We were delighted to welcome everyone back to school on Monday, 13th October. We hope you had the chance to enjoy some quality family time over the holiday break and the October long weekend, and that everyone is feeling rested and ready for the final term of the year.

Term 4 is always a busy and exciting time, and this year is no different. We have plenty of special events to look forward to, including: Sports events, World Teachers’ Day, Children’s University Graduation, Colour Fun Run, Yr 3-6 Dance Night, Transition programs for new Reception students and Year 6 students moving on to high school, excursions, sporting events, Jam Band, Celebration Night and Year 6 Graduation.

Please keep up to date with the Term 4 planner for all the important dates.

As we begin the final term, we’re also starting preparations for the 2026 school year. This will include planning class structures based on projected enrolments and finalising staffing arrangements. We’ll be providing more information about this as the term progresses, so please stay tuned.

Finally, we want to give a special mention to our Year 6 students and their families as they begin their final term in primary school. We hope it’s a memorable and rewarding time as they prepare to move on to the next stage of their schooling journey.

Bushfire Response Plan Reminder

With summer quickly approaching, it’s timely to re-take note of our school’s Bushfire Response Plan as well as your own bushfire survival plans.

The bushfire response plan ensures what action we need to take on days of increased fire danger or in the event of a potential or actual bushfire threat. The bushfire response plan also assists the Department’s Security and Emergency Management (SEM) unit in providing emergency services key information regarding the location of students and staff during a bushfire emergency.

It is important that families are familiar with our school’s response in preparation of a bushfire emergency. You can help us prepare for the fire danger season by:

1. familiarising yourself with the following information relevant to our school, which is rated as a R2 site.
2. talking to your child/ren about what will happen if a bushfire occurs when they are at school or at home.
3. making sure your emergency contact details are updated and made available to us before the start of the fire danger season.
4. having your own bushfire survival plan in place for days of catastrophic fire danger or in the event of a bushfire threat.

For days of extreme fire risk

Attendance at school is recommended by CFS but is ultimately a parental decision. Children may be collected at any time during the day by parents or authorised adults.

Some strategies that may assist the school and emergency services in case of wildfire may be:

• Avoid traffic congestion on the roads.
• Be aware that emergency vehicles have right of way.
• Please do not ring the school unnecessarily, as we need to keep the telephone line clear.
• If fires are burning in the district at the end of the school day, students will be kept at school until collected by parents or authorised adults

Our school’s procedures for Fire Danger Days rated as Catastrophic (Code Red)

‘Catastrophic’ Fire Danger Days – declared in advance

In the event of the Country Fire Service (CFS) declaring in advance (the day before), a ‘Catastrophic’ fire danger rating for the Mt Lofty Ranges, the school will receive confirmation from relevant department personnel (Education Director / Department’s Emergency Management team) regarding the closure of the School and Out of School Hours Care Service.

If and when this situation arises, no staff, students, volunteers or contractors will be able to attend Coromandel Valley Primary School or OSHC service.

Parents and carers will be informed via SMS and email – as listed on our school’s database. The following forms of communication will also be used, and can be accessed:

• Letters handed out to all students on the days if the alert is received prior to school dismissal
• Information posted on the school website www.coromandps.sa.edu.au / Schoolzine email, Seesaw notification and the Coromandel Valley PS Facebook Page
• Department for Education – Emergency Information Hotline on 1800 000 279
• CFS Website: http://www.cfs.sa.gov.au/
• Radio: tune into ABC Radio 89.7
• Information provided by the evening television and radio news services

****Reminder this is for the Mt Lofty Ranges District****

Parents / carers should make provision for the care of their child/ren on days declared in advance, as per their family’s bushfire survival plan.

You may also like to check in with ‘Involve Your Kids – Bushfire Survival Planning’ A great resource with many ideas about supporting and involving kids in personal bushfire planning and preparation.

End of Term Disco/Casual Day

Thank you to our school community for supporting our school disco at the end of term 3. Through the SRC, we raised $500 from gold coin donations, which was forwarded to the selected charity, World Vision Australia. It was wonderful to see our students support a great cause, while also having some fun on the last day of school.

