticipate great things to come. Congratulations to our 2018 Student Leadership Team!

iPad Tips n Hints

One of the coolest things about your new iPad is the ability of the device to bring your family together. Here are five ways to make it do just that:

• Bring your family game night into the 21st century. Looking for some family game night ideas? Rather than sitting around a stodgy board game rolling dice, download a few family game apps that guarantee a great time. Two to try: Heads Up or Pictureka.
• Create the soundtrack of your life. For some families, having the right tunes, whether you’re having a dance party or making dinner, is an essential way to connect with each other. Set up a playlist on Spotify, hook up some speakers, and it’s never been easier to have exactly the right song on all the time.
• Be face-to-face when you’re apart. If you’ve got family members who travel often or don’t live nearby, using your iPad’s FaceTime feature (or downloading the Skype app) makes it easy to visually connect at any time. (Remind your child that they are not to utilise Facetime or imessage while at school. If they are required to contact you they must go to the office and speak to the office ladies.)

• Make family road trips more bearable. While vacations are the stuff that memories are made of, cramming too many people into one car for an extended period of time can lead to some stressful moments. Download a few movies to keep the kids (or restless adults) distracted for the drive, or try an app like RoadTrip Bingo, which will have everyone looking out the windows, rather than at the clock.
• Discover your roots. Part of being a family is enjoying a shared sense of history, but many people have lost track of exactly what their personal history looks like. Genealogy apps like Ancestry or Family Search can help you learn about your family’s past and build a family tree to share with future generations.

Helensvale State High School
Year 7 2019 Academy Application Important Dates

Attendance – Every Day Counts

PE News

Broadwater District Swimming Carnival

Joshua H, Sunny L, Brianna T, Aysan H and Max M recently competed in the Broadwater District Swimming Trials. All swimmers gave their best effort and came home with some great results:

Regional South Coast Swimming Trials

Congratulations to Brianna, Sunny and Joshua as they competed on Monday this week at the Regional South Coast Swimming Trials at Miami Aquatic Centre. It was a big carnival involving all Gold Coast schools. All swimmers did a fantastic job and we are very proud of them for achieving the honour of swimming for our school at a regional level.

School Cross Country Carnival – 14th March

Our annual Cross Country Carnival will be held on Wednesday 14th March.

Students can come to school dressed in their house colours –

Ballun (Blue), Kaban (Green), Tharagum (Yellow) and Tugai (Red).

If you are unsure which house your child is in, please contact your classroom teacher. Families and friends are invited to come along and cheer! Don’t forget to bring your chairs.

Prep – Year 3 students will be running between 9:00am - 10:30am
Years 4 - 6 will be running between 11:15am – 12:45pm.

These times are approximate.

P&C Colour Run

Our wonderful P&C along with the PE Department will be hosting the school Colour Run on Friday 23rd March from 1.30 pm.

Permission notes are to be returned to classroom teachers and sponsorship forms/money to be returned to the tuckshop.

Please note – Friday 23rd March will be a free dress day.

Coles Sports for School Vouchers

There is a box in the school office to drop off your Coles Sporting Vouchers.

Library News

Book Club

We are starting Book Club again this year with Issue 2 of Book Club already distributed to all classes.

For parents and carers new to Book Club, please follow the directions on the back of the order form and place your orders online.

Please note – DO NOT SEND MONEY - all orders are to be placed online.

Please have your order placed by Wednesday 7th of March. The school receives a percentage of the total of all orders to be used to order free books for the library. If you have any problems please see me. Thank you for your support.

Happy Reading,

Sue Marriott
Teacher Librarian

Music News

Instrumental Music

Strings and Band students are settling into their new lesson groups very well and mostly remembering to arrive at the correct time for their weekly lesson. Now is the time to make sure your child has everything that is needed for Strings and Band. All students have been asked to bring a DISPLAY FOLDER and a PENCIL to their lesson and ensemble rehearsal each week. Please also check that your child is bringing their instrument home from school after their lesson each week, and attempting all set Instrumental Home Practice tasks.

Music Shirts

Our performing ensembles look amazing in their Music Shirts. If your child is in Band, Strings or Choir now is the time to order your Music Shirt for 2018 – available from the uniform shop for $28. Music Shirts can be worn to school on Thursdays in 2018. Prep parents please be advised that the Music Shirts are now available from size 4 upwards.

Chess Competition

This term, a number of students have been selected to attend the inter-school chess competition on the 9th of March. These students were selected as they consistently attend chess club and show confidence in the game. We wish them good luck!

Uniform Shop

The Uniform Shop is open on Monday, Wednesday and Friday 8.15am – 9.00am. Payment methods accepted include Eftpos and Credit Card.

Once your child is enrolled, orders can be placed via FlexiSchools

Tuckshop

We are opened from 7.30am until 3:00pm for all your breakfast and lunch needs. Our home meal orders have now commenced. We cannot wait for you to taste some of our delicious fresh home made meals and for the price of $15 to feed a family of 4 we think it’s a great bargain.

Keep an eye out for more information!

Frankie’s Tuckshop Menu

The tuckshop is open Monday - Friday and offers a range of healthy choice options, please refer to our Tuckshop Menu for more information.

Orders can be placed at the tuckshop between 8.15am -8.40am or online via FlexiSchools

School Terms 2018

School Terms for 2018 are as follows;

School Directory

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Community Notices

UC Physio

UC Physio offers physiotherapy services including musculoskeletal, paediatric

(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), 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.

Level 1, 21 Coomera Grand Drive, Upper Coomera QLD 4209
Phone: 55 618 111 Fax: 55 618 344
Email: admin@ucphysio.physio

Gold Coast Health Oral Health (Dental) Services

The Mobile Dental Clinic will be returning to Coomera Springs State School the week commencing 4 June 2018, please refer to the attached Oral Health Service Provision Schedule for further details.

If you require an appointment before 4th June, please phone the Oral Health Client Service Centre #1300 300 850 to make a time to receive a free dental check-up & any follow up treatment required.

To arrange an appointment for your child telephone:

The Oral Health Client Service Centre

Number: 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 and must be eligible to receive Medicare benefits.

Further information on public funded oral health services can be accessed via URL:

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