Head of Junior School
A Junior School event involving each and every one of our students takes some organising. Two within a week is remarkable and under the expert planning and organisation of our Music and Sports staff, our parents, teachers and most of all, our students, have enjoyed two spectacular Junior School events that evoked such obvious joy. Both Mr Castelli (Music) and Mr Carter (Sport) will rightly acknowledge the support of so many other staff to deliver the Junior Music Festival and the House Athletics Carnival, but from my perspective and that of colleagues, it is important to recognise their leadership in their respective events.
Junior Music Festival
In my opinion, and one shared by others, last Thursday’s Junior Music Festival was the best one that I have seen in my tenure at Redlands, and having seen all eleven of them, I do feel I can genuinely offer an opinion of this nature. From my seat, it was impossible not to feel the palpable energy of the students and their genuine happiness and sense of enjoyment as they entertained the audience with a wonderfully eclectic array of music items which took many of us back in time! As I commented in my final remarks at the conclusion of the show, nights like these do make me incredibly proud to be part of a School that allows every student to be involved of a concert of this magnitude and then do it so well. My sincere thanks again to the many, many staff involved on so many levels who all worked collaboratively to allow us in the audience to thoroughly enjoy a spectacular musical event to kick off Term 3.
House Athletics Carnival
After the rain of last year, the sun returned to shine on our students as the highly-anticipated House Athletics Carnival proved to be another thrilling student-focused day with every child involved in a range of track and field events. Like the Junior Music Festival, this enormous team effort from teachers under the guidance of Mr Carter and our Sports staff, enables an event of this magnitude to take place so smoothly for 450 students.
From my vantage point on duty in the stands, it also occurred to me that this event was one of the very rare ones in our School’s calendar that involved students from all three sections of our School with eligible Yr 2 Prep students invited to compete as well as a wonderful team of Yr 7 student helpers and Yr 11 House mentors, many of whom enjoyed reminiscing about Junior School Carnivals that they had been involved in.
As always, it was also a joy to watch and hear the genuine sense of enjoyment, participation and House spirit amongst all of the students on a day that I hope will leave them with many happy memories and a sense of achievement; arguably the most important outcomes of the day.
Redlands Spring Fair
I am sure that the Redlands Spring Fair date is already in your diaries and there is already an early Spring Fair ‘buzz’ as things start to take shape ahead of this special biennial event in the Redlands calendar. As we head towards the date, please keep a look out for additional information and opportunities for students and families to support and prepare for this major event.
Mosman Youth Awards for Literature 2018
During our assembly this week, I was delighted to announce and congratulate Yr 4 students, Julia Cooper-Hor and Maria Smith, who have been named among the shortlisted students in this year’s Mosman Youth Awards for Literature 2018. The girls and their families have been invited to attend this presentation at the end of this month and we look forward to hearing how this special evening goes for them too.
Jeans for Genes
Last Friday, our School community of students and teachers enjoyed the opportunity to don the denim and support Jeans for Genes again. Along with the gold coin donation, we were very proud of Yr 6 girls Ava Taylor, Josie Bannon, Anabelle Cullen, Lara Farrell and Zara Naismith, who organised a wonderful bake sale and raffle to help raise further funds. Their obvious efforts, generously supported by classmates and friends, raised an additional $1980 and Ava then went on to raise a further $380 selling Jeans for Genes merchandise at Willoughby Netball courts on Friday night, something she had also done last year! A number of our students regularly make a difference to the lives of others and alongside the aspect of fundraising, their approach to planning, problem solving and delivering aspects of the day allow further skills and dispositions to be developed, as was clearly the case here. Well done to all who supported this cause and particularly the Yr 6 girls mentioned.
Assembly Guest
We were excited to welcome our long-standing Scientist-in-residence, Dr Alana Wylie, to our assembly this week as she started the build-up to this year’s National Science Week with this year’s theme, Game Changers and Change Makers. Connected to this, Dr Wylie talked about scientists and innovators of the past who were pioneers in making great changes to the way we live today.
As some of you may be aware but perhaps many not, Dr Wylie has been visiting Redlands since 2012 as part of her own interest in volunteering in sharing her passion in Science and we have been fortunate to have been her partner school throughout this time. These increasingly-frequent visits actually gave her much food for thought in what she was doing and why and it is exciting for her and us to share that she has set up her own Science education company to help to inspire and motivate the next-generation of critical thinkers from primary and secondary students, to educators alike. Ultimately, Dr Wylie is passionate about igniting young minds to think critically, equip them with a problem-solving mindset, and foster an inquiry-based learning culture where asking “why” is encouraged. This has already been evident this week as she has spent time in Prep classrooms and we look forward to partnering with Dr Wylie in providing all of our students with a range of scientific discovery opportunities, not just in Science Week, but as part of our scientific thinking throughout the year.
Matthew Talbot Hostel Support
On behalf of our Junior School Chaplain, Ms McKenzie, I extend appreciation for Junior School families who were able to provide toiletries for the homeless shelter. Redlands staff and Yr 11 students serve breakfast at the hostel every Monday, every single week of the year which Ms McKenzie coordinates and this Service opportunity is one that is an important one for our School.
Grandparents and Special Friends’ Day
As you will have noted in last week’s edition and below, we are looking forward to welcoming the children’s grandparents or special friends next Friday 17 August on this annual special community day for our Junior Campus.
Unless guests are here for the early part of the morning during the Prep part of this day, please can I ask that guests are asked to arrive as close to the scheduled 11am start as possible. This timing is planned to allow our Prep guests to depart at around 10.30am which should then free up parking spaces around the Campus for Junior School guests.
No Tuesday Cocurricular Clubs Week 4
Please note that there will be no Clubs next Tuesday with teachers and students involved in three-way conferences. As per Mrs Sharp’s communication at the start of the term, please be reminded that there will be no Debating sessions on Tuesday as well.
Mr Ari Guha
Head of Junior School
aguha@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9953 6022