World Teachers’ Day (celebrated globally since 1994) fell on 5th October; however, because this date falls during the holidays in Australia, we celebrate this important day on the final Friday of October. This year, it will be 31st October (Friday week 3).

The UNESCO website has plenty of information about World Teachers’ Day that you can read here: https://www.unesco.org/en/days/teachers, including the importance of recognising collaboration as a norm within the profession.

Our Monty's Slime Colour Fun Run is only a week away.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to our fundraising so far. Currently, our total is approximately $5500.

Let’s see if we can all get behind our major fundraiser for the year and see if we can meet some of our ‘sliming targets’

The slime is ready for the following targets:

$7000 - Mr De Lyster

$10000 – Mr De Lyster and Ms Morgan

$12000 - Mr De Lyster, Ms Morgan and Mr Warncken

Our Slime Colour Fun Run will be on Friday, 24th October, from 2:15 to 3:00 pm.

Students received a sponsorship book last term with instructions on setting up their cybersafe, online fundraising profile at www.myprofilepage.com.au This is an entirely online fundraiser; all cash donations must be converted to online donations.

Please click the link below for more information:

Monty's Slime Colour Fun Run.pdf

Thank you so much for supporting our school! Our Parent and Friends committee will be hosting a Monty’s Slime Fun Run for our students and raising funds for the rejuvenation of the Playground area, including new cubby houses.

Event Information

Date 24/10/25
2:15 – 3:00pm

Location on the school oval.

Wear a white shirt to make the colour pop!
Each student will also receive a pair of sunglasses and a headband!
Students are required to wear closed-in shoes!
Students will be covered in non-toxic, biodegradable, water-based slime and colour powder
We look forward to seeing the students all bright and colourful on the day of our Monty’s Slime Fun Run!

Jodie Morton
Parent & Friends committee

Dog Man Competition Winner

Thank you to everyone who took the time to enter into the Dog Man competition. Your creativity was amazing. Unfortunately, we could only send one entry into Scholastic, and that lucky winner was Hamish (2G). Hamish’s entry was sent off, and while he didn’t win the grand prize for our school, he won a special consolation prize. Congratulations, Hamish!

Premier’s Reading Challenges

Congratulations to everyone who participated in the Premier’s Reading Challenge for 2025. You will all receive your certificates and medals soon. And remember……Keep on reading!

Youth Writers Initiative Award for 2025

Congratulations to Kiki (5T), who recently won a special writing competition. Her story is called ‘Isla and the Magical Library’ and it is full of adventure, suspense and magic! As part of winning, it has been published on Moonglow Publishing blog.

Follow the link if you would like to have a read -  https://moonglowpublishing.com.au/youth-writers-story-blog.html#/

Coro’s Scholastic Book Shop

Exciting news……. The Book Fair will again be coming to school this term and held in the library from Wednesday 19th November – Tuesday 25th November. It will be open, before and after school, and at lunch time. 

We look forward to seeing you there! 

Keep your eye out for your chance to win a

$10 voucher to use at the

Scholastic Book Shop at the library.

Michelle O’Connell

Teacher Librarian

Our Reception students recently visited Blackwood Forest as part of their How the World Works unit of inquiry. They explored how the weather affects the natural world while enjoying a fun scavenger hunt through the trees. The students loved discovering different textures, colours, and sounds in the forest and shared lots of excitement with their friends.

Back at school, each class created stunning mixed-media artworks to recount what they saw, smelt, and heard during the excursion. A highlight of the day was a special surprise—students in RL and RG were lucky enough to spot a bandicoot in its natural habitat!

On Friday 19^th September, the year 1 classes from Coromandel Valley Primary School visited St John’s church as part of their inquiry into local history. 

The Parish Priest, ‘Woody’ explained the history of buildings of worship in the times of the ancient Romans, and linked the structure of the buildings to our own St John’s church. Throughout his chat to the students, he also referred to certain items by their name in Latin, the language of the ancient Roman Empire.

