Head of Preparatory School
Upcoming Events
Friday 18 August
STEAM Week
This National Science Week, our Prep STEAM week is Innovations Around Us. We invite parents to join us in our Prep classrooms on Friday 18 August where our students will share their wonderings, investigations, explorations and findings.
Our Science Week special guest is Dr Vanessa Pirotta who will be sharing her passion for Science and latest research with our students. Parents are welcome to join us in Dunnet Hall for Dr Pirotta’s presentation. The schedule for the morning is below. We look forward to welcoming you on Friday 18 August.
Please find below the times where parents are welcome to join us.
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Time |
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8:30am – 9:00am |
In the Classroom Yr 1 Parents Classroom Visit |
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9:10am – 9:40am |
In the Classroom |
In Dunnet Hall |
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9:50am – 10:30am |
In Dunnet Hall |
Book Week (21–25 August)
Tuesday 22 Dress Up day
Read Grow, Inspire is the 2023 them for Book Week. Each year since 1945 the CBCA has brought children and books together across Australia through Children’s Book Week. During this time schools and public libraries spend one glorious week celebrating books and Australian children’s authors and illustrators. Classroom teachers, teacher librarians and public librarians create colourful displays, develop activities, run competitions, and tell stories relating to a theme to highlight the importance of reading. This year our Lucy Hill Librarian, Mrs Stokes along with Mrs Bertinshaw will be holding all sorts of fun challenges and games in class time and at lunchtime to celebrate reading.
Our students this year are welcome to come dressed up in their favourite book character or a costume that reflects the 2023 theme on Tuesday 22 August. This will be a P-6 day of celebration. There will be no parades nor is there any expectation, it is merely a fun day for the children. Simple is best! Can I quietly encourage that Marvel characters or Disney outfits are not worn as we would love to celebrate the beauty of literature.
Jeans for Genes
Thank you to all the Prep families who baked such delicious cupcakes last Friday for Jeans for Genes Day. We had cupcakes in all colours and flavours and Prep students absolutely loved them.
Across the whole school, an amount of $6050 was raised on the day with more online donations to come. What a fabulous result and we know that this money will assist in vital research for the Children’s Medical Research Institute. Jeans for Genes Day is so important not only to raise much needed funds, but to increases awareness of the challenges that children and their families with genetic disorders face every day.
Thank you to Fiona McKenzie and Karin Alfonso for coordinating the Preparatory School event.
Prep School Musicians Shine at Performance
Last Sunday, a group of Redlands students performed at the Shining Star Concert at the Mosman Art Gallery. The Shining Star Concert is organised by local community parents, with the aim to provide a performance platform for music loving children, attracting young musicians from local schools of various ages and skill levels.
We are very proud of the 20 Redlands students who performed with many of them from the Prep School. The concert not only showcased the amazing talents of our young musicians, it also was an opportunity for lots of laughter and performance resilience building.
Jam on Toast Incursion
TG, Kindergarten and Year 1 students were lucky enough to attend a concert this morning by one of their favourite composers, Jamie, from Jam on Toast. Students have been learning Jamie’s songs in their curriculum music lessons, and enjoyed meeting the composer and singing and dancing along. The students’ favourite songs were Papa’s Making Pizza, Fingerplay, Good Morning and Fabuloso. Jamie’s songs are full of wonderful learning opportunities, and above all are a lot of fun!
Term 3 Big Hearts Project
Insights from our Counsellors
Emotional literacy holds significant importance in aiding children to navigate and manage their emotions effectively. By honing this skill, children can gain better insight into their own feelings as well as those of others. In our introductory workshop, called the Big Hearts Project, we worked with a small group of Year 2 students and delved into valuable resources that can assist parents in fostering their child’s emotional growth.
Exploring the Spectrum of Emotions
To initiate discussions about emotions, we incorporated a clip from the movie ‘Inside Out’. Engaging with various forms of media, such as films or TV shows, provides an excellent opportunity to explore feelings with your child. Encourage them to identify and analyse the emotions experienced by the characters, as it can serve as a starting point for exploring your child’s own emotions. This interactive approach fosters open dialogue and aids children in developing a better understanding of their feelings.
