Head of Secondary School
Learning Through Experience
On the whole, student learning happens via intentional experiences designed by teachers to support and challenge. Students ‘do’ so they learn, and often, this doing can feel uncomfortable and difficult. One thing I admire about Redlands students is how willing they are to have a go and leap in despite the discomfort. This week we’ve seen so many examples of students learning via experience. They do this in the classroom, like Yr 12 HSC students engaging in lightning writing in their English lesson, below.
Tasked with writing about their worst day this year (you’ll be pleased to know some couldn’t think of a really bad day) in evocative or humorous ways, they moved into the personal writing space fairly easily in order to emulate the writing style of a celebrated author, studied in class.
Yr 7 Burn Bright
On Monday, Yr 7 engaged with the team from Burn Bright exploring positive peer relationships to enhance a greater sense of belonging. We know that the transition to secondary school has been an enormous time of change and can at times be challenging for our young people. It is vital that our students build a sense of connectedness with their peers and the wider school community. If students are able to lay the foundation for the future early then secondary school can be an enjoyable and successful stage in their life. The Yr 7 ‘Recipe for Success’ program supported our wellbeing lessons, providing Redlands students with a toolkit to help them build important skills that will assist them in this time of transition. Students left the workshop with developed awareness of their identity, strengthened friendships and enhanced self-efficacy to improve resilience.
The Impact of Drugs and Alcohol with Paul Dillion
Redlands is committed to best practice drug and alcohol education. Supporting our PDHPE curriculum and Wellbeing programs, this Wednesday, Paul Dillion worked with Yr 10-12 students delivering a series of sequential school presentations providing high quality and accurate alcohol and other drug information to our young people. Talks attempted to debunk some of the myths in this area. Using the latest prevalence data, ‘positive norms’ were promoted. An update on vaping and e-cigarettes was also provided. Finally, the impact of drugs and alcohol on the adolescent brain was discussed, highlighting the potential risks of use during the teen years. Paul’s talks are engaging and real, and students left the space feeling empowered to make informed decisions to keep themselves and their friends safer when socialising.
Uniform and School Identity
Wearing a uniform creates an identity for a school and is an important part of being a school student. Wearing uniform with pride means our students are respecting and buying into our Redlands Vision, Mission and Values. Our uniforms are currently needing some TLC. Redlands has a two-step uniform management process and all students are to ensure their uniform meets regulations. Each term, if a uniform is being worn inappropriately, staff will have a formal conversation and issue a uniform demerit. Should a student’s uniform continue to fall below expectations, students will receive a second demerit and a Friday afternoon detention. Students have been reminded of Redlands uniform expectations and are to ensure that their uniform is looking sharp for the start of Week 4. Needing particular attention is hair being tied back neatly away from eyes, and up off shoulders for boys and girls, skirt lengths falling to the top of the knees and jewellery being limited on set of plain studs or sleepers in the lower lobe. Thank you for your support in helping us promote and maintain our positive image and identity within our wider community.
Sustainability Initiatives
Across the school, students of all ages are keen to engage in sustainable practices. Currently Yr 12 Environment Captains Iris Buisman and Jacob Gold have been working to support as many initiatives as possible, well supported by Kimberlee Chipper, Sustainability Working Group Chair.
Sustainable Cutlery – $2460 was spent on bamboo cutlery in the Secondary School from January to the end of March – every spoon or fork used by students and/or staff use costs 4 cents. When purchasing food that requires it from the canteen, students receive a set of bamboo cutlery. However, students who bring their own lunch to school need to bring their own cutlery to and from school. Sets of bamboo cutlery for this very purpose are available from K-Mart and lots of other retailers, and come housed in a compact container, which students can store safely and hygienically in their school bag. Students are encouraged to use these as a way to exercise responsible sustainability. Bringing lunch, and accompanying cutlery, to school each day requires organisation and forethought, which the students develop as they mature. Doing this as a way to be sustainable requires motivation and a belief that our actions, however small, can have a positive impact on the environment.
Single use water bottles – we are so lucky that we have readily available water-filling stations on the Senior Campus. The majority of students carry their own water bottle and fill it when they need to. Shortly, all single use plastic water bottles will be phased out, and replaced by paper water bottles, which are more environmentally friendly.
