From the Deputy Principal
On Tuesday morning I had the pleasure of attending the Junior Campus Open Morning for prospective families to the School. It was a wonderful event, and at its conclusion many of the families in attendance shared their glowing feedback with me. As we have not had as many opportunities to open up our School to the wider community over the past few years, it was a great reminder to me of what makes Redlands so special. Whether it was through the pride of Ms Breckenridge and Mr Guha talking about their respective Sections of the School; or the nostalgic reflections of current Yr 11 students Samantha Hely and Lachlan Binnekamp warmly sharing their experiences from Redlands House, Prep and Junior Schools; or the unbridled excitement of our Yr 2 and Yr 6 student tour guides proudly showing families around the campus – our passionate, engaged and friendly community was on show for everyone to see.
As we have begun to return to more “normal” activities this term, I have also enjoyed the opportunity to reconnect with many parents at weekend sporting fixtures, evening performances or even at the front gate of the Prep School in the morning. I told the prospective families at the Open Morning that when I started at the School over five years ago, I asked everyone I met over my first few weeks – the students, staff and parents – what made Redlands unique. What did they love about their school that made it special? By far the most common answer I heard was the strong sense of community; a community that was warm, welcoming and supportive. We realise that for many parents and carers, you have not been able to share in some of these communal experiences over the past two years, so it is great to now see more and more of these types of events running, not just for the students, but for our whole community.
One of the key drivers of our new strategic plan is the further development of a positive and supportive culture of wellbeing, and a new initiative this year to help us achieve this aim will be administering the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) Social-Emotional Wellbeing Survey with students in Years 3-12. This survey is a confidential, strength-based survey which will assess and measure the overall wellbeing of students, allowing us to measure the effectiveness of our pastoral care programs, identify social and emotional needs of specific student groups and compare data with other schools conducting the survey. We plan to regularly administer this survey moving forward so that we can track the development of our students’ wellbeing over time. Students in Years 3-12 will be completing the survey in their classes or Tutor Groups over the next few weeks, and if any student is uncomfortable taking this survey, they should speak to their class teacher or Tutor.
We are excited to welcome back Dr Tessa Opie from ‘In Your Skin: Relationships and Sexuality Education’, to continue to partner with us as we further develop and implement our relationships, consent and sexuality education programs. Next week she will be working with students in Years 6, 11 and 12 before returning to the School in Term 3 to work with students in Years 7-10. Dr Opie will also hold a parent information session entitled, ‘Respectful Relationships Education: At School and in the Home’ from 7:00pm – 8:30pm this coming Monday 23 May in Redlands Hall. There are still a few places available for this event and parents and carers should book your attendance through this link.
Pleasingly, we have seen a significant decrease in the number of student COVID-19 positive cases over the first four weeks of this term. However, as many of you are aware, there are a number of other “bugs” spreading throughout the wider community which are also affecting our students and staff. The NSW Health Department has expressed their concerns about this flu season and you can find a link to their influenza fact sheet here. Whether it is COVID-19 or other illnesses, our general advice is the same: students who are unwell or are displaying flu-like or COVID-19 symptoms should stay at home, get tested and not return to school until they are symptom free.
Mr Sean Corcoran
Photo Caption: It was fantastic to have players from Macarthur FC visit our Junior Campus and take our Prep School students through a range of footballing skills and drills this week.