We are a month this side of Easter and as such I thought it timely to share a few Easter musings as a preparation for our upcoming celebration of the most significant event in the Christian calendar.

One of the key points of Easter is the profound contrast between Good Friday – the death of Jesus on a cruel cross – and Easter Sunday when we celebrate His phenomenal and world-shaping resurrection. It is absolutely mission critical that we see the two as being inseparably tied together.

Without the Cross, where God made Jesus a substitute for us in His taking on our sins, we would have no hope of forgiveness and being made right with a holy and just God. Without the resurrection, we would have no sure hope beyond death – our lives would be stunted by the fear of death.

BUT, because Easter is both Good Friday AND Easter Sunday, we have a deep sense of our forgiveness through Jesus and our eternal hope because of the empty tomb. This is DEFINITELY worth celebrating!

Geoff Grace.

A huge thank you to all Sec staff and students for the way you have managed the first half of Term 1. It has been VERY FULL, particularly for the many new staff and the Year 7s who have done so well in adapting to life at the secondary section of our Carrum Downs campus. Now that the major sports carnivals, Year 7, 9 and 12 camps and various Parent Information sessions are ‘done and dusted’ we can settle in for a (slightly) less frenetic second half of term.

ATHLETICS CARNIVAL

A great day of positive competition with mild weather to help us along ended up with a win for Nicholls House. Well done to the majority of students who attended, who came in House colours, who participated in at least one event and who made the most of the day.

It was encouraging to see the level of engagement of the CD staff and students all round. A particular note of thanks to the PE department who worked tirelessly before, during and after the event to ensure such a successful day.

UNIFORM ISSUES

Boys The key issue at the moment is shaving… It’s much easier for our young men to shave at home rather than being asked to do it at school
Girls There are a number of girls still wearing nose piercings. I have just given each Head of House a packet of clear fillers to give to these students - mostly girls but a few boys – so that they can keep their piercing open but still comply with uniform expectations.

LOOKING AFTER OUR SPACES

Unfortunately we have had reports of some ongoing rubbish issues in a couple of the House areas. While it is encouraging that each House is setting up student rosters to help manage the mess, I am a much bigger fan of EVERY student taking responsibility for their own rubbish rather than relying on others to pick up after them.

YEAR 7&9 NAPLAN

The Year 7 and 9 students will be starting their NAPLAN tests this coming Wednesday March 15th. Students have had preparation sessions to get them ready for these tests which will run over the following few days. There will be the opportunity for catch up tests for any students who are necessarily away for any/all of the testing days.

YEAR 7 HOUSE LEADER INTERVIEWS

We have received 20 applications for the 8 House Leader positions for Year 7 Leaders. Mrs. Vorster and I shall be looking at the applications, the relevant Head of House, Year 7 House Mentor and House Captain will be running the interviews next week. The aim will be to appoint the 2 House Leaders for each House in time to formally badge them at the Secondary Assembly on March 21st (Week 8).

Regards
Geoff Grace

Head of Secondary

YEAR 12 CAMP

The Year 12s had such a positive time at their Oasis camp in Mt Evelyn. The food was great, the activities worked well and the evening get togethers were real bonding times for the cohort. A special thanks to the staff who helped make the camp run so well:

Mrs Emanuel who oversaw the program
Mr Hughes who came up to run a workshop on the Friday morning
Mr Mason’s Trivia night extravaganza
Mr Watts who made the effort to come after a few days at the Year 9 camp
Mrs Kincses, Mr Haywood, Ms Skinner and Ms Frankel who each contributed significantly to the success of the camp.

YEAR 9 GREAT OCEAN ROAD CAMP

I have heard brilliant feedback from staff and students who attended the Year 9 camp. Many students have commented on it being a life changing experience as it really stretched them out of their comfort zones and allowed them to build skills which will be valuable for school and life in general. A massive thanks to the staff who invested so much in the week – most notably Ms Cosgrave who really gave 150% before and during the week.

YEAR 8 GRAMPIANS CAMP – WEEK 9

Our final year level camp for the term is in Week 9 – the Year 8s will be heading to the Grampians for the week. Ms Liemareff – our Head of Flynn House – will be leading this camp. At present, of the 96 students in Year 8, there have been 69 responses. It will be great to get the rest ASAP so that we have certainty about student attendance as we set up activity groups and cabin groups for the week. A reminder to parents who have not yet replied has been sent via EdSmart on the Flinders Connect App.

Whilst we need to keep to clear and consistent expectations and measured consequences with regards to uniform, behaviour and punctuality, I am also aware that we want to encourage our secondary students towards positive behaviours.

