Dear Families,  

Welcome back, and to term 4, which is brim full of exciting learning and school events. Please make sure you check you emails regularly for information about upcoming events. As always please phone the school, if you have any queries, to gain accurate information.

A special welcome to Gracie who has started in Reception and to Laura Barnes who has returned from maternity leave. Laura will be working in a variety of different classrooms to provide extra release time for teacher planning. 

International Baccalaureate Evaluation

This week we have been involved in an International Baccalaureate Primary Years Evaluation. This process occurs every 5 years and is an opportunity to reflect upon how well we are facilitating IB philosophy and requirements at our school.

As part of the visit, we were joined (virtually) by Glen Hayres and Clare Barnfather, two experienced members of the IB community. Glen and Clare spent time meeting with staff, students, parents, and our governing council to inquire into how we foster learning through inquiry. Through classroom visits, discussions and a review of our policies and curriculum documents, Glen and Clare were able to gain a deep insight into what teaching and learning looks, sounds and feels like at Coro.

I am extremely proud of the progress our staff have made in providing a rich, inquiry based programme for learning. They have worked in a truly collaborative way to create a strong culture of learning, respect and thinking.

I would like to commend all staff, for the amazing work they have done to create great learning environments for our children and their preparation for this evaluation.

Special thanks to Kate O'Driscoll, our super enthusiatic PYP coordinator, for her organisation and support throughout the evaluation process and to Juli Bryan who prepared us so well in previous years.

A final full report will be shared with the school community at a later date however the evaluators shared many strengths apparent at our school including, community support, thinking, collaboration, learning environments and coordination of learning. The students involved in this process were able to provide clear evidence of what learning looks like at our school, confidently detailing their depth of knowledge and thinking. Thanks to students and parents as well as Governing Council members who were involved in the process.

Best ever NAPLAN results

Building on this success, our latest NAPLAN results have shown growth in a range of areas. At a recent partnership meeting our Education Director shared that Coromandel Valley Primary School was listed as one of the top 20 schools in the state for growth and achievement. This is a fantastic achievement for our staff and our students who have raised their achievement through planning, quality learning experiences, reflection and careful goalsetting. 

Dance Night - Everybody Dance Now!

Under the guidance of Kelly Bodger, our students have been working really hard practising dance moves and we cant wait to show them to families.

We are really excited to be able to once again involve our parents in attending Dance Night. The concert will take place on Wednesday 3rd November at the Capri theatre for Yr 3-7 students. The night will also feature our Jump rope team and the choir. This year, there will be two sessions; one at 5:30 and the next at 7:15pm. Our Yr 6/7 parents have received the link to purchase 2 tickets per family. Yr 3-5 parents will receive the link next Monday morning. Any additional unsold tickets will be made available on Friday 29th October.

 We look forward to seeing you there.

One of the processes we engage in for term 4 is the construction of classes for the following year.  We will select our 2022 classes based on information provided by students and staff. Teachers consider a wide range of information in developing class structures including special needs, academic achievement, behaviour, and friendships. We aim to develop balanced classes that consider all of these factors. Teachers have an excellent overview of both student achievement and needs. Students will be asked to indicate friends they would like to be in a class with, supporting the class decision making process. Parent requests are not required for this process however any major concerns and considerations can be addressed to me (liz.pelling867@schools.sa.edu.au) or shared with your child's classroom teacher. Please make sure these are communicated in writing before Monday 8th November. These are recorded and discussed during the class placement process. The final decision for class structures will be decided by leadership.

We have received quite a few requests for enrolment at our school for 2022 and  are currently making plans for classes and staffing requirements.  If your child/ren WILL NOT be attending our school next year (excluding the current Year 6s and 7s) could you please contact the school as soon as possible. Your information will support us to create class structures with confidence.

The Materials and Services charge (M&S) is an amount charged to parents for the cost of items and services such as stationery, art supplies, texts, library books etc. 

Each year the fee is reviewed by the Finance Committee and presented to Governing Council for approval.  For 2021 Council has approved to not increase the Materials & Services Fee from 2020.

Our M&S charge is higher than the prescribed sum set by the Department for Education and when a school charges over the prescribed sum the Governing Council must also consider whether the difference between the prescribed sum and our fee is voluntary or legally recoverable.  Governing Council has chosen (as in previous years) for it to be legally recoverable and therefore the school community needs to be polled to find out if the majority support this.  The GC has endorsed making it legally recoverable to ensure we can provide a quality program for our students. The fees charged at this school are similar to the other government schools in this area.  For your information the watermarked notice is attached below.

On Thursday a notice will be emailed to each family in Reception to year 5 asking you to vote on this issue. The voting slip is part of the email, please click yes or no in response to the poll letter. The poll closes on 12/11/2021.

If you would like any further information or have any comments please or feel free to contact Liz or myself.

Please note that there is no effect on Schoolcard families who will still receive the same benefit.

Samantha Neville

Governing Council Chairperson

After months of lunch time training and knocking other schools out of the competition, our boys’ netball team earned the right to defend our state title in the final series at Netball SA Stadium.

