Many people have read Jim Collins book, ‘Good to Great’. In his best-seller, Collins outlines the importance of leaders in any organisation. At Flinders, we have leadership at many levels, including our teachers - leaders of learning in the classroom.

Overall, Collins outlines 5 levels of leadership. Level 4 leaders are great at stimulating higher performance standards from their people. However, Level 5 leaders have an ‘X factor’ quality that sets them apart from all others. The X-factor is humility. ‘Humility combined with a ferocious will’ is how Jim Collins defines Level 5 Leadership.

Unsurprisingly, Christ's teachings emphasise humility, selflessness and compassion. Level 5 leaders prioritise the needs of their teams, show empathy, and lead with integrity, mirroring Christ's qualities as a servant leader. By embodying servant leadership, Level 5 leaders create a positive and transformative impact, inspiring others and cultivating a culture of care and collaboration. In essence, the Level 5 leader's demonstration of servant leadership aligns closely with the Christlike virtues of humility, compassion, and selfless service.

Collins research continues to validate what the Bible has been teaching for millennia.

Adam Swain

Head of Primary

Family Information Update

Please take a moment to review your data on Flinders Connect and update where necessary.

Information that can change after enrolment:

• Mobile Phone numbers
• Address
• Medical Details
• Emergency Contacts – we need 2 nominated people who are not the parents.

This information can be updated on your Flinders Connect App:

Select ‘My Account’ Tab
Click on the arrow beside ‘My details’
There are tabs for each member of the family and then sections under each person.
Please browse through each tab.

To edit data:
Choose the information you want to update.
Click on ‘edit’ on the RHS of section
Update the information and then ‘SAVE’

You will receive a message saying that this change has been received and will be approved by the College.

If you would like a bigger screen to edit your details, try logging onto https://connect.flinders.vic.edu.au
and follow the steps above.

On Tuesday Primary held Crazy Hair Day. $413.25 was donated to the Leukemia Foundation. The money raised will help people with blood cancer get access to better care, better treatments and better information.

The Flinders values award is presented to two students at each chapel that really exemplifiy one or more of our Flinders values. Congratulations to Kezhi and Olivia for receiving a Flinders values award during this week's Primary Chapel Service.

Kezhi received her award for her Humility and Grace by being a quiet achiever and sharing kindness with all of her peers.

Olivia exemplified the value Excellence by consistently taking pride in the presentation of all work pieces.

The Life Education Centre mobile classroom will visit our school from Tuesday 23 May until Thursday 1 June.

The life education program is developed to empower children to make healthier and safer choices through preventative health education.

Each grade will visit the Life Education “classroom” with their teacher.

SOME POSITIVE NEWS

The VCE Pathways Expo was held on Tuesday evening this week. Many Year 9 and 10 students and families attended the 6-7pm session where faculties set up booths to display and discuss the subjects on offer. At 7pm the Year 10 cohort then stayed on to listen to a number of presentations on the various pathways before them – mainstream VCE (Mrs Kincses), VCE – Vocational Major (VM) (Mr Mason), VET subjects (Mrs Hodder) and how to submit the Subject Preference file by next Wednesday (Mr Stanley). There was a lot of positive conversation throughout the various rooms with the faculty displays and then attentive listening and follow-up 1:1 conversations with the more formal presentations. A huge thank you to the staff, parents and students who made the night such a success, including the many Year 11 and 12 students who volunteered their time to join in to assist.

The House Cross Country was also run on Tuesday with students from both Flinders campuses competing at Carrum Downs given that we had access to the reserve next door for the 3km circuit. Thank you to the staff who worked together for the event. Well done to the Sports department under Ms Cosgrave’s direction for overseeing this cross-campus event. Well done Cuthbert for being CD Champions and to Ten Boom for being overall Cross Campus Champions.

The Year 10 Camp last week saw this group of students attend two-day excursions in the city followed by a 3 day, 2-night stay at the CYC Building. Students commented on how much they enjoyed the program and the opportunities it afforded them to learn about the challenges faced by many in our city environment. Thanks to Mr Dave Podhaczky and his excellent staff team for running this multi-tiered event.

The ‘READY RESPECT REWARD’ House Challenge is progressing well as we look to encourage students in each House to pursue ‘the Best Version of Us’. After Week 3, results are Cuthbert: 285; Flynn: 289; Nicholls: 277; Ten Boom: 283. The challenge will continue to the end of Week 8 with the winning House rewarded with a free lunch in the final week of term.

UNIFORM MATTERS
We are noticing a number of students wearing multiple and/or large hoop earrings (or similar) which is contrary to College policy. In addition, we are still seeing a few nose piercings.

Please encourage your secondary-aged children to be Ready and Respectful in ALL facets of their preparation to come to school each day. I will be supportive of any staff who give a uniform detention for such matters. I think we are well and truly over the ‘warnings’ phase for such indiscretions.

UPCOMING EVENTS AND YEAR-LEVEL CAMPS

KEY EVENTS
The Sound of Music rehearsals are running well. The production is scheduled for June 16-17. In the meantime, there are two events to help support the production:
Trivia Night THIS SATURDAY Saturday 20 May and Flinders Got Talent on Thursday 8 June.

YEAR LEVEL CAMPS and RETREATS
Next week, the Year 9s will have their City Camp from Monday to Wednesday; followed by the Year 11 Camp at Phillip Island from Wednesday to Friday.
Later in the term – in Week 8 - there will be one-night Retreats for the Year 7 students (and a similar experience for the Year 9s early in Term 3)

YEAR 9-11 EXAMS AND THE BIGGER PICTURE

While the emphasis in Year 12 VCE has broadened from decades past to recognise the need for consistent effort across the year with the inclusion of SACs and SATs, the end-of-year exams are still a very significant component of the overall grading system used to calculate a student’s ATAR score.

