As Christians, we are often called to embrace various aspects of life with faith and humility. One important aspect of our faith journey is our approach to expectations. Expectations are an inherent part of human life, and they can encompass a wide range of experiences, from our personal goals and aspirations to the hopes we have for our relationships and our walk with God.

In the Bible, we find numerous instances where individuals had expectations of God's promises and faithfulness. Abraham and Sarah, for instance, had to wait many years for the fulfilment of God's promise to provide them with a child. During their long journey of waiting, they had to embrace the expectation of God's faithfulness and trust that His timing was perfect.

Likewise, Joseph, the son of Jacob, had dreams and expectations of greatness that led him to face trials and tribulations, including betrayal by his brothers and imprisonment in Egypt. However, through it all, Joseph remained faithful, believing in God's plan for his life, even when his circumstances seemed bleak. Eventually, his expectations were exceeded as he became a ruler in Egypt and played a crucial role in God's larger plan for the salvation of his family.

These biblical examples teach us that embracing expectations as Christians involves several key principles:

Trust in God's Timing: Just as Abraham and Sarah had to wait for the fulfilment of God's promise, we must trust that God's timing is perfect. Sometimes, our expectations may not align with His timeline, but we must have faith that He knows what is best for us.

Faith in God's Promises: Our expectations should be grounded in God's promises found in the Bible. When we align our expectations with His Word, we can have confidence that He will fulfil them according to His will.

Perseverance in Adversity: Joseph's story reminds us that adversity and trials may come our way as we pursue our expectations. However, we should persevere in faith, knowing that God can use even the most challenging circumstances for His glory and our ultimate good.

Surrender to God's Will: Ultimately, our expectations should be surrendered to God's will. We may have our own plans and desires, but as Christians, we acknowledge that God's plan is superior. Embracing expectations means yielding to His sovereignty and being open to His direction.

Embracing Grace and Forgiveness: In our relationships, we often have expectations of others. As Christians, we should remember to embrace grace and forgiveness when those expectations are not met. Just as God forgives us when we fall short of His expectations, we are called to extend the same grace to others.

In conclusion, embracing expectations as Christians is a profound aspect of our faith journey. It involves trust, faith, perseverance, surrender, and grace. By aligning our expectations with God's promises and trusting in His plan, we can navigate life's uncertainties with hope and confidence, knowing that He is faithful to exceed our expectations in His own perfect way.

Andrew Watts.

Please note: All Term dates can be accessed by clicking on the ‘Links’ tab on the Flinders Connect app and selecting ‘Important Dates’ from the list.

Dear Flinders VCE Families,

As Term 3 concludes, we would like to draw your attention to various institutions that run VCE revision lectures and seminars over the September school holidays. VCE students – especially those completing a Unit 3&4 study – are highly encouraged to attend these lectures to reinforce their revision ahead of end-of-year exams in Term 4.

Revision lectures are an excellent investment of time and money as many students greatly benefit from reviewing their subject content with an educator who is not their regular classroom teacher. Organisations may also give students access to additional exam revision or subject resources to use as they study for their VCAA exams.

There are many organisations that offer holiday revision programs – please find links to the programs we recommend as reputable companies below. Please note that different organisations offer sessions at varying price points and timings, many also offer deals and discounts for students. Students are encouraged to speak to their subject teachers regarding revision lectures as there may be a preferred organisation for specific studies.

TSSM: https://www.tssm.com.au/browse...

TSFX: https://www.tsfx.edu.au/vce-ex...

Access Education: https://www.accesseducation.co...

ACED: https://book.acedvce.com/

Don’t hesitate to contact the College if you have any questions or concerns.

Kind Regards,

Miss Liza Christian
VASS Coordinator

On the last day of term, Friday 15 September the Primary school is holding a Footy Day.

Students are encouraged to come to school dressed in footy jumpers, scarves or wear colours that support their favourite footy club or any other sporting team, such as basketball, soccer or netball.

There will be an assembly, games and the P and F will be running a hot food day for those wishing to purchase party pies or party sausage rolls. Order forms will be coming home later this week.

