Last Tuesday we held our annual Acquaintance Night giving parents the opportunity to find out more about the year ahead, classroom procedures, expectations and meet with teachers. Although the weather was a little against us it was great to see so many families attend this event.

The school provided a free BBQ and drinks, which was enjoyed by all. Thanks to Hiro Yamamoto and Bernie DeLyster for cooking and Sheralyn Robertson, Stacey Stutterd and Jenni Forder for serving.

If you were unable to make it to Acquaintance Night, please contact your child's teacher to collect class information.

Please email Liz.Pelling867@schools.sa.edu.au if you have any feedback that you would like to share regarding AcquaintanceNight.

Following on from Acquaintance Night, we were joined by many new parents in the Library for our Annual General Meeting. This included the presentation of our 2018 Annual Report outlining school improvements and reports from our Governing Council sub- committees. Thanks to Sue Matthews for compiling this information. The annual report will be uploaded to our website for community members to view.

An overview of the Site Improvement Plan for 2019 was shared with parents.

Site Improvement Plan 2019

This year we have three key areas on our site improvement plan:

• Writing - If we explicitly teach children how to use conscious language choices for specific purposes and audiences, with a focus on vocabulary and structure, we will increase student achievement in writing. 
• Numeracy - If we use a common, evidence based approach to extend number sense through multi step problem solving, we will increase high band achievement and retention in numeracy.
• Thinking - If we adopt a common approach to teaching critical and creative thinking we will increase the number of students achieving at, or above, their Yr level standard according to the critical and creative learning continuum.

It was great to see new parents nominate to join Governing Council to support the growth of our school community. 

We would like to welcome and thank the following parents who will join our 2019 Governing Council:

Daniel Zervaas

Andrew Wright

Louise Gardner

Jayne Webster

Amanda Moore

Kate Merritt

Matthew Robinson

Dominic Kleinig

Leigh Powell

Naomi Hargrave

Julia Jones

Justine Budge

Andrew Webster

Ben Sanderson, Janita Bentley and Heidi Hillier will commence their second year of Governing Council membership.

Staff representatives will be Dan Johnson and Emma Niland.

Our first meeting will be held on the 26th February when we will establish the committee structure for 2019. We will have the following committees:

Grounds: working with the school to support the maintenance and development of our grounds.

Finance: school budget and expenditure overview and support

Sport: collaborating with the sports coordinators to discuss issues relating to the facilitation of after school sports.

Parents and Friends: supporting the school with the organisation of social events and fundraising.

Canteen: supporting the school to review canteen spending, processes and develop the canteen menu.

ICT: providing feedback and support for the development of ICT structures within the school.

Liz Pelling

It was lovely to see so many parents join us at our Monday morning assembly where we welcomed our 60 new reception students. The students were individually introduced to the community and then received a special welcome gift made by students at the school, supported by Takako Stallard.

Following the assembly parents joined us in the staff room for a welcome morning tea organised by Parents and Friends. Great also to see so many new parents at these events to celebrate the occasion. Thanks to P&F for organising morning tea.

We appreciate your cooperation in adhering to these guidelines and ask that you communicate this information to other family members who may be picking up your child.

The Premier’s Reading Challenge is a literacy engagement program that was introduced by the Premier in 2004 to:

• Encourage students to read more books and enjoy reading.
• Improve literacy levels.

The Challenge requires students to read 12 books between the beginning of the school year and 6^th September 2019. Certificates or medals are awarded in November. For more information see the website http://www.premiersreadingchallenge.sa.edu.au/prc/pages/home

Sheralyn Robertson

Teacher-Librarian

For Year 5-7 students and parents

Date: Tuesday 26th February at 6.40 - 7.30pm

                                     Location: In the school library

                                     Cost: $5 per family

‘What’s Happening To Us” (suitable for Year 5 to 7 students)

• Puberty (Physical and Emotional)
• Dealing with parents
• Body Image and Media Influences

The Year 6/7 students will be having Growth and Development lessons following this presentation so they do not have to attend unless parents would like.  Year 5 students and parents are welcome.  Parents are also welcome to attend by themselves if interested.

Thyrza Veitch

Year 7 teacher

Welcome to 2019!

For those new to the school community, my name is Jenni Forder and I am the Pastoral Care Worker (PCW) at Coromandel Valley PS. This is my

fourth year at Coro and I am in the school on Monday and Thursday, and can be contacted via the front office or email: jenni.forder365@schools.sa.edu.au.

My role is to support and care for the whole school community, as well as be an additional resource for the school, so please don’t hesitate to contact me with a question, or if you just need to chat about something.

I trust the new school year has started well. It’s a mix of emotions sending children back to school after the long school holidays. For my family, we have now finished primary school and both of my children are in high school. As my boys get older, I still have the normal parent worry of how will they settle in to the new school year, will they be happy, and will they have good friendships, will they keep up with their homework etc.

Some children settle in quickly to a new routine, new classroom, new teacher etc. Others, however, take a little longer and need a little more encouragement and support.

I find a lot of useful information about children and parenting on The Australian Parenting Website http://raisingchildren.net.au/. Check it out as it covers a huge range of issues relating to children, school refusal, friendships, generalise anxiety and schooling.

Jenni Forder

Hello families

Our school participates in Scholastic Book Club every year. Once a term, during the school year, your child will bring home a Book Club catalogue with a different selection of books offered for all ages.

Book Club provides a fun and convenient way of bringing the best in children's literature into your home. You'll find award-winning books and bestsellers, as well as old and new favourites that kids love. The books span a wide range of children's reading levels and interests and are inexpensive (some books cost as little as $2). There are also great gift ideas for younger siblings who may not be at school yet.

It's easy to order. The Book Club LOOP platform for parents allows you to pay by credit card. Your child's order is submitted directly to the school and the books will be delivered to class. You can place your child's order at scholastic.com.au/loop or by using the LOOP app, which can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play.

Alternatively, you can use the order form in the Book Club catalogue and return it with your payment to the front office. Please ensure that you write your child's name and class clearly on the form and include a phone number in case we need to contact you regarding your order. If paying by cheque, please make it out to Scholastic Australia.

A due date for each issue will be posted on the Parents & Friends Facebook page and printed in the school newsletter. NO LATE ORDERS WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER THE DUE DATE.

When you order from Book Club, you are not only helping your children, but you are also helping the school - 20% of your spend goes back to the school in valuable Scholastic Rewards, which are used to buy classroom resources and earn free books for our library.

While you're under no obligation to order, owning your own book is something really special as a kid, so I hope that you will encourage your child to order books this year.

Happy Reading! 

Bronwyn Carey-Keane

Book Club Co-ordinator