It was lovely to have many parents reading alongside their children at our P – 2 reading morning last Wednesday. The children love having mums, dads and grandparents reading with them.

Please remember, as a part of our Child Safety Policy, we must view Working with Children Cards, and parents are required to complete a short ‘onboarding’. You can access these documents via Flinders Connect App notices sent earlier, or drop into our Primary School Office (although preferably not on a reading morning!)

In addition, if you are planning on reading in the classroom, please email cdprimaryadmin@flinders.vic.edu.au or drop into the office so we can have your sign-in sheet ready for you. Thanks for your assistance . If there are any concerns, please do let us know.

Book week and the Book Parade are coming up. We look forward to seeing the children dressed up as their favourite book characters. In the afternoon, we also have a House competition in Grades 3 – 6, so we ask students to wear their house T–shirt under their costume or bring this in their bag to change into.

Many of you will be familiar with our caring and amazing school nurse Jo Walton. After 14 years at Flinders, next month, Jo will be concluding her service with Flinders. Jo will ensure a thorough handover with the incoming nurse. We are receiving a number of applications for the new nursing position.

Employment vacancies can all be accessed via our Flinders website.

Should you have any questions about Primary events, please get in touch with our admin team (Marianne Morgan and Suzanne Lokot) on 9785 0000.


Adam Swain

Head of Primary

Congratulations to Alexander, Jordyn and Micah for receiving a Flinders Values award during this week’s Primary Chapel Service.

Alexander received his award for displaying Integrity and Grace by demonstrating these values in his schoolwork and friendships

Both Jordyn and Micah received their awards for exemplifying Humility.

Micah consistently exhibits a genuine willingness to lend a helping hand and support her peers and Jordyn by thinking of others and helping them in a calm, quiet and caring way.

This Term, we have the wonderful opportunity to partner with an incredible organisation whose mission it is to make sure every child has access to quality books.

123Read2me, recognise the importance of reading aloud to children at a young age, enhancing their literacy skills in preparation for school. They aim to distribute pre-loved books to disadvantaged children, increasing literacy levels and raising awareness around the important role books play in our lives and our future.

How can we help?
Why not share the love of reading by bringing your pre-loved, clean and in good-condition books to school to help make a difference in the lives of children who may not have access to books like we do!

From Monday 24 August, Flinders will be collecting book donations for 123Read2me.

You will find book boxes located outside N block (Grade 3-6 classrooms). Each house colour will have a book box dedicated to them and when full, they will collect 100 points for their house team.

Please note: Books must be clean and in good condition

Thank you for supporting this term's mission event.

https://123read2me.org.au

Facebook- 123Read2me

The theme for Book Week this year is Read Grow Inspire.

The Primary Book Parade is taking place on Tuesday 8 of August, followed by the Book Fair in the Library.

There will be prizes for the best costumes in each class as well as prizes for the best costumes for mums, dads and grandparents.

Start planning your outfit!

Our school is hosting a Book Fair with Larrikin House from Tuesday 8 August until Friday 11 August.

Book Fairs are a great way to earn new resources for our school.

Our school receives a generous commission on all sales from the fair.

All Primary classes will have the chance to attend the Larrikin Book Fair during their library session and have the opportunity to make a ‘wish list’; younger students will receive help with this.

The wish lists will then be sent home so parents can review them and pre-order online using click & collect at

https://larrikinhouse.com.au/collections/book-fair-range.

There will also be the option to purchase items at the Book Fair in person. A letter with Book Fair Information has been sent to parents on the App

Join us this August, as we read our way to helping kids who have a parent living with Multiple Sclerosis.

To register with our Flinders team, log onto https://www.msreadathon.org.au/students/schools

Search for Flinders Christian Community College Carrum Downs and as a team, we can log our books and raise money to support families living with MS.

If you would like to purchase George’s Book to have signed please go to:

https://lamontauthors.com.au/buy-authors-book/

Orders must be placed before Tuesday 1 August

'LIVING' THE FLINDERS DREAM

It is one thing to discuss and agree to the importance and relevance of our 7 key Flinders values – Love, Faith, Humility, Excellence, Integrity, Perseverance and Grace. Talking about them and understanding what each looks like in real life is a key goal of mine as I share on each of these values across the year during the Year Level Assemblies on Thursday mornings.

