Flinders Island District
High School
Newsletter – 19th March 2015
Flinders at a Glance!
In the past fortnight so much has been happening in our school. Last
Friday, I attended my first Principal’s forum at the Tail Race Centre,
Riverside. I learnt so much about leadership in that one day and I was
able to connect with some new and familiar faces. I would like to thank
Andrew Cole for stepping in for me while I was out of the school.
In the last few weeks, the secondary students have been busy raising
money for their off-island school excursion, as part of their event and
enterprise lessons. Students have been creative and have hosted a
range of events such as a car wash, tennis tournament, an amazing race
and a Mexican dinner. The students have been dedicated to their
activities and a lot of planning and hard work has gone into these. I
would like to thank Jordan King and Holly Barnewall for managing and
supervising these events for the students and I would also like to thank
the community for supporting the students.
This week we had our swimming carnival. The weather wasn’t the
greatest and we had to stop the event at lunch time. Most students still
participated and had fun in the pool. Thanks to Jordan King for
organising the event. It was also great to see parents and grandparents
come along and support the students.
The school would like to say congratulations to Lochie Nichols who has
been selected to be a member of the Commissioner for Children’s
Advisory Council (North). Lochie will be part of a small group of
teenagers meeting regularly with the Commissioner for Children and
advising the Commissioner on matters relating to young people in
Northern Tasmania.
Flinders Island District High School – Newsletter
Our student leaders have been finalised and they have held their first
meeting. They have some fantastic ideas and at the end of term
assembly leaders will be announced.
This term we have seen many students and even staff be affected by
illness. Please keep your children home if they are unwell and please
don’t send them back until they are fully recovered. Many thanks.
Next week, Devonport High School will be staying at our school. Miss
Barnewall has organised events for both schools to catch up with each
other.
Just a reminder, if you are visiting the school, please ensure that gates
are being shut behind you as many gates around the school are being
left open.
Thank you.
Nicole Jones
Acting Principal
Dear parents, school community members & students.
Today is a very emotional day for me because I have made the decision to
finish my Principalship a little earlier than I indicated in a previous newsletter.
So, this little note is a "Good bye" and "thank you!"
I have been Principal at Flinders District High School for just over 5 years and,
during that time, there have been many ups & downs, but, I can truthfully say
that there has never been any "downs" in relation to working with the great
students at the school.
So, to the students at Flinders - many thanks for allowing me the opportunity
to interact with you & to share some of the skills & knowledge that we both
have. I will always value the little extras I learnt while here - eg how to catch
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Flinders Island District High School – Newsletter
& then clean a squid! I wish you all the best in the future &, hopefully, we will
catch up along the way when I visit Flinders in the future.
To the parents & community members - I wish you all the best with the
school & I especially want to thank all of you who supported me during my 5
years on the Island. I believe I leave the school in a better position than it was
in when I arrived, and, I also believe that you have one of the best staff in
Australia who will continue to work hard at doing what is best for your child.
Nikki is a great successor and will continue to "do business" well while the
process of appointing a new Principal occurs. Please support her in this
endeavour.
My final request is to ask all the school community to take care of your staff.
Over the years, I have heard regular comments, many negative, about staff. I
have never worked with a more dedicated and caring staff who give lots
more than the job requires. They are all conscious of the areas that need
improvement and, continually work at making adjustments so that
improvement can occur. Please be appreciative of this & provide positive as
well as negative feedback. As you know with your own children - when you
only target the negatives, the will can be broken!
To all my staff, teaching, support and ancillary - many thanks for a job well
done!
Many thanks to all who made my stay on Flinders unique. A special thanks to
my office staff, who have always been there for me &, looked after me so
well, even providing soup when I had a cold & taking me to lunch on
occasions such as Mother's Day when I was missing my children so much!
To all who provided professional support to me on the Island - many thanks.
Remember - Different is different - not wrong!
Take Care!