Congratulations to Phoenix and Imaan for receiving a Flinders Values award during this week’s Primary Chapel Service.

Phoenix received her award for displaying integrity and excellence by continually making responsible choices and completing each task to a high standard

Imaan received his award for perseverance and love by consistently persevering with challenging tasks and always showing love and care to others inside and outside of the classroom

Thank you to those students who participated in the annual MS readathon during August and raised money to help kids who have a parent living with Multiple Sclerosis.

Collectively we raised $618.00

A special mention must be made to Jaxson who read 20 books and raised an amazing $400.90

Family tech agreements for 5-8 year old children is a set of rules about how devices, like smartphones, tablets, computers, TVs and gaming consoles are used in your home.

Create an agreement with 5-8 year olds. Creating a family agreement together at this age will help you to have a smoother time with technology in your child's late primary and early secondary school years.

Talking with your child about tech rules will develop their digital intelligence and build good habits around technology.

Create your own family tech agreement that you can print out and display. The Australian Government’s e-Safey Commissioner website can be found HERE .

LITTLE INDIA
Chloe Mason – Year 12 VCAL – visited India with her parents at Easter time this year to experience first hand the work of Ps Prince Thomas – an Indian Christian missionary who is doing a huge amount of work in supporting poverty stricken villagers. Chloe returned from this trip determined to make a difference by raising money to support the development of a free tailoring centre and the purchase of a number of sewing machines.

Last Wednesday to Friday saw the culmination of weeks/months of planning to bring to fruition this outstanding charity raising effort. The original goal had been $5000… Chloe is thrilled that the final total is more than double this amount.

I want to commend Chloe for her tireless commitment to this project. I want to also thank several staff who encouraged and supported her along the way – Mr Dan Mason (her dad), Mrs Leanne Ansalde (Food Tech teacher), the staff who stayed overnight – Ms Cosgrave, Mrs Bowen, Miss Clark and Mrs Hodder – as well as those who came along to support the group in the afternoons.

Finally I want to thank the 26 Year 6-12 students who jumped in and made this such a success. Their individual and collective engagement made all of the lead up work come to fruition.

On a final note, Ps Prince will be visiting Flinders on Thursday 14 September and we shall make every effort to give him the opportunity to meet this group of students as part of his time at the College.

YEAR 11 PRESENTATION ‘DEB’ BALL
On the evening of Friday 24 August, 20 Deb couples graced the floors at the Grand on Princes for our annual Presentation Night Ball.

The event was a great success, the culmination of weeks of Deb Rehearsals. Students commented that this has been one of the highlights of the year and a terrific way to bring a grater sense of unity to the year level.

Thanks to Mrs Marianne Morgan who does such an amazing job at bringing these Deb events together.

It was wonderful to see so many staff at the Deb and how many Year 11s turned up to support their friends.

2024 STUDENT LEADERSHIP APPLICATIONS
This coming Wednesday 13 September, is the cut off for applications for College Captain, College Vice Captain and House Captain. These applications will be considered and interviews arranged early in Term 4. The goal is to then allow the short listed College Captain applicants to present to the Secondary students, after which there will be a survey put out to glean staff/student preferences for the best Captain candidates.

All other 2024 Student Leadership roles - House Vice Captains, Portfolio Captains and Year 8-10 House Leaders - will be open for application until Wednesday 18 October (Week 3 of Term 4).

YEAR 10 FORMAL – FRIDAY 24 NOVEMBER
Planning is continuing with a team of highly motivated Year 10 students to action the goal of a Year 10 Formal at Functions by the Bay in Frankston. Ticket prices will be worked out before the end of this term and will be calculated on the basis of the survey results we have received from the Year 10 cohort.

TIMELINE FOR YEAR 12 IN TERM 4
The end of the school year is just around the corner for our current Year 12s. By the end of next week they should have finished most, if not all, of their course work – both in the mainstream VCE and VCAL programs.