As such, I would like to promote a House Competition which will reward the students in the House with the highest level of adherence to our Ready and Respect expectations. The goal is to keep track of various metrics and to provide a free pizza lunch at the end of Term 2 to the winning House. More details will be published in the next fortnight.

Colouring develops hand strength, visual perceptual skills and precision skills in grasp. It can boost confidence, develops understanding of cause and effect and increases attention spans.

The main objective of this Colouring event is to ignite the creative side of the mind of each student, help develop their fine motor skills and also encourage their interest in colouring/drawing. In addition, of course it is a competition and there will be House points up for grabs.

(Parents- please make sure your child completes the colouring, not others!)

• Competition Guidelines:
  
  Students have received a colouring sheet in Week 6 and it will need to be coloured in at home and returned by Monday 20 March (clearly named and labelled with your grade).
  

• Each term there will be a theme to the picture.
  

• Each level of the school will have “200” house points awarded to the best 5 colouring “efforts”.
  

The Art teachers, Mrs. Barnes and Mrs. Hollow, will be the judges
Winners will be announced at Chapel in Week 8.

Jhett received a significant award last week at the Casey Basketball Awards Gala event, which recognised significant efforts and contributions throughout the 2022 calendar year.

Jhett was nominated as a Finalist Male Domestic Player of the Year and he WON it!!
Jhett is an example of what passion and hard work can achieve.

Children can learn, explore, play and make friends online. But there can be risks. Your child might accidentally see upsetting content, be contacted by strangers or experience bullying. They might also miss out on important things like spending time outside. Here are some easy things you can do to help keep children safe online.

The Australian Government's eSafety Commissioner website and the link HERE provide advice on helping your family stay safe online.

Learn how to keep your family safe online, including:

why online safety is important
how eSafety can help
setting up family safety rules
conversation ideas and tips.

A helpful video can be viewed on the website at esafety.gov.au and at the eSafety Office Vimeo channel at https://vimeo.com/737803724

“Preps have settles into the year and are loving music lessons with Mr. Rolleston.”

Artwork Of The Month - March

Izabella from Year 7

Creating a mixed media butterfly.

First of all, it should be noted that the Music Department here at Carrum Downs has been getting some very positive feedback of late, especially in regard to the Open Day last Saturday.

Congratulations should go to Max Baker and Amelia Goh who played throughout the morning and left such a strong impression on our visitors. Equally to all the music staff who had the building in such great shape, thank you.

Rehearsals for our numerous instrumental and choral groups are now getting into full swing. Please be alert to any upcoming rehearsal times as they are disseminated.

There are still some vacancies for individual and group lessons with our instrumental teachers. I would like to encourage any students who wish to pursue a woodwind or brass instrument in particular to enrol for lessons. All information about costs and timetabling are available on Moodle or contact Linda.Harris@flinders.vic.edu.au for more information.

Tom Pugh - Head of Music

Rehearsals are going well for our secondary school production. If your child has lost their rehearsal schedule please contact me to receive a new one.

Our choreography weekend will be taking place under the leadership of Ashlene Mendolia at Broadbent Dance Academy on Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th May, required cast will receive a choreography timetable this week.

On Saturday 20th May, we will be having a fundraising event to raise funds for our school production and to assist with one of our year 12 students and cast member on her mission trip to India.

The night will include a Trivia Quiz, Silent Auction, games and entertainment from some of our cast members from The Sound of Music. At this stage, if you have any items you would like to donate or offer assistance for the event please get in touch.

More details will follow.

Flinders Got Talent

Advance notice that Flinders Got Talent will return in Term 2, so start thinking about your Act now. Previously we have had bands, dancers, singers, magicians, performing dogs to name but a few.

Diane O'Hare will confirm the entry arrangements and date at the start of Term 2.

Our workshop will be taking place in the Drama Room on Monday 17th, Tuesday 18th and Wednesday 19th April from 9.00am until 4.00pm, with a showcase for friends and family on the last day.

Our Theme these holidays will be Matilda. We only have a few places left so please email me to secure your spot.

Diane O'Hare

Schoolpix returned this week and despite the windy weather, were able to complete all the Secondary Homegroup Photos. Thank you for your patience as we rescheduled this photo session.

If you didn’t put your order in for photos, you have until Friday 17th
March to place your online order. If you have misplaced your order form with your unique ID, please call the College Office 9785 0000.

We are working with Schoolpix to try and get the photos to you by the end of Term 1 but if proofing takes longer than expected it may be the first week of Term 2.

Congratulations to all students who participated at our 2033 Combined Campus Athletics Carnival. We were challenged with the classic Casey Fields wind however this didn’t stop the sun from coming out from the clouds. It was so nice to see such great participation from students across both campuses.

