1. education
2. school

Cooyar State School—Term 2, Week 5—20 May, 2015.
The Cooyar Chronicle
Date Claimers:
21 May-Under 8s Day
Gracey Street Cooyar Phone: 4692 6129 Fax: 4692 6249
Email: [email protected] Website: www.cooyarss.eq.edu.au
25 May-Boys Education
Information Night
28 May-Biggest Morning
Tea, Cooyar Hall
29 May-Blue Light Disco,
Blackbutt
2 June-Library Bus
15 June-P&C Meeting
20 June-Yarraman Kindy
Cent Auction
26 June-Term 2 ends
16 July-Athletics Carnival
So our information can
stay up to date, please
advise the school of any
changes to your :
Address

Phone numbers

Medical conditions

Medication
Thank you.
Newsletters by Email.
If you would like to
receive a copy of the
Cooyar Chronicle or any
other notes by email,
please send in your email
address to me and I can
place you in my Outlook
Contacts. It is a great way
to receive notes and save
paper.
Dear Parents, Carers and Community Members,
We have had another busy fortnight at Cooyar State School. It was great to be able to
attend the Cooyar Deb Ball at the town hall last Saturday night. The girls looked
beautiful and the boys very dapper. Another great local event and yet another taste of
the country for my friends from the city.
NAPLAN Assessment
Last Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, our Year 3 and Year 5 Students participated
in our state’s annual NAPLAN tests in language conventions, writing, reading and
numeracy. Results for these tests will be released later in the year. I would like to
commend all of the students who sat these tests last week. Their conduct was excellent
and they applied the test taking strategies that we have been explicitly teaching
throughout this year. Well done Year 3’s and 5’s.
Premier’s Reading Challenge 2015
This week, the Premier’s Reading Challenge begins and our students have been
registered to participate in this challenge. This is a great opportunity to promote reading
in our school community. Last year, more than 108,000 students and 700 schools
registered in the program. More than 77,500 students successfully completed the
challenge reading 1.65 million books. The reading period for the 2015 Premier's
Reading Challenge commences on Tuesday 19 May and closes Friday 28 August. This
year, the Premier has challenged all state and non-state school students from Prep to
Year 2 to read or experience 20 books, Years 3 and 4 to read 20 books and Years 5 to
9 to read 15 books. Prep to Year 2 students can experience books through shared
reading, listening to stories or reading picture books. The aim for the 2015 challenge is
to reach a total of two million books read. Every student who completes the challenge
will receive a Certificate of Achievement signed by the Premier and all students receive
a Certificate of Participation. Reading recording sheets have been sent home in KIT
Folders today. For more information about the Premier’s Reading Challenge, please
visit: http://education.qld.gov.au/schools/readingchallenge.
School Grants
Our school has just applied for a Bendigo Bank Community Grant to fund a community
playgroup at Cooyar State School for Terms 3 and 4. We will find out whether or not we
have been successful later this term.
From the Principal...
Michael Auden – Boys and Education
On Monday 25th May, 2015 Nanango State High School will be hosting Michael Auden – an international authority on
boy’s development and education. The parent information session will run from 7.00 – 9.00pm for parents and carers.
Parents are invited to attend the event by RSVPing to Nanango State High School on 4171 6444 by Friday 22nd May,
2015.
AEDC Data Collection
The Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) is a national census that builds a picture of the health and
wellbeing of children as they start their first year of full-time school. Since 2009, communities, schools and
governments across Australia have used results from the AEDC to help provide the right kinds of services, resources
and support. In May 2015, teachers will collect information about children in their first year of full-time school for the
census. While individual children’s names are recorded, individual children and schools are not identified in the final
results. I have attached an information sheet to this newsletter for parents. Mrs Duncombe will be coordinating our
AEDC Data Collection for 2015.
Junior Class Pyjama Day
Last Friday, we had a Pyjama Day at Cooyar State School won by the very persuasive letter writing by the Junior
Class. As part of our English Curriculum this term, students are learning to write persuasive letters and the Junior
Class attempted to convince me to have a Pyjama Day at school. We have included some of the very classy pyjama
outfits in this newsletter. I have to be honest in saying that these Juniors have been very convincing so far. I wonder
what they will try to convince me of next….