Jan Schibrowski
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Flinders Island District High School – Newsletter
Diary Dates for 2015
March
25th
27th
31st
AEC visit with secondary students
Northern Midlands Primary Athletics Carnival
End of Term assembly hosted by Grades 2/3
April
1st
2nd
3rd
5th
20th
23rd-27th
25th
Last day of term 1 for students
Student Free day
Good Friday
Daylight Savings Ends
School resumes Term 2
Devonport High School visiting
Anzac Day
2015 Term Dates
Term 1: 4th February – 1st April
Term 2: 20th April – 3rd July
Term 3: 20th July – 25th September
Term 4: 12th October – 17th December
2015 Professional Learning Days – Student Free
Friday 23rd October
Thursday 1st April - Moderation Day
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Flinders Island District High School – Newsletter
Dear parents/guardians,
Commencing Wednesday the 11th of March, students Thomas Wise, Julian
Newall and Sid Dallas will be running a carwash for their school enterprise
project, to raise money for the Secondary off-Island Melbourne camp/trip. It
will be held at the front of bills shed each Wednesday from 1pm -2.50pm for
a small fee of $10 per car.
There will be refreshments and food for sale, such as sausage rolls and
lemonade, while you wait for your car to be washed.
Thank you.
Event Management:
Over the past fortnight, the secondary students have been running events for
the community. During the long weekend, Sophie and Lucy put on a race
around the school, where contestants had to solve mind-boggling clues and
beat fellow teams back to the kitchen! Last weekend, Hector, Mitchel and Jye
organised a tennis tournament. The final was hotly contested; Tom Walker
and Julian Newall defeated Scott Anderson and Jye Walker. Wednesday night
saw Dylan, Luke, Tanner and Tyson prepare a feast at their Mexican pop-up
restaurant. Congratulations to all secondaries for their efforts and thank you
to those community members who have supported these events and made
them a success.
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Flinders Island District High School – Newsletter
The Fisherman and the Theefyspray
A retelling by James Willebrand (Grade 2)
Once in the ocean, deep, deep down, as dark as
midnight, there was a Theefyspray. It was one of a
kind. Its tummy was the pain. Shorter than a second,
she spawned another Theefyspray. The baby
Theefyspray was voracious at all times. The baby
Theefyspray flung up to the surface but not noticing
the seriously sharp hook. The baby Theefyspray
warned the reef with its scream of death. A fish
never would go where the baby Theefyspray went.
The fisherman had never seen a Theefyspray before.
He fisherman wanted to show the colourful
Theefyspray to his friends, but as soon as another
idea popped up in his head, the colours started
fading away. The fisherman felt sorry, so he let the
Theefyspray go. The fisherman kept it as a secret and
went home with an empty basket.
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Flinders Island District High School – Newsletter
Thankyou to the tree Action Group for their donation to the school.
Also thankyou to the Altmoor CWA for their donation to the
secondary students to help them acquire a food licence, and the Lions
Club for teddy bears for the first aid room.
Before School Supervision
Parents are reminded that students should not arrive at school before 8:30
a.m. There is no supervision of children before this time.
Lost Property
The basket is overflowing with items. Please check at the school office if you
have lost any of the following items.
Lunch boxes, drink bottles, school jumpers.
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Flinders Island District High School – Newsletter
Cooper Nevin (Prep) dinosaur skeleton
Amy-Lee Pianta (Prep) dinosaur model
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Flinders Island District High School – Newsletter
Davia John (Gr1) giganotosaurus eating its prey
Asher Macqueen (Gr 1) & Lincoln Blyth (Gr 2) dinosaur diorama
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Flinders Island District High School – Newsletter
Lincoln Blyth (Gr 2) dinosaur drawing
Thomas Pitchford (Gr 5) velociraptor skeleton
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Flinders Island District High School – Newsletter
James Willebrand (Gr 2) & Bridie Dwyer (Gr 3) dinosaur poster
Marshall Clarkson (Gr 6) dinosaur skeleton
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Flinders Island District High School – Newsletter
School T-shirt Trial
At School Association this month an agenda item was a put forward for a
similar school polo t-shirt made from 100% polyester to replace the current
polos. It was decided to trial these new t-shirts. We are looking for families
who would be willing to trial these shirts and then provide feedback. The
feedback we would like to see is whether they wash and dry well, keep
students cool or whether the polyester causes excess body odour. If you
would like to participate in the trial the t-shirts will cost $25 for kid’s sizes
and $27 for adult sizes. Please contact the office with your required sizes by
Wednesday 1st April. An order will be placed with the supplier who are an
Australia wide supplier with a store in Hobart, over the school holidays. A
sample t-shirt is on display at the school office. Please come up and have a
look.
Our School Leaders will also be taking part in this trial and providing student
feedback.
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