Four parishioners assisted Woody, with Sharon providing detailed and interesting aspects about each of our beautiful windows, both stained glass and leadlight, including information relevant to Bible stories and local history.  Some students asked and answered questions about features of the windows, and of particular interest was their ability to detect the tiny sailor from ‘The Coromandel’, hiding in the tree.

The students were very curious about various items in the church, and Woody invited them to go to the front of the church and point to each one, before he explained their significance. They were also interested in our magnificent pipe organ and were treated to a rendition of ‘Away in a Manger’ by Di.  Woody helped them use a hymn book to locate, follow and sing the words of the song.

All students queued in the aisle and individually slid across the organ seat and played three notes across the keyboard, assisted by Sharon, Wendy and Elizabeth.

The students were wonderful ambassadors for Coromandel Valley Primary School, and we are very grateful for their contribution to our collection of food for the Mary Magdalen Centre, for distribution to those in need.

As they left, each child received a bag with some activities and a quiz, to test their memories and remind them of their visit to St John’s.

Our thanks go to the students, parents and teachers for their courtesy, generosity and the interest shown in our beautiful and historic church.

Elizabeth Parker

St John's Anglican Church

www.corovalleyanglican.org.au

In the second half of term 3, 1P rolled up their sleeves and got busy in the garden with Jenny every Monday afternoon. Together, we planted carrots, snow peas, cucumbers, zucchini and more, making sure the soil was well fed with fertiliser and rich compost. The children enjoyed pulling out weeds, watering the plants with “worm juice,” and even holding the worms themselves. They also had fun feeding the worms and learning how important they are for healthy soil. The best part was tasting our very own fresh produce straight from the garden — delicious! Thank you so much, Jenny, for inviting us to join you in your beautiful garden! We really appreciate the opportunity to share this special time with you, and it was a wonderful, hands-on way to see learning come to life.

Special thanks to the Potts family for a donation of seedlings and compost, to Lisa from Bunnings Edwardstown for seedlings and worm blankets, and to parent volunteer Adam Hall for helping in the garden during term 3.

When 49 of our Coromandel Valley Primary School students took to the stage at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre for the Public Primary Schools Festival of Music Stars on Stage, they shone with confidence and pride.

Our school was also proudly represented by Charlotte who contributed their talents as part of the troupe. Their dedication and artistry showcased the incredible range of skills within our school community.

The Primary Schools Festival of Music is an iconic South Australian tradition that has inspired generations. It gives students the chance to experience artistic excellence, embrace cultural diversity, and celebrate social inclusion through the joy of performance.

Each concert featured 1,300 Year 5 and 6 students joining voices in a breathtaking massed choir. Audiences were also treated to Guest Artists from primary and secondary schools, vibrant performances across a range of musical genres, and impressive showcases from the orchestra and troupe.

This year’s concert opened with Robbie Williams’ electrifying Let Me Entertain You and closed on a powerful high with John Farnham’s iconic You’re the Voice, complete with stirring bagpipes that lifted the arena.

Stars on Stage was truly a spectacular celebration of what public school students can achieve when they come together through music and the arts. We are incredibly proud of our students for their hard work, passion, and brilliance on stage.

We are very excited to once again be one of the two school choirs in the state, selected to be part of the recording process for practice tracks for the PSMF website.

This involved students who expressed interest from the PSMF choir to audition for Robyn from the Festival of Music, and then 10 students were selected.

These students will learn 2 songs and record them at a recording studio around the middle of this term. The Festival of Music will then upload those tracks next year to the learning portal for all of the students in the state to use in learning the songs for the 2026 Festival of Music.

This is very exciting and we wish the following year 5 and 6 students well in this fantastic experience; Amber, Alisha, Kenzi, Lydia, Matilda, Phoenix, Poppy, Seb, Toby  and Willow.

It's been great to see lots of new faces at Chess Club over recent months, with everyone attending keen to learn new tactics and strategies.   Our students have also been busy attending a number of interschool tournaments.