It is another thing altogether to encourage students (and staff and parents) to embrace these values as an integral expression of personal identity.

As we seek to work with our future Flinders graduates, I am reminded of the importance of seeking the holistic formation of the whole person – spiritual, rational, social/emotional and physical growth. A key element of this is the profoundly important connection between school and home, parents and staff. If this relationship is strong then the outcomes for students are always improved.

TUESDAY'S SECONDARY ASSEMBLY

We had a full program for our first Secondary assembly for Term 3. Although the Year 10s were out on an excursion, their seats were ably filled by our Grade 6 students who came along instead.

It was great to see so many of our Year 12 Leaders getting up to share an item. Highlights of the Assembly were as follows.

RRR HOUSE CHALLENGE v2

I mentioned to the students at the Secondary Assembly yesterday that it was the positive feedback from senior Student Leaders which resulted in the Term 3 version of the Ready Respect Reward challenge.

The aim is to encourage students towards embracing the ‘Best Version of Me’ motto and, collectively, to work together in Houses to live out ‘The Best Version of Us’

YEAR 9 RETREAT

There has been very positive feedback from staff and students after last week’s Retreats. A huge thanks to Mr Andrew Watts who planned and led the retreats, along with our lead counsellor, Emmy Singer, and a number of wonderful staff.

A huge commendation to the students who engaged from start to finish with the program. Mr Watts said that it was one of the highlights of his many years at Flinders.

UPCOMING TERM 3 & 4 HOUSE EVENTS

Public Speaking
A Public Speaking club has been established to encourage and equip students in this area. One of the goals of the club is to support students as they develop the skills to participate in ‘in school’ competitions in Term 4 as well as inter school SIS competition in 2024.

Debating
Year 9's had some training in Debating last term in their Civics classes. We are looking forward to more House debating opportunities in 2024 but in the meantime, we are planning a Staff vs Student debate at the Week 7 Assembly. More details to come…

Choral Competition
A big goal in the next month and a half is to prepare students for the big Choral Comp at the end of the term. Rehearsals have started already and will continue during House times.

Engineering Competition
Ms Zuidema – our Head of Science – is planning for a House Engineering Competition in the first 3 weeks 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’.

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. If this happens three times in a term, we may well ask a parent to collect the phone instead of the student.

Punctuality To School
Not with standing unforeseeable incidents – traffic jams included – we ask that students be at school in sufficient time to get to their 8.40 session.

If there is a pattern of lateness we will follow up with parents via the House Mentor, Head of House or myself, depending on the number of accumulated late arrivals.

Flinders Connect will be unavailable from Friday 28 July at 10pm.

The service should return early on Saturday morning.

Flynn House is seeking plant donations for the following garden beds.

Overtime the shrubs have died and been removed and the students were hoping to bring the garden back to life with some beautiful new shrubs. The students would like to manage this program and have a small gardening club to preserve our beautiful surrounds.

If anyone can support us with a financial or plant donation please contact Leanne Ansalde, Deputy Head of Flynn House on leanne.ansalde@flinders.vic.edu.au

The South East Melbourne Phoenix Basketball club are offering a 10% discount on the price of tickets to their games. In addition a percentage of all ticket purhcasers will come back to Flinders.

Please read the attached flyer for more detail.

Password is: PNXFCCC

The Café will now be selling delicious Egg & Bacon Muffins and Ham & Cheese Toasties every Wednesday morning from 8.00am - 10.45am.

Students can purchase a Muffin or Toastie before the first bell.

Egg and Bacon Muffin - $4.50 (vegetarian available)

Ham and Cheese Toastie (GF option available) - $4.50

Last week, over 60 students from both Carrum Downs and Tyabb campuses met at Casey Fields with some elite track and field coaches to assist our athletes in preparation for SIS Athletics Division A championship on Tuesday 22 August.