Some key dates for next term:

TERM 3 RRR HOUSE CHALLENGE

This is the final week of the Term 3 RRR House Challenge.
The most up to date results are as follows:

Week 8 results

Cuthbert 649

Flynn 619

Nicholls 633

Ten Boom 655

We shall keep encouraging the students – particularly in House assemblies – to consistently seek to be the ‘Best Version of Us’.

The winning House will be given a free pizza lunch Wednesday next week as a reward.

UPCOMING TERM 3 & 4 HOUSE EVENTS
Choral Competition
This week’s Secondary Assembly was replaced by the opportunity for each House to practice their Choral Competition item in the Gym given that the actual comp is next Tuesday morning.

Engineering Competition
Ms Zuidema – our Head of Science – is planning for a House Engineering Competition in the first half of Term 4. In the same fashion as the Choral Comp, the goal is to have ALL students in each House involved in a range of planning and construction activities, with House points ‘up for grabs’. These sessions will take place during Sec Assembly and House periods.

Public Speaking
There are plans afoot to have a series of Public Speaking events – first in English classes and then overflowing into 2-3 of the Term 4 Secondary Assemblies. This ties in with the new Public Speaking club which has been established to build the capacity of students with this important skill.

SOME REMINDERS/ACCOUNTABILITY ISSUES
Mobile Phones
Basically – we don’t want to see them during the school day unless a teacher has given explicit permission for their use. Unless there is a solid reason for a student to be on the phone, it will be confiscated and handed in to the Secondary Reception to be collected at the end of the day. The decision has been made more recently to add a Lunchtime Detention to the confiscation of a phone.

School Shoes There is a growing trend evident amongst a number of students to wear black sports shoes rather than standard black leather lace up shoes with their uniforms. Just a heads up that the Campus Principal, Mr Watts, will be writing to parents to ask that this matter be resolved before the start of Term 4. Note that any student who needs to wear non-standard black shoes will be allowed to do so as long as a note from a medical professional is provided.

Regards

Geoff Grace
Head of Secondary

This term our Y8 basketball academy students have been undertaking a referees course. They are learning a lot about the other side of the court and having a great time while they do it. Learning to become an official allows our students to gain an insight into what referees are looking for and why they make the calls that they do helping them become better players. This is not the only reason we run this course though. One of our aims in the Flinders basketball academy is to learn that ‘playing’ is not the only way to be involved in basketball or sport in general.

So, whilst this course helps them become better players, it also helps the students with a part-time job opportunity, leadership skills and another avenue for lifelong involvement in sport. Our students will complete their course and become ‘white shirts’ at the end of this term, so you will no doubt see them on a Saturday doing their best to make other Flinders students games run smoothly.

It’s a good time to remember that most of the domestic referees are high school students doing their best and trying to earn a bit of pocket money. As a community, we should be supporting all these young people (and the older ones), and be appreciative that they are there, because if there are no referees there can be no games.

The Flinders Basketball Club are very excited to have 51 teams representing Flinders College in the 2023 winter season finals competitions.

This is an amazing representation of ballers across our Associations.

Fixtures are subject to change, so please check fixtures with a Team Manager or via this link:

https://www.playhq.com/basketball-victoria/org/flinders-basketball-club/488817d2

To those teams that missed out on making finals – it’s always tough especially when you have done your best. It’s ok to feel disappointed but keep working on your skills over the holidays to be ready for summer season. Win or lose, we are all very proud of how our players have conducted themselves this season.

Please come along and support your mates. Attached are the fixtures for finals games:

The last couple of weeks have been a busy time in the Music Department.

All our ensembles have been rehearsing either before school or at lunchtime and are sounding great. To be able to listen to their development is a joy and we’re all incredibly proud of how far each individual musician has come. Our Jazz Ensemble is heading to the Tyabb Campus this Friday for a Cross Campus Workshop Day, which is promising to be a day full of fun, learning and sharing in the passion for music with our Tyabb family.