Term 2 - Southern Zone Tournament

61 students from 7 schools took part in the tournament, which was a mixed Primary and Secondary competition. 

Coromandel Valley had 13 students take part - Amelia, Arlo, Az, Dakota, Eddie, Ethan, Harrison, Levi, Lydia, Mason, Max, Olivia and Tyler - and they played extremely well to finish 4th overall but 2nd of the Primary schools, taking home the silver medals.   With over half of the team in only year 2 and 3, it was a fantastic effort, especially given that every one of our players was drawn against a secondary school student for at least one of their 7 games.

Every one of their players either set, equalled or beat their personal best.  A great indicator of how well they are all applying the skills they are learning. Special mention to Amelia, who was our highest-ranked Coro player, finishing in equal 16th place with 4 wins from her 7 games, and to Ethan, Harrison, Mason, Max and Tyler, who were all playing in their first tournament.

All Girls Tournament at Loreto College

In a great initiative, an All Girls tournament was also scheduled in Term 2, with 47 students from 8 schools attending. With some of the best chess schools in Adelaide taking part, it was a hotly contested competition.

Coromandel Valley were represented by Amelia, Az, Dakota, Lydia and Olivia, and finished in 5th place on 20.5 points.   It was an extremely close tournament however, with the top 5 teams separated by just 4.5 points. Nailsworth Primary took out first place with a score of 25 points.

Well done to the whole Coro team, but special mention to Amelia, who was once again our highest scorer with 6 wins from her 7 games.

Term 3 - Southern Zone Tournament

At the end of last term, Coromandel Valley took part in the southern zone tournament.  The southern zone is always very competitive, and with 70 students from 7 schools competing, this term was no exception.  While final team results are separated into Primary and Secondary divisions, the individual pairings are combined, meaning our students were often paired against much older and more experienced students. It can be a daunting challenge for all our students, but particularly our younger students and those competing for the first time. 

Coro had a team of 13 taking part - Az, Arlo, Dakota, Eddie, Harrison, Henry, Imogen, Levi, Lydia, Max, Mason, Olivia and Tyler - and ended up finishing in 4th place, just out of the medals.   A great effort given the strength of the tournament, and that we had a very inexperienced team with 8 of our 13 only in years 2 and 3.   Well done, everyone!

Special mention to Lydia, who was our highest-ranked player finishing in equal 20th place with 4 wins from her 7 games, and to Henry and Imogen, who were both competing in their first tournament.

A huge thanks to Carrie Julian, Ashlyn Cooper, Abbi Gottsche, Sue Allen, Emma Wright, Rochelle Caudle, Janelle Knight and Al Barnes for assisting with transport for the team over the 3 tournaments.   It's greatly appreciated, as the school cannot compete in tournaments without parent help.

I'm extremely proud of the students' great team spirit during all 3 competitions, and it is fantastic to see them developing their skills across the year. In fact, so well that we have been invited to send a team of 5 to the State Titles to be held later this term.

Chess Club is held every Monday lunchtime in classroom 6J, and any student is welcome to attend.

David Shaw

Murphy now has her very own mailbox, located in the library!

This special mailbox serves two purposes: It encourages students to write letters, create cards, or draw pictures for Murphy. It also gives students a private way to leave a note for me if they’d like to have a chat.

Murphy is excited to write back—but to make that possible, students must remember to include their name and class on anything they post.

A huge thank you to the amazing Keith for creating a letterbox that’s uniquely Murphy’s, and to Ms O’Driscoll for her persistence in helping Murphy get her paw prints on the stamp pad! ??

— Jenni Forder, Pastoral Care Worker

A big thank you to our wonderful CVPS community for your generous donations towards the Operation Christmas Child Shoebox appeal.

With your support, our Wellbeing Leaders were able to pack 20 shoeboxes filled with gifts and essentials to be sent overseas this Christmas. These boxes will bring joy to children in need in many countries around the world.