On Tuesday 25 July , the following students represented Flinders in an SIS Badminton Rally Day:

Ansh A, Liam W, Ben C, Ethan K, Michael F, Nasri S, Bryce M, Ava S, Joel C, Joseph M, Carlos D, Archit U, Finn G, and Xander M. Go Flinders.

On Wednesday 2 August, our junior and senior combined campus netball teams will compete at the State Netball and Hockey Centre in Parkville.

Last year, our junior boys were crowned champions so we are returning for some great competition.

Our intermediate teams will compete on Tuesday 8 August.

A select group of students will be representing the College in Basketball Victoria's Champions Cup tournament this term.

Schools from all over Victoria will be participating in this event to qualify for a state ranking.

Our combined campus teams will be competing on the following days, and we wish them all the best for these events:

Students/families are now registering for the 2023 GVBR. We already have 16 registered, including a few parents from both Carrum Downs and Tyabb campuses - such a great community event. If you wish to register for this event, please complete the registration form below (Bicycle Victoria) and:

1. Click on the campus link below

CD student/family registration: https://www.registernow.com.au/secure/Register.aspx?E=49226&G=180252

TY student/family registration: https://www.registernow.com.au/secure/Register.aspx?E=49226&G=182355

2. “Join School Group”

3. Enter details of participant

4. Select “5 Day Option”

5. Enter meal preference (vegetarian etc)

For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact Shay Cosgrave anytime on 0488713200 or shay.cosgrave@flinders.vic.edu.au.

Alternatively, you may visit https://bicyclenetwork.com.au/rides-and-events/great-victorian-bike-ride/

Disney's Aladdin Kids Production

Following on from a very successful Primary School Production last year, our Production Team is delighted to return this year with Aladdin Kids. With a cast of 350 students, we are excited to commence the process this week with the first and second out of four audition days.

Please remember to email your audition form to diane.ohare@flinders.vic.edu.au or leave at reception prior to your audition day and time. All auditions must be arranged through try booking.

Private Lessons in Musical Theatre/Speech and Drama

Mrs Mendolia and I are very impressed with the level of talent we are seeing from our students. We are excited to support you all and watch your level of talent grow each week.

So, You Think You Can Dance 2023

For the second year running, I am delighted to announce our online competition, So You Think You Can Dance. We have several categories which are Primary Solo, Primary Group, Secondary Solo, Secondary Group, and a special category for staff.

Start thinking now, entries will close on Friday 11 August, so you have lots of time. It can be any genre of Dance and up to 5 minutes in length. You are welcome to wear costumes in your submission.

Once you are happy with your recording, please email it to diane.ohare@flinders.vic.edu.au. Our Judge will be our own Mrs Mendolia.

Private Dance Lessons 2024

Mrs Mendolia and I have the pleasure to announce the commencement of private Dance lessons in 2024.

We are now seeking expressions of interest from students for classes in the following genres, Jazz, Hip Hop, Tap and Lyrical. Please express your interest to diane.ohare@flinders.vic.edu.au.

Dance will compliment our existing classes in Musical Theatre and Speech and Drama, which will mean as a college we are offering the full range of Performing Arts.

SIS Theatre Sports

The 2023 Theatre sports Championship took place at SFX Officer on 21 July with students from 10 schools playing it out to be Theatre Sports Champions.

Students arrived in costumes with their own “jingles”, and participated in a variety of 1-, 2- and 3-minute games in Junior (yrs. 7-9) and Senior (yrs. 10-12) groups, with teachers involved as judges scoring in a light-hearted manner throughout the morning.

The afternoon session saw finalists from the two levels compete for the SIS Shield. “Flinders Pun slingers” took home the Junior shield with 13 points, ahead of “JPC Improv Squad” on 12 points.

The Senior shield was awarded to SFX Beaconsfield team “Zip Zap Zop” with 15 points, ahead of St Peter’s Cranbourne “SPC Seniors” on 11 points.

Congratulations to our Drama teacher Mr Davidson and our two teams of students for a job well done.

GUESS WHO ?

And lastly some Friday Fun!

Who could this be ?

Diane O’Hare Performing Arts Coordinator
Ashlene Mendolia Performing Arts Teacher
Peter Davidson Drama Teacher