Head of Junior School

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It is certainly beginning to feel a lot like Christmas and this time last week, I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Stage 3 musical theatre production of Elf which was truly full of the joys of Christmas! As much as I strive to know every student well, there are still times when I am positively amazed by students I thought I knew well but then see them come alive in a different context, as was the case during this production.

The Christmas spirit has continued this week and our K-6 Christmas Carol Service was a very special occasion and the first time we have been able to gather as a Junior Campus for three years.

In this final Note Day of 2022, please take time to read through reminder information about the final events of the term and early information ahead of 2023.

If I do not see you in person between now and the end of the term, I thank parents for their support again over the year and wish you all a restorative and rejuvenating Christmas holiday break, hoping that you can enjoy time with loved ones, a true Christmas gift.

Staffing News

As we finish the term, we say thank you and farewell to the following staff and thank them for their service to our Junior School community.

• Ms Hannah Patton leaves Redlands after three years as she pursues a different career path as a partnership manager for a corporate firm connected to education.
• Mrs Lisa Cocks leaves us as she relocates to Perth with her family and commences at Iona Presentation College as a STEM specialist teacher.
• Mr Brad Hemopo leaves us after concluding his latest contract with us and moves to Queensland next year to continue his teaching career at Nudgee College.
• Ms Alison Taylor finishes with us after concluding her contract this semester.
• Gap Year student, Ms Olivia Donoghue leaves us after a wonderful experiential year ahead of her commencing her primary teaching degree at The University of Sydney.

In addition to our leavers, Yr 4 Coordinator and teacher, Ms Melanie Cleary, is taking a year of leave for personal health reasons and we wish her a restful and rejuvenating time ahead of her intended return in 2024.

Associated to this, I am delighted to confirm the appointment of Mr Joel Watkins as the Yr 4 Coordinator for 2023 and Ms Kennedy Proctor will step into the Yr 6 Assistant Year Coordinator role next year too.

I look forward to sharing our 2023 staffing information and new appointments in my ‘Welcome to 2023’ letter to all Junior School families in mid-January.

Farewell, Mr Webber

It would be remiss of me not to also pay tribute to our departing Principal, Mr Stephen Webber, who leaves us after three years of distinguished service. It is hard to measure the impact of just one person but without question, Mr Webber’s extraordinary leadership of our School through the pandemic years will remain firmly etched in the annals of the School’s history. His people-focused leadership is a hallmark of his character and his constant and visible presence on our campus, particularly in assemblies has had a lasting impact on students and staff as was evident in their personal and heartfelt farewell messages to him. On a personal level, I have appreciated Mr Webber’s wise counsel, guidance, unwavering support and friendship and on behalf of the Junior School, I wish him and his wife, Lynn, all the very best as they return to Perth to be with their children.

Anglicare Toys and Tucker

Thank you to all of our community who have generously supported Anglicare Toys and Tucker campaign. As I shared with the students this week, their care and compassion will make such a difference to the Christmas experience for so many children, who are less fortunate.

Year 6 Graduation Assembly

We are looking forward to welcoming Year 6 parents to join us for our Yr 6 Graduation assembly next Tuesday 6 December, commencing at 2pm in Dunnet Hall. With restrictions on seating, only two family members per child are permitted and if you are unwell or have COVID symptoms, please do not attend.

Junior School Speech Day

A reminder below of the times and arrangements. School blazers are required to be worn by all students for this formal occasion.

Yr 5 and Yr 6 – Time to Save Student’s Learning on iPads

As the year draws to a close, we would like to remind families about assisting their children with managing content and files on their iPads. During the term break, Redlands ICT will recall all iOS Apps that are either deployed or managed by the School. While every effort is made to keep data from Apple Apps such as Pages, Keynote, iMovie etc, from time to time this may be deleted and not retrievable. Our strong recommendation is to back up and save any work students have done during the year to ensure no data is lost.

How can students save their work?

The safest way to protect any work on the iPad is to perform regular backups of your child’s device. Any work that is saved in the cloud will be safe when an App is removed. To mitigate the risk of losing any important work, Redlands ICT recommends performing a back of your child devices and that any particular special work is saved in a secondary location.

How do I complete a backup of our iPad?

Detailed instructions HERE

How do I share important documents via AirDrop?

Detailed instructions HERE

Looking Ahead to 2023

A detailed ‘Welcome’ letter will be sent to all families in the letter part of January outlining important information for the year head. For your reference, please note some early information below to assist you in your planning.

Term Dates

Stationery Lists

2023 Stationery lists are now available on each year group page in Pulse for parents to access. We are pleased to also confirm that our suppliers will accept Back to School NSW Vouchers. The Back to School NSW Vouchers program will provide 3 x $50 vouchers, totalling $150 for each eligible child.

The vouchers can be used:

• towards the cost of school uniforms, shoes, bags, textbooks and stationery
• at registered businesses
• before 30 June 2023.

Applications open in December 2022 and these are the program guidelines.

Parents are able to apply for vouchers if your child is:

• a NSW resident
• enrolled in a government or non-government school, or registered for home-schooling, in 2023
• listed on a valid Medicare card

Representative Debating

After another successful year of representative debating, we are already looking ahead to the 2023 season. Representative Debating trials will be held be held on Tuesday February 7 (Week 2) so please look out for the opportunity to sign up early next year. If you have any questions about the program, please contact Mr Watkins.

A Christmas Message from the Chaplains

View a Christmas message from the Redlands Chaplains here.

Science Club

A reminder of the extracurricular Science club opportunity that will run again next year through Eye Hear Science, who have been part of our school offerings for many years.

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