After School Sport Term Two
After School Sport is going strong and it is great to see so many parents each week. Your support and help is greatly
appreciated. This is a great way for our students to develop and practice their skills leading up to our 2015 Athletics
Carnival in Term Three, Week 1 Thursday 16th July, 2015.
High School 2016
Thank you to parents who notified the school about the high school that their child will be attending. High school
transition meetings have started and high school transition will begin from Term 3, 2015. This information allows us to
cater to students and the transition programs that will be relevant to them leading up to high school.
Under 8s Day 2015
Tanduringie State School will host our Small Schools Cluster Under 8s Day this Thursday 21st May, 2015. Thank you
to families who have RSVP’d to Tanduringie for younger siblings. This is a great event for the whole family to get
involved in. Students will need to take morning tea, a hat and a water bottle. I will be visiting the event in the
afternoon.
Show Camp 2015
Nominations for the Brisbane Show Camp are now open for Year 6 Queensland State School Students. The Show
Camp is a program run by the Brisbane Urban Environmental Education Centre, a department of Education
Queensland, for 20 students to live in at the Brisbane Show, Ekka, for a literacy and multimedia camp. Year Six
students who are interested have received an application pack.
Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea
On Thursday 28th May, 2015, there will be a morning tea at the Cooyar Hall to raise money for the Cancer Council.
The Senior Leaders and I will be attending to represent the school and to contribute to a community cause. A
permission note for this event will be sent home later this week.
From the Principal...
Physical Education Term 2
In Week 7 and Week 10 this term, Mr Mark Smith will be working at our school to prepare our students for the Term
Three Athletics Carnival. Mr Smith is a highly qualified and experienced Physical Education teacher who also
coordinates South Burnett sporting events and Outdoor Education Programs at Barambah Environmental Education
Centre. We look forward to having Mr Smith’s expertise at our school later in the term.
Attendance
Our Regional Attendance benchmark is 92%. This fortnight, we sustained 95.1% attendance across the school. We
are aiming for 100% attendance each fortnight. Thank you to all parents for supporting our ‘every minute of every day
counts’ initiative.
P & C Meeting
This week we had our May P & C Meeting. Please join us for the next P & C Meeting on Monday 15th June, 2015 at
7.00pm.
Late to School and Absences
A reminder that if you know that your child will be absent from school or late to school, please inform us by writing a
note in your child’s KIT Book. Alternatively, please give the school a call and leave a message if your child will be
absent from school. You can ring and leave a message at any time, day or night. As school staff follow up on all
students that are absent, your support will save us valuable learning time. Thank you for your support.
Toowoomba Regional Council Library Bus
A reminder that the Toowoomba Library Bus visits the school on odd weeks throughout this term. Students will visit
the bus between 8.00—8.30am on Tuesdays and borrow before school.
School Recycling Centre
Have your been collecting cans and bottles for our Recycling Centre? By dropping your glass and cans off to the site,
you are supporting the school. It’s as easy as accessing the site at any time and sorting your glass and cans into the
appropriate areas. The Toowoomba based company come and collect the material and monies are sent to the school
P & C. The Cooyar Hotel has been supporting this venture by recycling glass and cans with us for many years. We
invite everyone in our local community to support us in this venture.
Term Two Reporting and Assessment
At the end of Term Two, students will receive a Report Card for Semester One, 2015. This report card will assign an
achievement and effort grade, along with comprehensive feedback about each curriculum area studied in Semester
One. Parent Teacher Interviews will be offered on Monday 22 nd June in Week 10 of this term. More information will be
provided as the term progresses.
Small Schools Cluster NAIDOC DAY Term 2
In Week 10 of this term, our school will host a Small Schools Cluster NAIDOC Day. The day will include a range of
cultural activities run by Indigenous Wakka Wakka people from Cherbourg, Barambah Environmental Education
Centre Staff and our own small school staff. Rotations, including dancing, dot painting, bush tucker, boomerang
throwing, yarning circles and beading will be organised for the day. More information will be released closer to the
date.