Waste audit – we are excited to be engaging in a waste audit in Week 6. The students are keen to assess and review the impact of their sustainability initiatives and report back to the community.
Sport Success (and a few injuries)
Touch Football
The 2022 Touch Football Captain, Katie Wightwick (Yr 12), spent last week coaching and mentoring the Sydney Scorpion All Abilities Touch Football team at the Australian National Touch League Championships. It was a huge achievement for Katie to be selected as the coach and mentor and we are immensely proud of her.
Redlands Director of Coaching: Touch Football, Jordan Parsonage, was also part of the Sydney Scorpions team that went to the Australian TLS. Jordan was the coach of the U20 Girls team who came out victorious. We are privileged to have Jordan as part of our program, as she is tasked with developing both coaches and players.
Swimming
We had a number of students compete at the NSWCIS Swimming Championships last week. The Inter Boys relay team made up of Lachlan Green (Yr 9), Xander Halfen (Yr 10), Rafferty Heard (Yr 10) and Julius Keller (Yr 10) finished 10th overall, with a time of 2:09.56 – a great effort!
- Xander Halfen (Yr 10) finished 9thin both the Boys 15-16 100m & 200m backstroke and also finished 7th in the Boys 15-16 50m Backstroke
- Loch Wilding (Yr 11) finished 11thin the Boys 17-19 50m Freestyle, 7th in the Boys 17-19 50m Butterfly and 4th in the Boys 17-19 50m Breaststroke
- 2022 Swimming Captain Erik Scott (Yr 12) had a significant meet, finishing 11thin both the 50m Freestyle & Butterfly, 9th in the 100m Backstroke, 5th in the 200m Backstroke and 4th in the 50m Backstroke
Hockey
A huge congratulations to the following students who have been selected into the ISA Hockey team for their respective age group to compete in the NSWCIS Championship: Sophie McMillan (Open Girls), Eloise Trueman (Open Girls), Freya Gait (16&U Girls), Jessica Van Extel (16&U Girls) and Sebastien Griffith (Open Boys).
Football
Congratulations to the following students who have been selected into the ISA Football representative team: Brianna Irvine (Open Girls), Jasmine Black (Open Girls), Madeleine Boris (Open Girls), Hugo McKay (Open Boys), Keian Murphy (Open Boys) and Arkie Riches (Open Girls – shadow player).
Basketball
Congratulations to Meera Coburn, Emilie Bessell, Eva Osborn and coach, Renae Garlepp, who won a Gold medal after being undefeated for the day at the NSWCIS Basketball Championships last week. A further congratulations to Meera Coburn and Emilie Bessell who have both been selected into the NSWCIS team and Renae Garlepp who will be the coach of this team. A special mention to Kate Seebohm who was the NSWCIS Girls’ Basketball Convenor and played a key role in ensuring the smooth running of the event!
Swimming
Over the previous holidays Redlands had two swimmers compete at the 2022 Australian Age Swimming Championships in Adelaide. A huge congratulations to 2022 Swimming Captain Erik Scott (Yr 12) and Xander Halfen (Yr 10) who represented both Manly and Warringah respectively.
- Erik finished 22ndin U17 50m Backstroke, 24th in the U17 100m Backstroke and 26th in the U17 200m Backstroke
- Xander finished 44thin the U15 100m Backstroke. Xander’s Warringah team also swam in the 4x50m Medley Relay coming away with a gold medal! This is a huge achievement for Xander and his swim team
Gymnastics
Congratulations to Orabella Cornelius and Charli Amm who have been selected to represent NSW in the annual Australian Gymnastics Championships to be held on the Gold Coast in May. Best of luck and we can’t wait to hear how you go!
I wanted to take this opportunity to acknowledge and commend our students who have unfortunately been injured at the start of the season. Injuries in Sport do happen, and not just at Redlands, or in one form of sport. Adversity presents itself to us in all shapes and sizes, hitting us at different times, but how we bounce back and respond is the important part. Over the past few weeks, we have had a few students injure themselves while proudly representing Redlands on the field or court. We wish these students the very best with their recovery and look forward to them returning to the sporting arena once more. Any students who would like additional support with their rehabilitation can contact Jack Gooding (Director of Athletic Development), who will be able to assist students to keep active while in recovery.
Ms Gemma Van de Peer
Head of Secondary School
gvandepeer@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9968 9811