Head of Junior School

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Learning Walks

Senior Campus Learing Walk

Junior Campus Learning Walk

Last Friday, I had the privilege of joining Mrs Robinson (Yr 6 Coordinator), Mr Brakell (Yr 5 Coordinator) and Mrs Smith (Dean of Teaching and Learning) for a Learning Walk through Yr 7 Maths and English classes.

One of the most joyful aspects of the two hours was reconnecting with former Junior School students who were equally thrilled to see us and welcomed us into their new learning environment along with their teachers.

Coordinated by the Head of Teaching and Learning, Mr Bentley, the purpose of our walk was to learn more about pedagogical practices in the Secondary School with a specific focus on numeracy and literacy including reflections and observations in relation to questions including the ones below.

• How might we arrange our physical learning environment?
• Who was doing most of the thinking in the classrooms?
• What did we notice about single sex and mixed gender seating?
• How evident was deeper learning and what did it look like?
• How engaged in learning were our students?
• Did the learning reflect the values and philosophy of the Redlands Learning Platform?

It was wonderful to see how engaged the students were in their learning and following this opportunity, today, we were thrilled to welcome Ms Van de Peer (Head of Secondary School), Mr Bentley (Head of Teaching and Learning) and Mrs Rolon (Dean of Studies) for a reciprocal visit to classrooms in Years 5 and 6 as well as some of our Learning Plus groups.

NSW da Vinci Decathlon

Last Thursday, over 800 students from across NSW in Yrs 5 and 6 participated in the Knox Grammar NSW da Vinci Decathlon. The Decathlon celebrates the academic gifts of young people by providing a stimulating and challenging competition run in the spirit of an Olympic Decathlon. Students competed online via Zoom in teams of eight across ten disciplines: Engineering, Mathematics, Code Breaking, Art and Poetry, Science, English, Ideation, Creative Producers, Cartography and Legacy.

With the day divided into three sessions and many tasks running concurrently, both the Redlands Yrs 5 and 6 teams demonstrated excellent collaboration and took a group approach to problem solving. Congratulations to the students involved and to Mrs Hibbert and Mrs Cocks for guiding them.

Sydney Writers’ Festival

The Junior School writers’ workshop club had the privilege of attending the Sydney Writers’ Festival last Thursday 26 May and it was fantastic.

We arrived at 9:30 and waited around Town Hall for it to start at 10. In the time we had, we posed for pictures and did a catwalk on a red carpet, waved at incoming schools and inspected funny-looking, possibly robotic pigeons. Until finally 10:00 a.m. arrived. We all sat down excitedly with our notepads set up and pencils freshly sharpened. The lights dimmed slowly as a tornado of butterflies swarmed in our tummies.

The first author to come on stage was Mick Elliot, spotlight following him as he told us about his strangely shaped chicken-nugget head. (Not to bully him, but he said it himself.) Mick wrote the series Squidge Dibley and calls himself “author and professional mischief-maker.”

After Mick finished up and ran energetically off stage, Matt Stanton was next. He told us about a billion things about robotic pigeons, exploding whales and how the Mona Lisa was never finished. He is the author of Funny Kid, which we think is based off him!

The third author was Nat Amoore, who ran onto the stage with her cheeky little grin lighting up the room. She told us about her childhood stories and her latest book, We Run Tomorrow, among others. Nat acted out her twenty-four favourite movies which serve as inspiration for her writing, all in twelve minutes with Mick’s help.

Then came lunch when everyone stuffed their faces full of treats. We all entertained ourselves by playing Chinese whispers over and over and over again until finally the second period came.

We heard from Corey Tutt, who founded Deadly Science, a program which encourages Indigenous people in STEM fields.  He’s just written a book called The First Scientists, and he told us every little detail about it.

And finally, Remy Lai came on with a big smile on her face.  She is an author and illustrator who wrote Pawcasso and Pie in the Sky.  She has two dogs named Bossy Boots and Poop Roller and lives in Sydney.  She showed us how to draw like her, but some of our attempts looked quite horrendous in comparison.

We love writers’ workshop and thank you so much, Ms Moore-Patel and Mr Guha, for letting us have permission to enjoy this special day!

Sophie Williams and Grace Flynn

NSW State Tennis Team Selection

We were thrilled to hear that Ami Dalla Pozza (Yr 6) has been selected to represent NSW at the Australia and New Zealand Tennis Championships on the Gold Coast later this month. This is a remarkable achievement and reflects Ami’s dedication to practice and improvement and her skill level. We wish Ami well and look forward to hearing how she fares in this national tournament.

RPFA Staff Appreciation Morning Tea

Our staff were extremely grateful to receive some scrumptious morning tea treats this week from the RPFA on behalf of our parents and carers. The generous thought was very much appreciated and enjoyed and on behalf of the staff, I share our gratitude for this kind gesture.

Old School Uniforms

The RPFA has partnered with Worn UP on diverting old school uniforms from landfill to be upcycled into new products. The RPFA is collecting old Redlands branded uniforms that are not suitable for the second-hand uniform sale until next Wednesday 8 June and there will be a yellow Redlands Worn UP wheelie bin in Junior reception for the collection of old uniform items. 

Student Health Matters

This week, our nurse has had to send a number of students home who are coming to school unwell and with multiple flu symptoms. Whilst our COVID numbers have been extremely low this term, we have had many students and staff away with flu so I ask families to ensure that students are well enough to come to school so as not to spread germs in classrooms.

Code Camp – Holiday Camp 12-14 July (Yrs 2-6)

We are delighted to partner again with Code Camp to host a holiday program where Redlands students in Yrs 2-6 can design, code, problem solve and become storytellers and creators of technology, by creating games, websites, music and videos or flying drones! The program will take place on 12-14 July booking information including an early bird rate are on the flyers below.

Redlands CC Flyer

Code Camp at Redlands – Camp Information

Mr Ari Guha
Head of Junior School 
aguha@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9953 6022