Our School Rules and Behaviour Expectations
Each week, we review our School rules and explicitly teach expected behaviours associated with these rules on
parade. This week, our focus is on being responsible in the playground. We appreciate parents following up on our
weekly social skills focus by engaging in conversations with students at home.
From the Principal...
Week
1
Focus Area
Introduction of Term
Points for Discussion
School rules
Classroom rules, routines, procedures
What does Positive Behaviour of Learning at Cooyar State School
look like?
2
Be Safe in all Areas
Use equipment appropriately and with care
Respect the rights of others
Report dangerous or unusual situations
Eat only your own food, in designated areas
Be hygienic
3
Be Responsible in the
4
Playground
Be a Safe, Responsible
Learner in all Environments
Play fairly, follow the rules and take turns
Return equipment at the end of play
Be persistent and engage in all tasks
Be open to new ideas
Ask permission to leave all areas
5
Be Safe in the Playground
Be cyber safe
Play suitable, school approved games
Be sun safe
6
Be a Learner in all Areas
Play in approved areas
Actively listen and follow instructions
Be organised and punctual
Ask for help if needed
7
8
Be a Safe and Responsible
Learner when transitioning
around the school
Be Responsible in all Areas
Care for self, others and the environment
Move safely, respectfully and appropriately
Keep traffic areas clear
Line up responsibly
Speak truthfully, respectfully and appropriately
Act with respect, consideration and integrity
Follow procedures and obey all rules
Place litter in bins
9
Be a Learner in the Playground
10
Be a Safe and Responsible
Learner for Road Safety
Wear your school uniform with pride
Cooperate with and include others
Cross the road with care
Remain seated while the bus is moving and show respect
Walk bikes in the school grounds, to and from the bike racks
Always wear a helmet when riding a bike
Move directly to and from school
Use paths to enter and exit school
From the Principal...
Curriculum Focus
In just 14 weeks, we have seen great improvements in student’s ability and confidence in writing. In English this term,
we continue our focus on writing persuasive texts. We are using our Seven Steps to Writing skills that we used when
writing our Narratives in Term One to continue planning, writing, editing and reviewing our persuasive texts. Junior
Class students have succeeded in achieving both a Pyjama Day and a Pet Week from convincing Miss Seccombe
through their very persuasive letters. The Middle and Senior Class continue to practise persuasive writing in small
groups.
In Mathematics we are working on:
Prep
Year One
Year Two
Year Three and Four
Counting and shape
Money and shape
Time, addition and subtraction
Money and financial mathematics
count collections of coins and notes
read and represent money amounts
make and match equivalent combinations
calculate change from simple transactions
solve a range of simple problems involving money
explore strategies to calculate change
solve problems involving purchases and the calculation of change
Geometric Reasoning
identify angles in real situations
construct angles with materials
compare the size of familiar angles in everyday situations
Year Five and Six
Multiplication of decimals and adding fractions
NOTICE OF BIKE RIDE MEETING
There will be a Bike Ride Meeting at the next P and C Meeting, with an agenda incorporating country, track,
communication and logistics. Please join us at 6.30pm Monday 15 th June, 2015.
School Uniforms
For the remainder of this term, Christine Duncombe will be available after After School Sports – Wednesdays 3.45pm
to 4.00pm for school uniform sales and fittings. Payment to be made upon purchase.
DATE CLAIMER – 2015 COOYAR P & C TRAIL BIKE RIDE
Mark it in your diaries – this year’s trail bike ride will be on 17th and 18th October, 2015.
Have a great fortnight,
Yours in Education,
Kendall Seccombe
Photo Gallery...
PYJAMA DAY
Junior Class
Middle Class
Senior Class
From the MSSWD Team DDSW Region...