It’s wonderful to see our school community come together to make a difference in the lives of others. Thank you for being part of this initiative! 

We would also like to thank Coro Uniting Church for covering the postage of the boxes ($12.50 per box) - thanks for your support.

Jenni Forder (PCW) & the Wellbeing Leaders

At the end of last term, School Sport SA held their State Track and Field Carnival at the SA Athletics Stadium. Five of our students earned the right to compete for Southern Heights following their success at the District Carnival. They all performed very well against some of the best athletes in Adelaide and should be proud of their achievements. 

10-YEAR OLDS:

Chloe

100m

4x100m Relay      (gold medal)

 11-YEAR OLDS:

Penelope

High Jump

200m        (silver medal)

4x100m    (silver medal)

 Lily

1500m      (bronze medal)

 12-YEAR OLDS:

Amber

Discus       (gold medal)

Shot put   (bronze medal)

 Julian

100m

200m

Year 2 Netball Team

We had a large group of girls, eager to start their netball journey. Brooke, Greta, Halle, Heidi, Holly, Hope, Ivy, Lola, Paterson, Rebel, Savanna & Serena.

The girls worked hard, learning new skills and showed great sportsmanship throughout the season. 

We won some, we lost some & we drew some. Proud of all the girls, finishing every game with a smile, while singing their hearts out. C.O.R.O Goooo Coro!

Year 3 CVPS Winter Netball Team

It was an absolute pleasure coaching the year 3 winter netball team for 2025, Sadie, Ayla, Quinn, Aurelia, Erin, Ella, Esther, Amelia, and Sydney.

The girls were undefeated for the first half of the season. The second half proved a little more challenging, but the team took it all in their stride, showed great resilience,  team spirit and sportsmanship towards others. 

It was a brilliant season, with the girls continually building their skills and showing great effort and commitment as a team. They certainly made CVPS proud! 

The Year 3/4 netball season started out with a diverse group of team members, many of whom had never played netball before, and ended with incredible friendships and a shared passion for the wonderful game of netball. Placed in a Year 4 completion, the team showed so much spirit and enthusiasm every week; it was a pleasure to watch them play. The improvement from the first game to the last was nothing short of amazing, culminating in 6 out of 9 wins after the regrading process. I couldn’t be prouder of each and every player, and I hope they continue to pursue netball for many years to come. 

The Year 4 C2 team wrapped up an amazing season with 9 wins from 13 games! With plenty of teamwork, encouragement, and fun along the way, the players - Millie, Lacey, Chloe, Sydney, Ruby, Amarantha, Isla, Mia and Audrey, should be super proud of their efforts! - Chantelle (Coach) 

This netball season our Year 5 superstars took on teams that pushed their skills to the limit. And after many tough weeks they finally achieved a win but what was more amazing was how they were humble and kind and shared the ball around even before the final whistle. So proud of how far they have come this year. 

What an amazing season it has been for our Year 6 netball team! The students have displayed incredible dedication, teamwork and sportsmanship throughout the season, impressing us all with their growth and determination. There have been so many memorable highlights, and it has been a joy to watch the girls develop their skills and grow in confidence both individually and as a team.

A special thank you to Amber Yuill for her unwavering commitment to coaching. Amber has been a guiding force, supporting the players from their very first season together back in 2022. Her encouragement and dedication have been pivotal in the team's journey. Congratulations to the girls on such a fantastic final season. We wish you all the best as you move on to new adventures.

Congratulaitions to Lars who was selected into the Adelaide United Advanced Academy four weeks ago. During the school holidays, Lars played in the Premier Invitational Football Tournament on the Gold Coast—9 games over 3 days. He joined their U10 team, which made the top (Premier) league and finished 26th overall out of 96 teams.

Congratulations to both Penelope and William, who recently competed at the BMX National Championships in New South Wales.

Will was competing in his first National Championship. He came 5th overall for the U10 cruiser bike in the national series.

Penelope won the U11 title, making it her 4^th consecutive win. What a fantastic achievement, National as well as World Champion!