Don't forget to keep all your receipts from back-to-school expenses so that you can take advantage of the Education Tax Refund. The refund gives eligible parents and caregivers a 50 per cent refund on a range of primary and secondary school education expenses, including school uniforms. For the 2011-2012 financial year you may be eligible for the following: Primary school child You can claim a maximum of $818 for each of your primary school children – that is a refund of up to $409. Secondary school student You can claim a maximum of $1,636... Read more

Our school has a new school Blog to work on and follow in 2012. This Blog is being implemented and updated by Mrs Kate Booth. Kate has recently completed a practicum at our school and is completing her Bachelor of Education. Kate gave our school rave reviews during her prac here and we are very pleased she is bringing her expertise back into our school on a volunteer basis. If you are unfamiliar with blogs, they are online journals. Blogs are essentially websites where administrators (in our case Mrs Booth and Ms Mulrooney) can add posts which... Read more

A suite of resources, including the School A to Z website and the annual back-to-school hotline, is available to help parents prepare for the new school year. School A to Z website The School A to Z website provides you with practical help to get involved and support your children's learning and includes a webcast on the theme of ‘Getting off to a great start at school'. The School A to Z webcast answers commonly asked questions that range from how to motivate children for learning, to tips on how to manage technology use at home, bullying,... Read more

The state's most talented young singers, dancers and musicians displayed their skills during four exciting and extravagant performances at the 2011 Schools Spectacular, held recently at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. If you missed the live shows or if you just want to enjoy it all again, you can catch the highlights on ABC TV. Two telecasts are scheduled (check your local TV guide for confirmation): 7.30pm Sunday, 18 December on ABC1 (1hr version) 7.00pm Saturday, 31 December on ABC2 (2.5hr version). The brilliantly choreographed and... Read more

The PaCE Program is a community driven program which focuses on the development and implementation of creative and innovative approaches to improve the educational outcomes of Indigenous school students through enhancing Indigenous parental engagement with schools and education providers. The PaCE Program supports Indigenous families and communities to ‘reach-in' to schools and education providers and to develop partnerships with them with the aim of enhancing their children's educational outcomes.... Read more

"What a truly spectacular experience!" exclaimed Annalise Baird! 8 of our choir students performed in the 1,400 voice mass choir in The Schools Spectacular held at the entertainment centre. It is an indulgent feast of the performing arts. The show is all encompassing with 1,800 dancers, 1,400 voices in the mass choir, an 80 piece orchestra, a marching band, a signing choir, an Aboriginal Dance company in partnership with Bangarra Dance Theatre and many talented soloists. "It was incredible "said Sarah Hodgson. "It even had fireworks!" Over... Read more

Royal Life Saving NSW has emphasised the importance of swimming and water safety education, saying 50,000 children are leaving primary school every year unable to swim. The organisation says participation in swimming lessons has been in decline for the past 10 years and many Australian children are at risk of drowning. Both Royal Life Saving and the NSW Government agency Sport and Recreation offer learn-to-swim lessons throughout the state under the Swim and Survive banner. The Sport and Recreation program caters for children aged between 18... Read more

You can't always trust what you read when researching information for assignments. Here are ways your child can tell a good website from a bad one. With so much information on the web and no-one responsible for fact checking, kids need to look out for: bias and hidden agendas factual errors outdated information information which is country-specific commercially motivated information. Play the detective The ability to question information is a vital tool for all school kids. People can publish something that looks great but is full of factual... Read more

You don't have to be an expert to help your child with writing. Simply supporting your child with the areas of writing that you feel confident with will benefit them. When you're writing something down such as the shopping list, sending an email or filling in a form, talk to your child about what you're doing, why you're writing it and who you expect to read it. When writing at home, make it purposeful and interesting for yourself and your child. It's essential that kids learn that we write for a purpose It's important that your child... Read more

Recognition For Our Wonderful Teaching Staff - Winning 1 of 8 Awards Given Australia Wide by OfficeMax's 'A Day Made Better' Program! Our very own Year 6 teacher, Mrs Leanne Firkins was named one of the eight chosen winners, Australia wide, for the inaugural OfficeMax 'A Day Made Better' Program. The award recognises primary school teachers who show passion & enthusiasm for teaching & who work creatively to help children's learning beyond the classroom. Leanne was surprised during class with $1,000 worth of OfficeMax arts, craft, stationary &... Read more

Our school would like to introduce the Commonwealth Bank School Banking Program. It's a great way to give your child a financial head start by helping them to learn about good money management and the importance of saving. You can find more information on this wonderful program here.... Read more

Parents can now access quality information to help with their child's homework and assignments while on the go. The School A to Z mobile app, available free for iPhone, iPad and Android devices, is part of a new online parent resource developed by the education department. The app features: plain-English definitions of maths, English and technology terms, including videos and help sheets information and useful links to help with common classroom assignments Maths Monkey times tables learning game Spelling Bee learning game. The Spelling Bee... Read more

Parents can support their child's learning with a new purpose-built resource that includes a website, mobile applications and social media channels. The School A to Z online school community, developed by the education department, provides practical advice about homework, tips on learning, wellbeing, technology and resources to help parents and carers support their child's social, physical and mental development. It includes a free mobile application for iPad and smartphones that features hundreds of definitions about maths and English terms,... Read more

Here are some practical tips to help your child work out the best way to express themselves through their writing. Help your child to understand writing tasks that they may have been given for homework. Ask them to talk about what has to be done. Help your child to use reference materials such as dictionaries, thesauruses, encyclopaedias, DVDs and the internet. Before your child attempts a task, help them to understand what reference materials are needed by talking about the task and asking questions which will guide the child's planning.... Read more

24 June 2011 Encouraging your kids to pick up a few good books during the holidays is a great way to keep their hard-earned reading skills from slipping. Here are some suggestions. Books for young kids For boys and girls in Kindergarten to Year 2: The Terrible Plop - Ursula Dubosarsky Clancy & Millie and the Very Fine House - Libby Gleeson. For boys and girls in Years 3 and 4: Ballroom Bonanza - Nina Rycroft (a fabulous rhyming alphabetical picture book) The Adventures of a Late-Night Swearer - Nette Hilton The Walk Right in Detective... Read more

The students at Coffs Harbour Public School hosted the District Inter-School Chess Competition on Wednesday 8th July. 200 students participated on the day, forming 27 teams from local primary schools between Urunga & Woolgoolga. Our school had great success on the day with winning first place in B Grade, coming away with the Champion School Trophy & placing third in the C Grade competition.... Read more

8 June 2011 With the financial year almost over, now is the time to start collating your receipts from education expenses to take advantage of a federal government tax initiative. The Education Tax Refund (ETR) gives parents and caregivers a 50% refund on a range of primary and secondary school education expenses. For the 2010-2011 financial year you may be eligible for the following: Primary school child You can claim a maximum of $794 for each of your primary school children and receive a maximum refund of $397 per primary school child.... Read more

A very big congratulations to our small choir on winning the Coffs Harbour and District Eisteddfod Primary Vocal Folk Song Group. Our students sung their two songs beautifully and they received glowing comments about their performance from the adjudicators. Congratulations also go to our students and staff from our Special Education classes who performed last Friday in the Percussion section of the Coffs Harbour Eisteddfod. Again our students did a fantastic job and received a highly commended certificate. Our whole school chior also preformed... Read more

Click on Stage Items - Whole School to view the slide show... Read more

Magic Toyland Video - Click on the Stage Items tab at the top of this website, then on stage 2... Read more