Head of Junior School
Grandparents and Special Friends’ Day
What a joy it was for us to welcome the students’ grandparents and special friends in last Friday on this special community day for our Junior Campus. It was delightful to meet many guests in classrooms and also before and after the musical performances and with the power of technology, I was able to say ‘hello’ to a grandmother in Ballina who had connected with her granddaughter via FaceTime and this same medium allowed a grandmother in Italy to be ‘in’ the classroom as well; marvellous!
Kids Need Books
On behalf of our Yr 11 students who set up this opportunity, a sincere thank you to the Junior School students and families for supporting last week’s second hand book drive for the Kids Need Books charity in Vietnam. Junior School students were able to donate just under 900 children’s books that will soon be shipped to Vietnam. We also received gratitude from Ms Hai, the founder of Kids Need Books, for our contribution to the community library and we were delighted to build on this initiative of a Redlands alumna.
Redlands Spring Fair
The Spring Fair launch sprang into action this week with our very own Redlands Rhino speaking to students in assembly who also enjoyed seeing what Bubble Soccer was all about too! As you may have been made aware separately, there are a number of online methods of booking activities and supporting the Fair as listed below, which we hope will make the pre-Fair organisation a little easier for you.
Wristbands and Coupons
Pre-purchase your wristbands and coupons available until Monday 10 September Buy Now!
Bubble Soccer
Back due to popular demand! Gather your team of six and register now.
Raffle Tickets
Buy raffle tickets for a chance to win fantastic prizes – Buy Now!
There are also numerous fun ways to join in and help your Class/Year Parent stalls, as listed below. All assistance is appreciated, as it is only with your support that we can ensure the Spring Fair will be another wonderful community event. We also extend a big thank you to our sponsors for their support.
Help Your Class/Year Group Stall
Volunteer your time and Take a Turn on the Day
Join the Redlands Army to help set up and pack up the Fair
Donation Drop-Off Day
Saturday 1 September 12pm-3pm
Drop off your quality children’s clothing, books, toys and games at the Prep School Carpark – click for more information.
Last Baking Session
Wednesday 5 September, 9am-12.30pm
The Barn, Mosman Bay Book Now
We are fortunate to have a wonderful Spring Fair committee of parents and staff and I thank them for their meticulous preparation and planning on what will be a wonderful day.
Book Week
We are extremely excited to be hosting the Australian Children’s Laureate for 2018 and 2019, Morris Gleitzman. Morris will visit Redlands next week to spend time with Yrs 3 and 4 on Thursday 30 August and then join Yrs 5 and 6 on the following day, Friday 31 August. Students are encouraged to read some of his books in advance of his visit.
As a School, Redlands will hold a collection next week on both campuses this week; and the Junior School will tie in our collection with Dress Up as a Book Character Day on Friday. I know that many in our Redlands community have connections in the farming community and I was so encouraged to have received a number of compassionate student requests to help farmers in need.
Spanish News
The Language Perfect NSW Championships 2018 begin on Monday 27 August. The competition begins at midday and will conclude at midday seven days later on Monday 3 September. This competition provides students with a wonderful opportunity to compete against other language students in schools across NSW. All students in the Junior School are registered to participate. To compete, all students need to do is answer Spanish language questions on Education Perfect. Points are awarded for all questions except self-marked questions.
As an added incentive, Education Perfect have generously provided some prizes. The class with the highest average score will get to choose either a churros or a pizza party to celebrate their success. Furthermore, the top performing student in each Year Group will receive a $30 iTunes voucher. I encourage all students to participate to improve their Spanish skills and have fun in this exciting and motivating competition. ¡Buena Suerte!
Open Morning
Once a semester, we host an Open Morning for prospective parents to come in and see, hear and feel what it may be like to be a student or parent at Redlands. Choosing a school is one of the most important things we do as parents, and as many of you might recall from your first visit to Redlands, this opportunity to spend time here as well as be part of a student-led tour of the school is invaluable. Our tour guides did a fabulous job of looking after our guests and also answering questions but many also commented on the warmth and connection that teachers and students offered as they popped into classrooms.
We regularly get positive feedback about the interactions prospective families have with our students and part of our aim is to provide leadership opportunities like these to as many students as we possibly can. As a new initiative we also had a Q & A opportunity for prospective families with two students from Yr 2 (Fergus Kerr and Lily van Hulsen) and two from Yr 6 (Sierra Allen and Marcus Cooper-Hor), who collectively answered a number of unscripted questions with definitely unscripted answers which aligned with the messages about Redlands that Ms McGarry (Deputy Principal), Mrs Fellowes (Head of Early Childhood) and I shared in the first part of the session.
Visual Arts Exhibition
Featuring works from Visual Arts students in Years 3-12, we hope you are able to visit the 2018 Visual Arts exhibition. The exhibition will also showcase the HSC bodies of work from the 2018 graduating students of Visual Arts.
Father’s Day Breakfast
Mr Ari Guha
Head of Junior School
aguha@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9953 6022