Information from the More Support for Students with Disabilities (MSSWD) Team
Darling Downs South West Region
SLEEP HABITS FOR CHILDREN
Sleep research shows that children who develop good sleep patterns usually carry these into adolescence, and
beyond. If you are a parent of young children struggling to get them asleep or battling kids who want to stay up
longer, then a proper working knowledge of good sleep habits and sleep hygiene is a must…
GREAT SLEEP HABITS INCLUDE:
1.
Regular bedtimes. Kids may fight this but be regular during the week and let kids stay up a little later on the
weekends.
2.
A wind down time of up to 45 minutes prior to bed. This includes, removing TV and other stimuli,
calming children down and limiting food intake (and caffeine for teenagers).
3.
Bedtime routine such as story, teeth cleaning that signals psychologically that it is time for sleep.
4.
Keeping bedrooms for sleep and not TV or devices. Bedrooms that resemble caves seem to be
recommended.
5.
Maximising the 3 sleep cues of: darkness (cave-like bedroom), lowering body temperature (baths can be
good for this) and melatonin (hormone that prepares you to sleep).
It seems sleep is one thing we can all be educated about. We take it for granted and often view poor sleepers through
a behavioural lens. Better knowledge of the biology of sleep and also sleep patterns will go a long way to helping
kids and teens get a good night’s sleep.
From the Classroom...
Junior News—Prep, Year 1 and Year 2
English
Over the last two weeks our class has been heavily involved in persuading Miss Seccombe to wear pyjamas to school
and bring their pets in. The persuasions have been so convincing that we have been successful both times! It has
been fantastic to see the enthusiasm in writing. We have included some of these persuasive letters in the newsletter.
Next week, we will be writing our last persuasive for assessment.
Science
Students have been working hard in science looking at different materials. We have looked at how materials can be
changed and what materials suit what purpose. We discovered paper cups aren’t very good for holding water but one
piece of paper can hold more that 2200 MAB blocks! Just amazing!
Under 8’s Day
Tomorrow is a very exciting day for the junior class with our annual trip to Tanduringie SS for Under 8’s Day. A
reminder, that everyone needs to be in full school uniform, with a hat, water bottle and morning tea. We will be having
a sausage sizzle for lunch. The bus leaves Cooyar at 9:00am and will leave from Tanduringie at around 1:00pm to
return home.
Spelling Stars
Congratulations to all students who are achieving 100% in their weekly spelling tests!
Looking forward to another great fortnight!
With thanks,
Tania Duncombe and Bronwyn Spencer
From the Classroom...
Middle Room News—Year 3 and Year 4
This fortnight, we continue to work on developing our persuasive writing skills using a planning template that
incorporates




Sizzling Starts: to grab the reader’s attention
Arguments 1, 2 and 3: to put forward our point of view
Rebuttal: to demonstrate that we have considered both sides
Climax/conclusion: to end our persuasion. Linked to the Sizzling Start.
Students have been working with the Senior class to practise these skills. We have been using the following sentence
starters as persuasive devices in beginning our arguments and rebuttals:
Arguments






Let’s face it…
Let’s be honest…
How many times ….?
Since when…?
Why would …?
Also
Rebuttals




Some people might say that…
Some people might argue that…
Some people might think that…
I guess some people could say that…
One of our main goals is to increase student confidence in planning and writing a persuasion about any given topic by
drawing up a planning sheet and inserting their sentence starters and arguments. Students are learning to be able to
plan and write a persuasion in 40 minutes or less. Student confidence has increased greatly and students themselves
admit that they don’t feel that they could have written a persuasion as easily at the start of the year.
After or during home reading, I encourage all parents to ask their child to tell them about what they have read. This
helps build recount and comprehension skills in students.
In mathematics, we have been focusing on regular and irregular polygons and fractions. This week we move to
money and financial mathematics and then onto angles. We have been investigating the meaning of the following
terms:






Quadrilaterals
Parallel sides
Regular shapes
Irregular shapes
Polygons
Right angles
Ask your children to explain these terms to you to help them revise what we have been learning. They can even draw
diagrams to help explain these concepts to you.
