Head of Secondary School
Covid-19 Arrangements and Updates
As the Principal, Mr Webber, has mentioned in his Note Day we continue to be concerned about the number of positive Covid-19 cases in the community and our thoughts and prayers go out to people affected around the country. In the Secondary School we remain vigilant in following our Covid-19 arrangements and protocols to ensure that our school activities can still run in a safe environment for staff and students. We continue to take on board updated advice from federal, state and local authorities as we regularly review all of our scheduled activities for the remainder of the term and year. In particular, the ISA has been reviewing its sporting fixtures in light of the most recent advice and this has led to some changes for this weekend’s fixtures. Unfortunately, we have had to cancel some sporting fixtures with regional schools or schools that are in a Covid-19 hotspot. However, we are still able to run many of our scheduled sporting fixtures this weekend with schools located within the Sydney basin; however, these sporting events will be held with no spectators present. A more detailed update of the status of sporting events scheduled for this weekend can be found in the Secondary Sport section of Redlands Pulse. Any further updates to these fixtures will be communicated to students and families through the Sports Department in the coming days.
Senior Athletics Carnival
Unfortunately, due to the current situation and updated advice this week, we have had to postpone the Senior Athletics Carnival scheduled for tomorrow (Friday 14 August). We know this postponement will be incredibly disappointing for the athletes across all Year Groups who were keen to compete tomorrow, but in particular for the Yr 12 students who were looking forward to having a fun day celebrating their House and Year Group spirit tomorrow. We have been able to secure dates later this term to hold the Carnival at Sydney Olympic Park and are hopeful of being able to run this event then. More information will be sent out in the coming weeks.
House Events
Despite some of these Covid-19 restrictions, it has been heartening to see some House competitions occur in modified formats over the past week. The finalists for the online House “Just Dance” Competition have been chosen and we look forward to announcing the winners next week. In addition, this week the Yr 7 students have been participating in the Yr 7 Inter-House Debating Competition which was held via Zoom. Congratulations to Dumolo and Cowper for making it to the final and for Dumolo for winning the title for the second year in a row!
Sports Update
While many sporting fixtures were rained out last Saturday, it was great to see some of our Netball teams compete against Central Coast Grammar. The 1sts bounced back from a couple of tough defeats to play their best game of the season to date and run out convincing winners. Most pleasing was once again to see the enthusiasm, sportsmanship and positive spirit displayed on the court by our girls.
Jeans for Genes Day
Last Friday the Senior Campus was awash in denim as we held our Jeans for Genes Day. Pleasingly, we raised over $1,300 which will go towards the vital work being done in the labs at the Children’s Medical Research Institute to help the 1 in 20 children living with a genetic disease or birth defect.
Parents Arriving on Campus
We once again remind parents that they are not permitted to arrive on campus, unless for a previously scheduled and arranged meeting with a staff member. In particular, we have had an increasing number of parents arriving on campus to drop off a forgotten item for their son or daughter such as a textbook, sports bag or lunch. As previously communicated, we are requesting that parents do not drop off these items either to Reception or to their son or daughter at one of the campus entrances. If there is a concern about a student not having a necessary item, we would ask parents to make contact with the Tutor or Year Advisor. As Judith Locke reminded parents in her presentation last year, if students have to face some short term consequences for a forgotten item at school, these consequences will help them to learn not to make a similar mistake again moving forward. We thank you in advance for your support.
Mr Sean Corcoran
Head of Secondary School
scorcoran@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9968 9870