The series started with the top four South Australian schools competing in a round robin tournament to decide which two teams would play in the grand final.

We won our first game comfortably, defeating Endeavour by 9 goals, thanks to Harry and Jackson, our goal-scoring machines.

Our second match was against St Francis de Sales, who we defeated in last year’s grand final. We knew they were going to be hungry to even the score. What we didn’t know is that they were sending giants to beat us. They had the five tallest players on the court and picked off anything in the air. Even so, our boys only lost the match by 3 goals, with Luke, Lucas, Matthew, Samuel, and Hunter working tirelessly through the middle of the court.

Our third match was against Trinity College. We needed to beat them to finish in the top two and play in the grand final. We won that game easily, by 7 goals, thanks to our amazing defensive duo – Charlie and Alex.

The grand final was a replay of the last year’s grand final – Coromandel Valley versus St Francis de Sales. The two teams switched leads many times throughout the match, but at three quarter time we found ourselves 3 goals down. After the break the boys came out and played their brilliant best. They adapted their game and managed to get within a goal, with about 15 seconds remaining, but St Francis had the centre pass. We managed to intercept the ball, get it down to our goals and score, only 2 seconds before the final whistle! The rules for the Statewide Schools competition state that, in the case of two teams drawing at full time in the grand final, both teams are awarded joint winners (that’s okay, we don’t mind sharing). So, for Coromandel Valley, that means that we are back-to-back state champions! Now we look forward to next year, to see if we can make it a hat-trick!

A big thanks to Mrs Hiser, who assisted with coaching, and the girls who helped provide a team for the boys to practise against over many lunch times. Thanks also to all the parents who have supported the team at matches. I’m very proud of this team for how hard they’ve worked, their good sportsmanship and what they have achieved. Well done champs!

The players: Hunter (C), Matthew (VC), Charlie, Alex, Jackson, Harry, Samuel, Luke and Lucas.

Mr De Lyster

PE Teacher

Our grounds are looking really good at the moment with several different projects near completion.  The extra seating requested by students has been installed in four locations around the school. Keith has completed a paved area in front of the yr 4 classrooms and put additional windows in the JP cubby house to increase safety.

Are you handy with a brush and don't mind doing a little painting. We are looking for parents who can a lend a hand to paint the outside walls of the Murray unit. Keith has recently steam cleaned these walls so they can be given a fresh coat of paint. Our Working Bee will take place on Sunday 14th November 9am-1pm and will include a free BBQ lunch. Please send me an email liz.pelling867@schools.sa.edu.au or phone the school if you are able to help rejuvenate our buildings. 

In Week 1 of Term 4 students across the school met with in year level groups to share their thoughts and feelings about reconciliation, in advance of an opportunity to contribute to a CVPS reconciliation mural. In their discussions students responded to prompts, including:  

• What action have you seen Coro students take for reconciliation? 
• What have we done in this school to celebrate Reconciliation Week and NAIDOC week? 
• How do Coro students celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture? 
• How do Coro students help to take care of people, animals and land?  

Two representatives from each year level and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students shared these ideas when meeting with and learning from Kaurna, Narungga and Ngarrindjeri artist Lawson Dodd. Lawson ran a workshop for students, teaching them about Aboriginal art, sharing a dreaming story and listening carefully to their ideas.  

The student’s ideas will be incorporated into a digital art mural which will be printed and displayed on the wall of the Turner Unit. This artwork has been funded thanks to a Reconciliation SA Education grant.  

It is our goal to have the mural completed, printed and installed by the end of the year.  

Ngaitalya (Thank you/Respect) 

The Reconciliation Action Plan Working Group

Every year Sapsasa hold a Multiclass Athletics Championship event. It’s like the Paralympics, but for kids, and anyone with a physical disability is allowed to enter. Emily, from Year 5, was our sole competitor this year and she performed very well. She managed to win medals in all three of her events:

Discus – Gold

Long Jump – Silver

100m - Silver

Congratulations Emily! We hope you continue to have success in Athletics.

Mr De Lyster

PE Teacher

At the end of last term, the Coromandel Valley PS senior choir performed at the Public Schools Music Festival at the Entertainment Centre.

They performed with over a thousand students to an audience over 4,000.

The audience were wowed with spectacular lighting, costumes, dancing and of course the amazing voices of the festival choir. Our students thoroughly enjoyed this experience.

They look forward to their next performance at our Coromandel Valley Dance night coming up.

Stacey Stutterd

Performing Arts Teacher

The school vege garden has been planted out with tomatoes, basil, cucumber, lettuce, zucchini, corn and capsicum. Thanks to Bunnings Edwardstown Activities Co-ordinator Lisa for the generous donation of seedlings and soil.  Thanks also to Mrs Todd, Scarlet and Aiden for helping to get plants in the ground. 

This week we welcomed volunteer Sonia Potts who spent an hour with me in the garden weeding, feeding and sharing her knowledge. We already have spinach and lettuce ready to harvest, strawberries ripening and flowers on our tomatoes. Also spotted in the garden this week was one of our good bugs, the ladybird. 

Jenny Tucker

SSO