In History we have been working through our periods of time using the ‘Australia, the Story of Us’ mini-series.
Students have learnt about settlement, early trade and currency, the gold rushes and the Eureka Stockade. They
have also been introduced to some individuals who shaped our nation including James Ruse, Caroline Chisholm and
John Foley. For their History assessment this term, students will write a biography on an individual and their
contribution to the development of Australia as a nation. Students have work shopped the assessment task and
reviewed the task sheet and planning sheet for this assessment item.
Kendall Seccombe
From the Classroom...
Senior News—Year 5 and Year 6
It is already week five and even the children have noticed how fast the term is going. With NAPLAN over now, we
can spend a little more time on finishing our Language work for the term. The year five class were very pleased with
the topic in their NAPLAN for a persuasive text, so we will all be excited to see the results of this. Class Mathematics
test results of a few weeks ago proved very pleasing and it will not be long before the next test. I am hoping the
children keep up the momentum for a few more weeks yet as the end of the term nears. Times tables need to be
recited at least once a day at home. This week the 8 times tables are in focus again.
History lessons, focussing on the ‘Australia, The Story of Us’ series, have been very interesting and we are all
learning something new each time. It is a great way to see and hear the view of others and ‘how things were’
re-enacted. You may wish to ask your child what they learnt from watching the episode this week. An assessment
piece on one of our famous Australians will soon be the task in class.
Science lessons now see the children working on their own choice of weed from the local area. We have had some
great samples brought in to school and spent some time examining the variety of features that make each and every
plant a survivor. It is easy for the class to see why some plants are so difficult to eliminate when we see the number
of ways some have of regrowing.
GARDEN NEWS
What a great weekend for a few families to get together and move the garden beds to the new area near the tuckshop
in the anticipation of the water connection from the bore being in the near vicinity to make watering more
convenient! With the help of Mr Scott Duncombe’s tractor, the move was very achievable and we finished the task so
that the children can now set about planting and watering. It was a very productive few hours, thanks to Mr and Mrs
Davis, Sebastian, Heaven, Seth and Willow, Mr and Mrs Duncombe, Bree, Ben and Cody and the Sloss
family. Thank you to all of these people who gave up their time on the weekend to do a job that was too cumbersome
for our little army of workers at school. As Mr Duncombe so rightly said, children need to be involved in the planting
and growing part of gardening and now that joy is a little closer.
So.....now it’s time to plant! Have you got a garden bed ready at home? Maybe you would like to try the technique
we are going to trial at school in the garden beds. HUGELKULTUR...which I have seen spelled in a variety of
ways, GOOGLE it.... We stacked bark strips and a variety of sticks in the base of our beds and then layered up the
bed with shredded paper, bark chip, sheep manure, soil, barley straw, a little newly cut forage sorghum, more
soil....and then the beds were full! We could have also added a fine layer of blood and bone and any other organic
matter that was available.
Feeling excited?! Then let’s get planting....! It’s a great time to plant garlic and winter greens. Garlic takes up so
little space and it is such a healthy addition to your garden and your menu. You do have to be patient, though. One
of the children in the 5/6 classroom has his own broad beans coming up...another one to try.
This week is gardening week at school...if you would like to come along to help supervise a group of children (and get
your hands dirty!), you would be most welcome at 1.30pm.
Thank you for a very satisfying afternoon in the school garden,
Carmon Sloss
Student of the week...
Week 3—Term 2
Prep—Year 2— Alexis Gibson for being amazing on Anzac Day. Being Responsible. Being an Active Learner.
- Willow Davis for her clear speaking on Anzac Day. Being an Active Learner.
Year 3—Year 4— Diesel James for turning his behaviour around and following instructions. Being Responsible.
Year 5— Year 7— Bree Duncombe for her great speech on Anzac Day. Being an Active Learner. Being
Responsible.
Playground— Amelia Davies for showing improved leadership skills. Being Responsible. Being an Active Learner.
Week 4—Term 2
Prep—Year 2— Josie Brown for knowing all her sounds. Being an Active Learner.
