On Wednesday 24 May, King's joined with many schools and Early Learning Centres from across the Pacific for the 2023 National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS). The special annual event features an Australian book that is read simultaneously to young listeners. Now in its 23rd year, NSS has become an annual opportunity for educators across Australasia to unite through a shared love of storytelling. The book chosen for 2023 was 'The Speedy Sloth' by authors Rebecca Young and Heath McKenzie, which provokes the inspiring message that winning doesn't mean beating everyone else but is about the great feeling of setting a challenge and accomplishing it. This year, 'VIP Guest Readers' included Grant Denyer, Gabrielle Wang (Children's Laureate) and the book's own author, Rebecca Young, who live-streamed the reading of her book from The Sydney Zoo, alongside her illustrator Heath McKenzie.
King's Pimpama Primary students marked the occasion during their classes that morning as they sat with their teachers who read the story to them alongside more than a million students from across Australia and New Zealand to enjoy the joint literary experience. The classes also coloured in and created a sloth that will be on display in their classrooms as art.
On Monday, 15 May, the Year 5 cohort gathered their bags to enjoy an exciting adventure to the Gold Coast Regional Botanical Gardens. Within each Year 5 class, students were placed into Project Based Learning (PBL) Groups. Each group was assigned one of 6 Environmental Factors (Sustainability, God-made Factors, Man-made Factors, Indigenous Connection, Plants & Animals). Students in each group were given the opportunity to vlog (film) about their Environmental Factors in the Botanical Gardens as part of their learning for Integrated Studies.
"I really enjoyed the beautiful scenery of lakes and trees surrounding us and there were amazing animals living in their habitats. We all learned many things during the excursion, but the most interesting fact I learned was that only male stick insects can fly, although female stick insects have wings, they can’t fly. During the middle of our excursion, we had a tour guide educator from Natura Pacific, and she talked about nature as we walked through and around the Botanical Gardens. She also spoke about Animal Adaptations, which we have been learning about in class. We are so grateful to have spent our day learning about environmental factors and animal adaptations in such a fun and exciting way," said Mokthika Sathiya Moorthy from 5PC
Last week, five of our Year 6 students participated in the Readers Cup competition. The Readers Cup competition is organised by the Queensland Branch of the Children's Book Council of Australia. The students had to each read five books and then compete in five rounds, answering comprehension questions about the books with only 30 seconds to answer each question.
It was a tough competition but also a lot of fun! A big congratulations to Jax Francis, Toby Cromwell, Charlotte Hope, Savannah Erasmus and Ardaas Mann for all of their hard work reading and training in the lead-up to the competition as well as their collaboration and skill throughout. If you are interested in the books that were read, they were:
During Term 2, twelve girls were selected from years 9 and 10 to take part in our yearly Noosa Girls Camp. The camp is based at Habitat Noosa Eco Camp where students stay in glamping wilderness safari tents. The girls participate in a range of different activities, such as hiking, mountain biking, surfing and a one-day 4WD Fraser Island tour. The purpose of this camp is to provide students with an opportunity to forge strong relationships with their peers, grow and develop their interpersonal and intrapersonal skills and expand their faith journey
"We did so many activities from hiking up Mount Ngungun to mountain biking and surfing at Noosa and even getting a tour around Fraser Island. My favourite activity was probably the hike. It was so peaceful and a great way to explore nature up in Noosa and the view when you got to the top was so rewarding.
What I enjoyed about this camp was getting to know my teachers better and connecting with girls on camp that I probably wouldn't have talked to at school if it wasn't for this camp. It was so amazing bonding with all these girls and teachers on camp. I also really enjoyed devotions, it was probably one of my favourite parts of camp because we could all come together and listen to each other and the word of god in such a beautiful place.
The main thing I got out of this camp was that it's ok to be pushed out of your comfort zone every once in a while. Some of the activities we did and even some things at devotions pushed me out of my comfort zone. But I look back now at camp and I think if I didn't do everything I did, I would regret it so much.
My overall experience at Noosa was amazing! Between surfing on the beach to devotions around a campfire, it was such a great experience. If a girl from grade 9 next year was to ask me if she should go on the trip I would say yes 10 times over. I can't wait to see what it brings next year!" said Year 9 student, Belle Hume.
Another account from Year 9 student, Mariana Diaz, was how she saw her friendships develop with all the girls that went and the bond we all built together. "One of my favourite memories was probably the last night's devotions around the campfire. Everything about it was perfect, what we talked about, the laughs, the cries and most of all the atmosphere that we had was unforgettable. I was and still am shocked that quickly we got comfortable around each other's company. I probably couldn't pick a favourite memory if I had to choose one. All the activities we did were so different but relevant at the same time. In everything that we did, I grew a unique bond with the girls."
