Head of Junior School

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Calendar Updates

Please note the following changes to the published calendar given some changing circumstances.

Welcome Back

It has been great to hit the ground running this week and lovely to see the students happy and engaged as we start Term 4; always such a joyous and action-packed term in any school.

As is often the case at the start of any term, part of my welcome assembly message centred around coming back to our School Values of honesty, respect, responsibility, fairness, compassion and moral courage, and how these qualities should pervade in all that we do and particularly when no one is watching, a true indicator of living our School Values. We also spent some time talking about gratitude and nurturing an ‘attitude of gratitude’, an expression that our Deputy Principal, Ms McGarry, shared in our final assembly of Term 3.

There is much to be thankful for as we survey the global landscape and despite the restrictions, we are grateful to be able to continue as normal in most of our offerings to balance our academic focus with cocurricular activities.

The School’s Critical Incident Management Team met in the holidays and will continue to meet on a regular basis as we plan for and review upcoming events and activities through a COVID lens to continue to ensure that the safety of our students, staff and community remain paramount in all that we do.

We look forward to a wonderful term and finishing the school year positively and strongly.

2022 Scholarships

Applications for our Yr 7 2022 Scholarships Program (Academic, Merit, Music, Ballet) are now open to both current Redlands Yr 5 students and those at external schools. For more details or to apply, please visit: https://www.redlands.nsw.edu.au/enrolments/scholarships-2/. Applications close on Monday 8 February 2021.

Book Character Day

You will have noted that next week is Book Week on our campus and Yrs 5 and 6 will enjoy a virtual author visit from Tristan Bancks next Thursday. The content for this talk will be a fun adventure through the writing process and books, further encouraging our students to read books and create their own stories.

Please us this link to Tristan Bancks’ secure online store for students who might wish to purchase a signed book. The coupon code for families to use on checkout is SCEGGSREDLANDS20 which will provide free shipping and the code is useable through to 28 October.

This will also be the day for our Book Character Day dress up which will take place from P-6 on the campus. The theme this year is Curious Creatures, Wild Minds and students and staff are encouraged to dress up, thinking about what ‘curious’ means and think about being a ‘creature’ such as a tapir, a bunyip, an armadillo, a blobfish, or someone who has a ‘wild mind’ like Elon Musk, David Attenborough, Albert Einstein, Picasso or Frida Kahlo. Alternatively, students and staff might like to choose a book character that you think is curious or wild. 

In Library lessons, the students have enjoyed reading a number of the books from the Children’s Book Council Awards, Younger Readers, Picture Book of the Year, Eve Pownall Awards, New Illustrator Awards categories and during Book Week, classes will look at who has won these awards in 2020.

Return to Interschool Sport

We look forward to our representative sports matches returning from this week and thank our Sports department for their preparation and planning in ensuring thorough COVID-safe plans are in place for our students and visiting teams. Parents are asked to ensure that you are clear about the protocols in place, particularly the number of adult spectators per child permitted at the venue your child is playing sport.

Opal Cards

Please review this important update regarding 2021 Opal Cards. 

Redlands Spirit of Christmas Card

This year Redlands will be celebrate the Christmas spirit by showcasing the students’ creativity in a range of Christmas Cards featuring art from our talented Junior and Prep School students and sharing the joy with those in need. Submissions of artworks, which can be drawing, painting, mixed media and digital art together with a short description of the image, will now close next Wednesday 21 October (Week 2, Term 4). Students can hand them to Class teachers or at the Prep School Office.

Artworks are to showcase what Christmas means to our students selecting from the following themes:

1. An Australian Christmas – bush, beach, BBQ, summer holidays
2. Christian images – The nativity, baby Jesus, three wise men 
3. My family Christmas– students depicting what Christmas looks like at their house/in their family/in their culture
4. Favourite Christmas meal/food/snack 

Ten artworks (either individual or group submissions) will be selected and featured in this year’s Redlands Spirit of Christmas card set which will be available to purchase in Term 4. Please join us to create wonderful Christmas spirit for our broader community!

Mr Ari Guha
Head of Junior School 
aguha@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9953 6022