Our Grade 3’s had an African Drumming incursion recently that was amazing. This was not a part of their music curriculum, but it did bring a lot of rhythm and noise to the building. With the guidance of our special guest each student was drumming along and learning about some of Senegal’s cultural heritage through the rhythmic beats of traditional African drums. Safe to say it was a lot of fun and included a lot of dancing by both students and staff.

This week our Grade 4 Strings students had the opportunity to accompany Prep M in their Chapel performance. This showcased the progress our Grade 4 Strings students have made in their musical journey, and it provided our wonderful Prep students with the chance to show off their singing voices. We want to extend our gratitude to all the parents and family members who attended the performance, cheering on our talented musicians. Your support is invaluable.

For any general enquiries or questions about our music programs, please feel free to contact Mrs Linda Harris at musiccarrumdowns@flinders.vic.edu.au

SO, YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE RESULTS
Congratulations to Isabella Carro who was awarded Highly Commended in the Secondary Solo section. Congratulations to Sharnika Chamberlain winner of the Secondary Solo section. For the second year running congratulations to Aarav Khanna and Abhirav Tejpal winners of the secondary group section. Mrs Mendolia was very impressed.

WAKAKIRRI
Mrs Mendolia and I were graciously invited by Wakakirri organisers to attend a red-carpet event and show this week at Frankston Arts Centre.

Wakakirra gives students the opportunity to express their thoughts, ideas, and aspirations through the art of storytelling and dance. I am extremely happy to announce that in 2024 we will be giving this amazing opportunity to our students at Carrum Downs by engaging an artist in residence who will facilitate the programme and allow our students to perform with other schools at the National Story – Dance Festival 2024.

PERFORMERS IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Congratulations to Tahlia Welch and Isabella Van Niekerk who took part in Dance Aid 2023. Dance Aid raises money each year for the make a wish foundation. Both girls danced to a very high standard, and I enjoyed their two performances immensely.

THEATRIC AWARDS
Congratulations to our own Mrs Mendolia who now joins me as an accredited Musical Theatre teacher with Theatric Awards, now an awarding body with a global recognition. Both Mrs Mendolia and I will also be undertaking further training to become Screen Acting teachers, which will be a programme we will offer for aspiring students wishing to develop their training and step into television and film.

2024 PERFORMING ARTS TRAINING AVAILABLE
It gives me so much joy to see how Performing Arts has developed over recent years here at Carrum Downs. The 2024 lessons available will be: Musical Theatre/ Speech and Drama/ Screen Acting / Tap Dance/ Lyrical Dance/ Hip Hop Dance and Jazz Dance. Other opportunities available will be: Primary School Production/ Secondary School Production/ Wakakirri National Story- Dance Festival 2024/ Flinders Got Talent/ So You Think You Can Dance and Primary School Holiday Performing Arts Workshops.

GRADE 5/6 DRAMA
Our Grade 5/6 Drama Club completed two terms of training this week. I have enjoyed working with this group immensely and thank them for the energy they put into their lessons. We finished this week by performing Fairytale, a small production.

Well done everybody!

PRIMARY SCHOOL HOLIDAY PERFORMING ARTS WORKSHOP
The last remaining places are available to book for our Mini Pop Stars workshop on the 18,19 and 20 September running from 10am until 4pm.

Please email dianeohare@flinders.vic.edu.au to secure your place. Registrations close on Friday 8 September.

For further information on any of the performing arts activities listed, please feel free to email me.

Diane O’Hare
Performing Arts Coordinator.

Whilst the apron in front of our station might seem like a good spot to pull over and safely answer your phone, wait for the kids after school, or to perform a U-Turn, your actions could be putting others in our and neighbouring communities at risk.

Our team of dedicated volunteers need this area to be clear at ALL TIMES to perform their duties, primarily, protecting lives and property.

Now some may say "But it will only take a second to move my car". To those people, we ask you consider these possibilities; if you have to wait to give way to other road users, or, if your vehicle for whatever reason fails to start.

DON'T RISK IT!

Please keep the front of our station clear at ALL TIMES so we can be ready to respond at the drop of a hat.