Congratulations to Flynn for being the overall winners of our 2023 Combined Campus athletics Carnival.

Carrum Downs house placings were very close: 1st - Nicholls , 2nd - Ten Boom, 3rd - Cuthbert, 4th - Flynn.

Students who were overall age group champions will be presented their medals at our next assembly.

We are very excited to provide students once again with the
opportunity to compete at the Victorian College Basketball Championships this year.

We have been very fortunate to create amazing teams to take to this
championship and have been blessed with very successful results. We offer this a combined campus event and will be holding tryouts this year to form our strongest teams.

Please keep an eye out in our newsletter for more information about
specific tryout dates for each age group. If you have any further questions please reach out to Emily Fellows or Sam Dutney

SIS Weekly Sport Results

Our Senior Boys and Girls had their first soccer matches this week. Our girls came out strong but unfortunately had a 2-0 loss. Our Boys were able to continue to fight through the match to hold a 1-1 draw. Our Inter Girls volleyball remain undefeated at this point in the term with a 2-1 win this round. Our Inter Boys netball had an unfortunate bittersweet loss this week losing 21-20. We wish all of our teams the best of luck for the remainder of the term.

Swim Term 1

All students who performed well at our house swim carnival, were
in our 2022 SIS and have attended our swim squad sessions have been invited to
the two following optional events; Swim Intensive and SIS Swim Relay.

Swim Intensive

Our Swim Intensive session is used to make Team Selection for the SIS Division A Swim Carnival. The intensive will take place during periods 1-3 on 14th March 2023. The purpose of this session is to ensure squad students have the opportunity to have all strokes timed to select our most competitive team and to practice technical skills such as relay changeovers in preparation for South Independent Schools (SIS) Division A Swimming Championship.

At the conclusion of this event, our Flinders Swim Team will be confirmed to represent at the SIS Division A Championships, which will be held on Tuesday 2nd May 2023 @ MSAC (Week 2 of term 2).

Students are invited to attend the Swim Intensive based upon their times from our swim carnival and swim squad participation. If you were absent for swim carnival and would like to be considered for our SIS Division A team please email Shay Cosgrave (shay.cosgrave@flinders.vic.edu.au) or Sam Dutney (sam.dutney@flinders.vic.edu.au).

SIS Swim Relay Carnival

All squad members are invited to participate in the SIS Swim Relay Carnival, held at the Pines Aquatic Centre (Frankston) on the 17th of March from 5-7pm.

In teams of 4, students will compete in relays of 4 x 50m in freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke, and the medley. Students will either compete in Junior, Intermediate or Senior age groups. The College will transport students to Pines Forest Aquatic Centre and parents/guardian will need to pick up their son(s)/daughter(s) from the venue at the conclusion of the event at 7pm.

If you would like to compete in this SIS Relay Carnival please contact Shay Cosgrave (shay.cosgrave@flinders.vic.edu.au) or Sam Dutney (sam.dutney@flinders.vic.edu.au). Or alternatively students can complete the SIS Swim Relay Carnival Survey on the Carrum Downs Moodle Page.

SIS Division A Swimming Carnival

Just a reminder that SIS Division A Swimming Carnival is approaching. This will be held on Tuesday 2nd May 2023 @ MSAC (Week 2 of term 2).

If your student would like to be considered for the team and is unable to attend our swim intensive session and/or the SIS Swim relay please reach out to Shay Cosgrave (shay.cosgrave@flinders.vic.edu.au) or Sam Dutney (sam.dutney@flinders.vic.edu.au).

Our junior triathlon team have been working extremely hard the
last two weeks. Students completed an impressive bike ride down the peninsula link trail.

Students also did a Brick session on campus which involved a bike
and run element showing to students the changeover between these two components of a triathlon event.

• What is your job role and who do you work with? E.g., class/subject teacher, year level.

Food Studies, year 7,9,10,and 11

• How long have you worked at Flinders?

6 weeks

• What do you love most about Flinders?

How lovely the staff are

• Did you have a teacher who inspired you when you were at school? In what way/how?

Yes, my outdoor ed. teacher. He was a great role model for young people and taught students that their best is good enough

• Where were you born / where did you grow up?

Warrnambool, grew up on a dairy farm in Cobden, South West Victoria

• Favourite food?

Chocolate

• Favourite book / movie?

Top Gun (original)

• Favourite hobby / interest?

Netball and Personal training

• A skill or secret talent we might not know you have.

Can milk a cow 😊

• What is something you have on your “bucket list” – to do, a place to visit, an experience you would like to have before you die?

I would love to take my family to Egypt and Africa