Issue 35 Week 5 Calendar Monday 5 Tuesday 6 Melbourne Cup School Council meeting Wednesday 7 School banking Year 5 leadership workshop Thursday 8 Runners Club (7:45am) Bus safety program Friday 9 Active School Travel breakfast Senior promotions assembly Newsletter 36 emailed home The Wizard of Oz The cast of the 2018 Musical - The Wizard of Oz - wowed the audience at both performance sessions last week. Their singing, acting, stage craft and storytelling was very impressive. They travelled with us from Kansas to the magical land of Oz to earn the Scarecrow, Lion, Tin man and Dorothy what they yearned most, while dodging the wicked witch of the west and her plans to steal back the ruby slippers. Dorothy, Tin man, Scarecrow, Lion and some other members of the Oz crew sang solos and we were mesmerized by their young voices. This musical has a key moment at the start of Somewhere over the rainbow where lead actress Oceania nailed the note, just as Judy Garland did so many years ago. Wow! The two performances were highlights of our school year. Well done to Mrs Zander and the entire musical team who turned the script into a reality. It took many hours of preparation and rehearsal but it was all worth it in the end. Week 6 Calendar Monday 12 Tuesday 13 Parent morning workshop 8:30am Parent afternoon workshop 1:30pm Wednesday 14 School banking Year 5 leadership workshop Alliance Interschool debating (Night 3) Thursday 15 Runners Club (7:45am) Friday 16 Newsletter 37 emailed home Week 7 Calendar Monday 19 Tuesday 20 Wednesday 21 School banking Thursday 22 Runners Club (7:45am) Friday 23 Newsletter 38 emailed home
New website is live The department has selected our school to be in the first rollout of new websites. The new format looks fresh and is easy to use. Its design makes it easier to use on portable devices so please visit the site regularly for updates. Cyber safety sessions for parents In the 80 s the WWW didn t exist and Sony Walkman s were all the rage. Another 30+ years on and the world is very different. So while the kids are bopping away at the disco in their hyper-colour shirts and leg warmers, we would like you to come along to one of our parent cyber-safety sessions to learn how you can safeguard and support your children as they become familiar with the online world. Click here to register your interest in attending. Please bring your child s ipad to enrol in our cyber-safety itunes U course.
Debating: While some children donned their Halloween costumes on Wednesday night, walking the streets to fill their buckets full of sweets, 16 students came back to school to argue their team s case in our 2nd round of debates for the Coomera Alliance Debating Competition. What a commendable display of commitment to their team. This week saw all three teams from Year 4-6 debate against Upper Coomera. We even had three students step in at the last minute to go up against Coomera Springs to replace a team that was unable to make the competition. Our Year 4 s contended that Books are better than movies. For Porsche, Harry, Kai and Charlotte, this was their first ever debate and they walked away successfully convincing the adjudicators that books certainly bind people together and are far more educational. This was a very clever play on words for their team line. Our Year 5 s were also first timers in the debating world and argued that Computer skills are more important than handwriting skills. Isabella, Isabella and Tawhirimatea were also successful in convincing the audience that if we were to rank skills by order of importance, computer skills would come before handwriting skills. This was a rather skillful way to attack the topic which saw them come out victorious. Our Year 6 team tackled the topic, That fairy tales send the wrong message, and they agreed wholeheartedly. Sarah, Ella, Jazzy and Sophie advised us to take the fairy tales off the bookshelf because these unrealistic stories are conveying some pretty disturbing messages to our children. It appears, the adjudicators agreed with them and it was another win for Coomera Rivers. Special mention must go to three students who stepped in 3 days before the competition. Unfortunately we had one school who were unable to make it to the Year 6 debate and rather than another school missing the opportunity to participate, we had Tori D and Christian P from Year 4 and Lara C from Year 6 band together to form a last-minute team. Our students in this instance argued against the topic, stating that fairy tales are oozing with valuable messages and we need to stop over analysing them. They did such an impressive job, providing Coomera Springs with some very strong arguments. They really did blow the adjudicators away with how polished and confidently they spoke. What a courageous effort. While Coomera Rivers currently remains undefeated in this competition, winning it is not our purpose. It s wonderful to see our students joining with our neighbouring schools in a friendly competition and learning from each other. We look forward to seeing how the next round plays out in Week 6 when our Team A s come back to battle it out for a place in the grand final.
Young Change Agents: What a great day! 40 of our students and 5 teachers were challenged to not only learn, but create in a very short amount of time. Each team worked through the process of creating a community map, practicing ideation & design thinking techniques, sharing their ideas through a prototype and pitching their idea for a solution to a problem. It was a very long day for the students but they did an exceptional job and should be congratulated for their entrepreneurialism, persistence and teamwork. The group ideas included: Idea 1: How might we get more green gardens on rooftops? Idea 2: How might we make medicines more affordable? Idea 3: How might we separate plastics from water to stop pollution into our oceans? Idea 4: How might we make home security more affordable for all? Idea 5: How might we stop people using single use cups? Idea 6: How might we stop deforestation? Idea 7: How might we get young people off social media? Idea 8. How might we get more younger people learning about and using solar power? Our presenter, Margaret selected some group ideas to go through to the regional pitch on 5 December at Upper Coomera State College. We will now need to hone that number to just two. Thank you sincerely to the staff team who worked alongside the students at the event and across the coming weeks as we continue to develop our entrepreneurial skills.
Inter-school sports: Coomera Rivers joined other schools in our cluster sports day for Term 4. Year 5 and 6 students were selected in teams to represent our school in three sports - touch football, netball and basketball. While collectively our teams won all but one match, it was for a different reason that we participate. Our school sports motto is Fun - Fitness - Friendship and our coaches all report that we shone in this regard. Thank you sincerely to Mr Raffin, Mr Burrows, Ms Findlay, Miss Reid, Mrs Walsh, Mr Murillo and Ms Kendall on their fine work in preparing our teams.
Our chess team competed at the regional tournament this week and although we didn t bring home winning medallions this time, our players represented us brilliantly well showing incredible etiquette and skill. We have been working on strategy in chess club and this will help us continue to improve. Thank you to Miss Wolbers who led the team so well.
Tickets sales close this Wednesday at 4:00pm
As a reward for our Fun Fit Friday active travelers we will be holding an Active School Travel Breakfast next Friday morning. So please consider walking to school next Friday to help us reach our active school travel target of 50%. Please note - breakfast stocks are limited so please ensure your child does have breakfast before coming to school - this breakfast should only be considered a supplement to their regular breakfast.
Bucks for a Breeze... In Term 4 we continue our focus on raising funds to allow for classroom air-conditioning installation. So far, this year, we have installed 9 classrooms making a total of 11 classrooms air-conditioned! This term s campaign is Bucks for a Breeze. Please see all the details in the below flyer and if you are in a position to support this fundraiser please do so. We always appreciate any support you can provide.
Parent workshop