Year 7

Week 7 – Celebrating our Heritage

This week Redlands celebrated their history in the aptly named Heritage week. As part of the events, a group of Yr 7 students – Lachlan Carter, Olivia Krstic, Liv Law, Aaron Oh, Kate Rintoul, Eddie Williams and Mackenzie Willis – presented a fantastic, informative and polished presentation during our Monday Yr 7 assembly, taking us through Redlands’ history from its opening in 1884 all the way to the present. The group had spent the last three weeks meeting with me and school archivist, Ms Gillezeau, to prepare their material, and so the cohort were treated to an exciting history of events in the life of Redlands. I’m confident everyone in the room learned something new about their school.

Did you know???

  • Redlands was established in 1884 by two school teachers from London, Miss Liggins and Miss Arnold. The school first opened in a wooden hall in Milson’s Point with only five students – the nieces of Miss Liggins!
  • With enrolments increasing, the school moved to the Military Road site in 1899 – although, back then it was just a large house with four acres of land surrounding it.
  • The first ever athletics carnival was held in 1907 (that’s 116 years of Athletics Carnivals!)
  • In 1911, the leadership of the school was taken over by Miss Amy Roseby and she established representative sport – the first sport being tennis – in the school.
  • The Liggins building officially opened, on 9 May 1923, making it the oldest lasting building the school.
  • In 1947 three of the current four House groups were introduced – Cowper, MacDouall and Roseby – but the final House, Dumolo was not created until 1966.
  • This week, Yr 7 students received their first editions of Lux, the school’s annual publication, as members of the Senior School, making it 69 years of Lux – first released in 1954.
  • 1966 saw the opening of Redlands Hall first, looking very much like it does today.
  • In 1978, the school became coeducational, with boys admitted into the Junior School and the first boys admitted into Yr 7 (there were only four!)
  • School camps were introduced by then Headmaster, Mr Peter Cornish, in 1981, and so was Innovative Design as a subject.
  • With increased sport in the school, Lang Gym was opened in 1988 as a valuable resource.
  • IB began at Redlands in 1989.
  • High Country Campus was opened in 1996 and a tradition of holding Winter School there began (note, one Winter School had been held in 1995 at Snowy Mountains Grammar School).
  • 2020 saw the wonderful Learning Hub finish being built and opened for school use; it has become the effective centre of the school.
  • And, of course, most significantly, some would say, in 2023 our current Yr 7 cohort became our current Yr 7 cohort! Oh, and Mr Corcoran became our new School Principal!

Such wonderful facts and more were shared by our legendary Yr 7 presentation team.

You can find out more fun facts by visiting Our History on Pulse.


The Fire Alarms are Working!

 Monday was also exciting with our fire alarm systems once again proving that they work and are in place to protect students and staff. Midway through lunch the dreaded – woop, woop: ‘warning, the emergency evacuation system has been initiated’: woop woop – echoed across the school. It was not a planned drill, and so we all moved out of the buildings and into the evacuation areas quickly and smoothly. Yr 7 are so adept at lining up and reporting to their Tutors safely. It has been pleasing to see their growth in this space!

For those who are concerned, there did not appear to be a fire anywhere and certainly no one was harmed. We just lost a few minutes of lunch.

Yr 7 School Photo

Wednesday morning gifted us with blue sky, sunshine and the happy faces of Yr 7. It was photo day! As first cab off the drank, Yr 7 strode confidently into the Fahl Garden, ready to join together as the powerhouse year group that they are, and get a wonderful group photo.

Well, it took some wrangling and cajoling, but we eventually managed to get all 175 students into a line from shortest to tallest. Anonymous sources may have said lining up all the students was like herding cats, but we got there! Once in a line, students were distributed across the scaffold until we had a wonderful cohort mass ready to say ‘cheese.’