Year 3—Year 4— Maddison Ehrlich for applying her testing strategies during NAPLAN week. Being an Active
Learner.
Year 5— Year 7— Jasmine Clayton for handing in due work ahead of time when she knew she would be away.
Being an Active Learner.
Examples of Persuasive Writing by Junior Class….
Dear Miss Seccombe,
Dear Miss Seccombe,
Would you like all the kids to work hard at
School?
Would you like to save money on power? I think if we wore
pyjamas to School we would work harder do you think it’s a
great solution? Let me tell you. To begin with, it will save lots of
time because you not have to change in the morning. I promise
I won’t fall asleep while I’m working. Come on what do you
think?
I think if kids wore PJs they would work harder.
Let me tell you why.
Firstly, we should wear our PJs to school and
the kids will work harder because they are comfy
and they will be warm.
Secondly, you won’t have to change because you already
have them on and you only have to eat your breakfast.
Lastly, we could save money by turning the air conditioners
and fans off.
Remember, I believe we could wear our PJs to school and
you said you will read this and if it is good, you said we
could.
Yours Sincerely,
Jamie Duncombe
Secondly, you will save power on heaters and air cons because
in summer and spring you can ware summer pyjamas and in
winter and autumn you can ware winter pyjamas. What do you
say, hey?
Last of all, what if we run out of school clothes? Our parents
can wash our clothes on pyjama day. No one will be late and
our clothes will be nice and clean, not smelly on Thursday.
Come on?
Remember I believe, it’s a fantastic idea to wear our pyjamas to
school. Come on it will be fun!
Yours sincerely,
Dear Miss Seccombe,
Dear Miss Seccombe,
Have you ever thought of wearing pyjamas to school?
Would you like to be warm at school? I think if
I think if kids wore pyjamas they would work harder.
You wore PJs you would be very warm. Let me tell you why.
Let me tell you why. First of all, you won’t have to get
changed in the morning. It will save you time to get
changed. No one will be late for school in the morning.
Firstly, if we wore PJs, we wouldn’t waste time in the morning.
Secondly, Mum can wash all our school clothes so we won’t
have smelly clothes the next day.
Lastly, you wouldn’t have to send money on school clothes.
Finally, we will be warmer this winter and we won’t have to
use the heaters.
Secondly, we would be warm and we wouldn’t waste power.
Yours Sincerely,
David Munt
Remember, I believe we should wear pyjamas to school.
Your Sincerely,
Rhiannon Jaide Ryan.
Dear Miss Secombe
Have you ever thought of wearing pyjamas to School? Would you like to be comfortable at School? Would you like to be warm
at School? Would you like all the kids to work hard at School? I think kids would work harder if they wore their pyjamas.
I think if kids wore pyjamas they would be nice and warm and we won’t have to turn on the heater first.
Secondly, we will get to school on time because we wouldn’t have to get dressed.
Finally, you could wear pjs too! Which ever ones you want to wear at school.
Remember, I believe that we should wear pyjamas to school.
Yours Sincerely,
Brian Patrick Smith
Public Notices...
AUSTRALIA’S BIGGEST MORNING TEA
COOYAR HALL
Thursday 28 May 2015
9.30am to 12.00pm
Entry—$5.00 per person
(see attached flyer for more information)
Parent Information Night
On Boys and Education
Monday 25 May, 7.00-9.00pm
Nanango State High School Library
(see attached flyer for more information)
DATE CLAIMER – 2015 COOYAR P & C TRAIL BIKE RIDE
Mark it in your diaries – this year’s trail bike ride will be on 17th and 18th October,
2015.
BLUE LIGHT DISCO
FRIDAY 29th May, 2015
BLACKBUTT COMMUNITY HALL
5PM - 8PM (UNDER 18 YEARS) - CHILDREN UNDER 5 NEED TO BE ACCOMPANIED BY ADULT
$5.00 ENTRY FEE
Free Bus from YARRAMAN will depart from YARRAMAN POLICE STATION at 4.45pm and returns 8.15pm