As such we are firm in our commitment to provide opportunities for students to develop their exam skills – both in the lead-up to, and actual writing of the exams themselves.

End of Semester 1 exams are being finalised, to be held from Friday 2nd - Thursday 8th June. For Unit 1 students, all subjects are to be examined; for Year 9 and 10, it will be English, Maths and Science only.

We will be encouraging staff and students in these classes to set up a good revision program so that the students can acquit themselves well under exam conditions.

Regards


Geoff Grace
Head of Secondary

When the lunchtime detention system was inaugurated a couple of years ago, the non-completion of homework was one of the criteria for a student being set such a detention. This element was removed upon an initial review.

This year we are running lunchtime detentions for uniform, poor behaviour and persistent lateness to class on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday, which has allowed for a parallel set of Tuesday and Thursday detentions for students who have not submitted work by the due date. This is in an attempt to encourage students to stick to deadlines as well as there being a mechanism for follow up should a student not hand in work (and where there is no legitimate excuse). Mr Stanley – Head of Teaching and Learning – will be overseeing these detentions which will be supervised by the various Heads of Faculty.

Flinders Got Talent will take place in E Block on Thursday 8 June from 6:30pm until 8:30pm. Audience tickets at $10 per person will go on sale through Flinders Connect on Monday 8 May. All proceeds will contribute to The Sound of Music.

Staff and students should now start emailing diane.ohare@flinders.vic.edu.au to register their act, informing Diane of what they will be performing.

Our fundraising evening will take place on Saturday 20 May in E Block. You may purchase a ticket for the event through Flinders Connect under activities. Mr Mason will be hard at work on the BBQ with his daughter Chloe who is playing Liesl, and Secondary school cast members will also be selling drinks and lollies.

Tickets will be $20 per person, which includes a burger and a soft drink and $15 per person for those who do not wish to eat. Mr Davidson will be our MC for the evening and sound provided by Mr Anderson.

Please register and pay to attend the Trivia Night on the Flinders Connect App

1. Click on ‘My Account’ tab
2. Choose ‘Activities’ from the list
3. Event is called: CD 2023 SOM Trivia Night / Silent Auction
4. Click on ‘Attending’ on the RHS of the event and follow the prompts to pay

Entertainment will be provided by selected cast members and by amazing Bollywood dancers. We have some super items for you to bid on with monies raised going towards The Sound of Music and a project in India which Chloe Mason (Year 12) will tell us about during the evening.

Remember to bring some small change for the extra games we will be having.

I am looking forward to welcoming you all and for a great night of fun and friendship.

Diane O'Hare

The Sound of Music production will take place at The George Jenkins Theatre, Monash University at their Frankston campus. Our cast will be performing three shows on the following dates:

Friday 16 June at 7pm
Saturday 17 June at 2pm and 7pm

The cast are working hard and had an amazing choreography weekend at Broadbent Dance Studios.

Tickets are now available for purchase.

This year, Flinders will be competing at the SIS championships for Theatre sports! Students will be attending a workshop day to hone their skills, before the championships early next term.

The students and I are really excited about this opportunity and are looking forward to the event!

Please keep them in your prayers as they improvise their way through the challenges.

Peter Davidson

Congratulations to Alice and Erin Cooper for their performance in A Million Dreams with BATS Theatre Company.

Congratulations to one of our youngest Musical Theatre students, Charlotte Mendolia on her recent appearance at The Broadbent Dance Studio Concert. George the class bear from 1PG was there to give his support.

Congratulations to Layla Van Niekerk for her amazing vocal performance at The Frankston Waterfront Festival.

Congratulations to Eden Vass for her second place at State Championships for calisthenics.

Firstly, we are proud to announce that our first Have A Go Performance Night for the year was a success. The night included a variety of performances from our talented students, including soloists, ensembles, and orchestras and we were impressed by the level of skill and dedication shown. Congratulations to all that participated on the night.

Our Junior & Senior Choirs are currently preparing for the Mornington Peninsula Choral Festival on the 30 May at the Peninsula Community Theatre. Both groups will be performing a small selection of modern numbers as well as some classics that we know and love. This will be the first performance for both groups this year and we can’t wait to see them in action. We encourage all parents to come and support them.

The Jazz Band led by Mr Rolleston has also started rehearsals, and are preparing for a few appearances throughout this term, with the first being on the 13 June at the Secondary assembly. Parents are welcome to come along and check them out. There is still a position available for a trombone player so if this is you, please let Mr Rolleston or Mrs Harris know by emailing musiccarrumdowns@flinders.vic.edu.au.

Mr Rolleston has also been busy putting together our Primary Band and so far, has a great selection of students who want to be involved. Rehearsals are set to start this week with an appearance planned for Term 3.

Lastly, we are very excited to have Mr Grima our new Brass instrument teacher available to us this term. If you are interested in having one on one lessons with him to learn the trumpet, trombone or tuba, please don’t hesitate in contacting Mrs Harris for some information.

Things to know before you attend the Primary Drive-In Night

As the excitement slowly rises for the Drive-In tonight, there are a couple of things we want you to be aware of before you attend the event.

• Parking is not guaranteed for where you'd like to park
• Parking is first come first serve
• Please be patient as the event is being run by students
• Please have your ticket ready to show when you arrive at the school (this makes it easier for everyone)
• There may be a chance you have to move your car due to it ruining the viewing experience for others. Please follow and respect the students requesting you move
• Food, drinks, lollies and glow products will be available at the rotunda before, during and intermission.

We look forward to running a successful night and can't wait to see you all there

VCAL/VM Team