I must commend Yr 7 on how well behaved they were during this process, listening to instructions, acting on guidance and not making silly faces when it came to the photo. Well done! This will be a photo to treasure down the track, so I encourage you to share it carefully. You can see a preview below!

Student Recognition

Yr 7 Dancers

Last Sunday, Yr 7 students had a very successful day at the Sydney Eisteddfod. Ada Grossman, Adabelle Lee, Zoe Murdoch, Emma Foley, Astrid Vincent, Ariella Wold, Phoebe Sun, Freya Carroll and Anabelle Kendrigan performed in the Senior Jazz Performance Group 1. They came 1st place in the ‘Years 7-9 School Troupe Jazz’ section out of 15 entrants. They were absolutely wonderful on stage!

Additionally, Adabelle Lee and Juliet Cooke performed in the Senior Ballet Performance Group where they received Highly Commended in the ‘School Troupe Contemporary/Classical Dance’ section out of 24 entrants. Their improvement since the last competition was extremely evident and displayed their hard work as a team. Congratulations!

 

Key Dates and Upcoming Events

  • Week 7: Foundation Day Assembly (Friday 9/6)

Year 7 and Year 11 will be in Redlands Hall for this Assembly, during Period 3.

  • Week 8: King’s Birthday Long Weekend (Monday 12/6)

  • Week 8: Senior Music Festival (Friday 16/6)

A wonderful night of music performance; this year, under the theme ‘Like a Variation’.

  • Week 9: End of Term (Friday 23/6)

 

Other Notices

Irregular Writing Competition

The Redlands Newspaper club, including Year 7 members Lachlan Carter, Buddy Miller, Angus Goodall, Olivia Law, Aimee Kang, are holding an exciting competition – ‘worldviews, interviews and reviews.’ Students are encouraged to submit article of 200-300 words on one of the three topics for the chance to win a $20 voucher from Chargrill Charlies. More information can be found on the Irregular Website on Pulse.

Winter Woollies Appeal

As the temperature continues to drop, we are reminded of those who may not have the resources to stay cosy during the Winter season. But fear not, because together, we can make a difference and bring warmth to those in need. As part of the Year 12 ‘Give back’ initiative, the Winter Woollies’ Appeal, aims to collect and distribute warm clothing and blankets to individuals and families who may be facing the harsh realities of Winter.

Please raid your closets and share the warmth! Gather gently used or new coats, sweaters, scarves, gloves, and hats that you no longer need. Every piece you donate will help someone stay snug during the cold months ahead. Please bring all items down to the Student Services Centre foyer and place in the yellow bin, before the end of Week 9. Your support and generosity is greatly appreciated.

Friday Afternoon Athletics

‘Friday Arvo Athletics, which began last week, will continue this week, running sessions every Friday afternoon (3:30-5:00pm) this term and next at the Junior School Oval. There will be sprints training with Sprints Coach, Rich Frost; Middle Distance with Coaches, Nick Walker and Jess Carroll; and throws with Coach, Jason Turner. Sprints and Middle Distance training will begin this Friday, Throws training will start next week. 

All students participating, will be required to get changed at the Redlands Senior School and then head directly to the Junior School Oval for a group warmup which will begin at 3:30pm. Students participating in the training sessions are to wear Redlands sports uniform. This is a great opportunity for students to prepare for the ISA Athletics Carnival next term, or to use this session as fitness for their rep sport. All levels of ability welcome.

‘Push for Better’ Push-Up challenge

The ‘Push for Better’ Push-Up Challenge is in full swing! We currently have 73 people involved and as a Redlands Community we have completed 33,495 push-ups and raised $4,710. This is fabulous progress with all funds being donated to Lifeline to support those struggling with mental health. We are so thankful for all of your donations and you are still able to sign up and join the challenge. 

Join or Donate Here

We would love to see everyone involved through participating, supporting or donating!

Many thanks for the ongoing support! 

Mr Jimmy Tod-Hill
Year 7 Advisor
jtodhill@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9908 6462