Breath Work for Self-Regulation
Another crucial aspect we covered was the significance of breath work in self-regulation. We practised the box breathing exercise, a technique used by the NAVY Seals (fun fact!), to promote a sense of calm for both you and your child. You can find a demonstration of this breathing technique here. We recommend engaging in this exercise together with your child before bedtime, as it can create a peaceful environment that supports relaxation and emotional well-being.
Science Club Comes to Wellbeing Lunchtime Activities
We are pleased to welcome the Brainy Brunch Science Club to our Term 4 wellbeing lunchtime activities. The Brainy Bunch is an outside provider who has kindly agreed to come in a few lunchtimes to provide our students another lunch time opportunity. Due to limited resources and staffing, this club will be capped at 25 students. We know this club will be a popular option for our students, so we will talk to them about patience if they miss out next term and we will also explain to them that this club is different to the others in that they must show commitment to attending as it is a user pay club.
If you are interested in registering your child for Term 4, please fill in the registration form below.
Medication
To ensure our students are safe and that we all follow Redlands procedures, can I please remind families to have a discussion and hand over any medication with the School Nurse only. The nurse will ask you to fill in a medical authority form which is kept in the Health Centre. Any student who needs to take medication will do so in the Junior Campus Health Centre (found in the Parkes building). Thank you for your understanding.
The School Nurse can be reached directly on 99086433.
Canteen Communication
Our students are so lucky to have such a choice of food for recess and lunch, but, on occasions little stomachs can’t quite hold the amount of food being ordered for them and as a result whole lunches are being discarded in bins which, as I am sure everyone can appreciate, is wasteful.
We do worry when some students are not eating a nutritionally balanced lunch, so we encourage conversations at home around some items only being seen as a ‘treat’ on occasions.
The FLEXI school system is a system that works, but like any online ordering procedure, it can have glitches or can be offline for a time. Can I please ask our families that if you have any issues with the online system or if you need to communicate with the canteen, please email Jacqui Tyrell directly on jtyrell@redlands.nsw.edu.au. Jacqui checks her emails frequently during the day.
In the situation where a lunch has been forgotten or an order not placed in time, an ‘emergency lunch’ will be supplied to your child. It does need to be noted that a ‘replacement lunch’ is not given if a student does not like the lunch that has been ordered.
Thank you all for your understanding.
After School Prep Sport Reminder
Our Term 3 Sport options are going well, and students are enjoying all the opportunities on offer. Can I remind families that now that we are approaching Week 5, if your child pulls out of their Sport, fees will still apply. Movement between sport for students cannot be accommodated either at this late stage. Thank you for your understanding.
OOSH Vacation Care Program Survey
Our next amazing vacation care program is just around the corner, and we can’t wait to create unforgettable and meaningful experiences for your children.
As part of our commitment to making this vacation care program truly special, we want to involve our families and children in the process of choosing our exciting incursions and excursions. After all, it’s the collective spirit that makes these adventures so memorable.
Your Voice Matters!
We invite you to actively participate in selecting the events that your children will embark upon during the vacation care program. This is a fantastic opportunity for you to have a direct influence on the experiences your children will have, ensuring they’re engaged, entertained, and educated in a way that aligns with your preferences.
How to Vote or Suggest:
Voting: Please review the list of proposed activities on this link and vote for your favourite program.
Suggestions: If you have exciting ideas that you believe would be perfect for the Vacation Care program, we’d love to hear them! Feel free to send us an email with your suggestions, and we’ll consider each one with great enthusiasm.
Winter Wonderland Online Auction Will Close on Saturday 11pm!
Thank you all families and friends who already registered for our online auction and purchased tickets for the Bali raffle.
Winter Uniform Clearance – 30% Off Selected Items
As we will be introducing our new Redlands uniform in 2024, we are having a Winter Uniform clearance sale with 30% off the following range, whist stocks last:
- Blazers
- Knitted Jumpers
- Girls Skirts
- Girls Blouses
- Boys Long Sleeve Shirts
Uniform Shop Opening Hours
The Uniform Shop will be closing at 4pm on Thursdays until further notice.
Mrs Ainslie Breckenridge
Head of Preparatory School
abreckenridge@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9968 9848