What did you get out of the camp?
"This was definitely a very unique but special school camp experience! I definitely learned a lot of life skills through all the activities we participated in. I grew a lot closer with my peers at school, teachers, and most importantly my relationship with God." Mariana shared.
On Saturday 28 May, Swimming Gold Coast had its annual championships presentation.
Guest mentor speakers at this year's event were Olympian, Chelsey Hodges, and one of our up-and-coming International Superstars, Thomas Hauck. Both Chelsey and Thomas gave inspirational insight into their lives, how they have achieved what they have and what their next goals are in swimming and in life
King’s Pimpama student Harry Simmonds won 2nd place as Age Champion for 10 years boys.
At his last meet, Harry achieved six medal placings from 6 races and also broke the 50m Breaststroke record on the Gold Coast.
King’s Pimpama is blessed to have many talented swimmers in our campus family, all of who put in significant effort in training and competing. Congratulations to Harry and all of our swimmers and their families who are about to embark on the 2023 – 2024 swimming season starting on 3 June 2023.
King's Outside School Hours Care (KOSHC) are now taking Vacation Care bookings for the upcoming Winter school holidays. KOSHC is run from their centre near the King's Church auditorium and they have another exciting program coming up including a Safari Day, BYO wheels, Timezone, Christmas in July, Disney and Donuts or Movies and Maccas, Paradise Country and so much more! See the full program via the button below.
Winter School Holiday Vacation Care Program at King's Pimpama
| Vacation Care | Monday, 16 June to Monday 10 July 2023 |
| Opening Hours | 6.30am - 6.30pm, Monday - Friday |
| Age range | Prep - Year 6 students (and above) |
| Cost | $68 ($90 on excursion days) |
| Bookings | Login to complete the KOSHC Booking Form, via the button below or by emailing pimpama@koshc.net.au |
Born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa in the 1980s, is Year 6 teacher Zelda Engelbrecht, who joined the Primary teaching staff at King’s Pimpama this year. Mrs Engelbrecht grew up in Richards Bay - the largest export coal terminal in the world with 65 million tons loaded every year from this port in South Africa.
At the age of 21, Mrs Engelbrecht immigrated to New Zealand and lived there for 21 years before moving to Australia with her husband, Steve and son, Anthony.
Before completing her Bachelor of Education in Auckland, she also had experience in hospitality, customer service, finance, recruitment and coaching, which have all aided in her approach to teaching in the classroom and dealing with her students. Her various career pathways gave her the perspectives to listen fully, then respond; help with reading situations; a smile can change anyone’s day and it’s free; respect is reciprocal and altruism is contagious. These mindsets have moulded Mrs Engelbrecht into a caring teacher.
When Mrs Engelbrecht was at school, she got extremely involved in all the activities available but was passionate about sports and culture. She played many hours of netball, sang in the school choir, helped out at the tuckshop, participated in the school theatre productions and was also a Christian leader.
These days when she is not in the classroom teaching, she enjoys long walks with her dogs, spending time with the family, swimming, gardening and watching movies. However, acting or being disrespectful to anyone or anything is one thing that will annoy Mrs Engelbrecht.
Something you might not know about Mrs Engelbrecht is that she sang the South African National Anthem at one of the Rugby World Cup games in Wellington with the choir Umoya.
Mrs Engelbrecht’s favourite quote from researcher and storyteller Brene’ Brown is “Vulnerability is not winning or losing; it's having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome. Vulnerability is not weakness; it's our greatest measure of courage.”
She would like to encourage all her students to not be afraid of being vulnerable.
The Spring Fair will be taking place on Saturday 19 August 2023 and will be a day not to be missed. Interested parties who would like to participate in the Marketta Stalls, Silent Auction, Food Truck etc, please feel free to email us at the Spring Fair Email to receive the terms and conditions or get the information via Compass. The P&F will be looking for bakers and volunteers at their Cake and Sausage Sizzle stalls. Details will be shared on Compass in the near future.
Spring Fair Information via Compass
The first P&F coffee chat for the year was held on Wednesday 31 May at King's Table. P&F Chairman, Grant Patching, talked about the upcoming events where parents could get involved and volunteer. These events will take place once a month at King's Table and parents are treated to a complimentary coffee. Principal Rob Verreynne also shared about the next phase of developments that will be taking place in Term 3 and into next year. The next event date will be publicised on Compass soon.
