From the Principal
Welcome back to Term 3 and a very warm welcome to the 29 new students and their families who are joining our Redlands learning community this term. We are delighted to be welcoming families from Austria, Argentina, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain and the USA, as well as from other local schools.
While starting Term 3 in a Remote Learning environment has been challenging for everyone, I am impressed to see our whole community, students, teachers and parents, embracing this online learning format so wholeheartedly. Thank you to our staff throughout the School who have been working tirelessly to continue to deliver enriching lessons this week. Thank you to students who have continued to learn diligently. And a very big thank you to parents for supporting your children in their learning at this challenging time. We have received many positive messages from parents and these have been very much appreciated by our staff.
A key priority at this time is to support the health and wellbeing of all our students and we have detailed plans for teachers and our pastoral team across the School to check in with students. To maintain students’ wellbeing, we are continuing with as many cocurricular programs as possible in an online format and endeavouring to postpone rather than cancel our larger events. The movie of Grease the Musical will be live-streamed three times from Friday 30 July to Sunday 1 August, and tickets for this will go on sale next week. Our Sports Department is working on an Olympic Challenge for the Redlands Community to engage all areas of the school through a physical activity challenge and more details of this will be provided on Monday. We have managed to move Gala Arts, previously scheduled for Friday next week, to Friday 3 September.
More specific details regarding Remote Learning during the next two weeks will be provided in letters from each Head of Section this week. As per the period of Remote Learning last year, the COVID-19 Page of Redlands Pulse will continue to have the most up-to-date information regarding activities and events.
We recognise that the current situation may place added burden on some families, so please do not hesitate to get in touch with the School to seek assistance where required.
Thank you again for your ongoing support and understanding during this time. As per last year, we will continue to work in partnership with parents and carers to make this Remote Learning period as positive and enriching for students as possible.
Please don’t hesitate to contact us at feedback@redlands.nsw.edu.au should you have any questions or feedback.
Since the end of Term 2, there have been some wonderful achievements by both students and staff that I would like to recognise. Redlands was named as one of the ten most outstanding schools by the AMEB (NSW) Music Board based on our students’ excellent results in the 2020 AMEB exams. Congratulations to all students and to our Music team of teachers, tutors and accompanists. Their efforts are even more remarkable as last year, their performances had to be videoed and sent through to the AMEB examiners for marking.
Our Yr 9 da Vinci Decathlon team which won the NSW da Vinci competition last term competed in the da Vinci Decathlon Nationals at the beginning of the holidays and placed 2nd overall, competing against 32 teams. This is an outstanding achievement and I congratulate all team members and the staff who supported them.
Finally congratulations to Meera Coburn (Yr 11) who has been selected for the National Performance Camp to be held at the Basketball Centre for Excellence at the AIS Canberra in September. Meera is one of only 11 young men and women in their age group who have achieved selection. Well done, Meera!