Head of Secondary School

Head of Secondary School

Curiosity

Science Week kept everyone busy and engaged on the Senior Campus last week. A huge thank you to all staff and students involved in making this such an exciting venture.

Teamwork and Celebration

Then on Saturday, the ISA Sport Grand Finals were enjoyed by a number of teams. Huge congratulations go out to:

  • 15B Boys Football team who won in a penalty shoot out!
  • Junior Girls Hockey team who won 2-1 in extra time
  • Junior C and Inter D netball teams who were victorious in close matches

  • Tennis teams 4, 5, 7 and 8 who were crowned ISA Champions

Mosman Youth Awards in Literature

Congratulations to Daniel Koppers (Yr 10) who was awarded 2nd place in the Y10-12 poetry section of the Mosman Youth Literary Awards last night for his poem Hiroshima. As Daniel is currently at Winter School, his mother accepted his award on his behalf.

Collaboration and Voice

The Student Representative Council (SRC), who meet every second Thursday at lunch, discuss weighty student issues and respond on behalf of the students to potential changes or updates in the Secondary School. Recently they composed some guidelines for the Ping Pong Table, have provided thoughtful and detailed feedback to the Executive on the following areas of the Senior Campus:

  • Amenities
  • New uniform
  • Student ID cards
  • The canteen’s breakfast and afternoon tea menu
  • Ideas for the 2024 Study Hub

Please see below their considered and inclusive Ping Pong Table Schedule and Shared Rules.


The Voice to Parliament

Recently North Sydney Mayor Zoe Baker invited Redlands to attend a local Voice to Parliament evening designed to give members of the community the opportunity to listen, ask and understand the various issues related to the upcoming referendum.

I had the pleasure of attending with four Yr 11 students: Sabine Murray, Emma Noes, Charlie Parker and Thomas Sigaloff. In the above image you can see us talking with the Mayor and authors of The Voice to Parliament Handbook Kerry O’Brien and Thomas Mayo. The Independent Theatre in North Sydney was well attended and the Redlands students, along with some other students from local schools, were most definitely the youngest in the audience. Thomas Mayo and Kerry O’Brien were excellent speakers who shared the history of indigenous representative bodies, constitutional change and referendums in Australia before clarifying the referendum question and constitutional amendment for the audience.

On referendum day, voters will be asked to vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on a single question. The question on the ballot paper will be: “A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.

Do you approve this proposed alteration?”

In the latter half of the evening Kerry and Thomas responded to questions from the audience. These questions were about:

  • How the Voice to Parliament will work practically speaking
  • How to sum up the key points of the Yes vote for family and friends
  • The impact of media reporting on the campaign
  • The myths about ‘veto’
  • How to respond to anger, hate and ignorance

Thomas Mayo’s calm, supportive and inclusive responses to even the most challenging questions were what stood out to me and the students. When faced with vitriol and even personal attacks, he demonstrated compassion and respect for others’ views. Kerry O’Brien finished the evening in true journalistic style with a message to challenge the No Vote’s mantra ‘If you don’t know, vote No’ by reminding us of our responsibility to be truth seekers, saying ‘If you don’t know, find out!’. For the young learners who accompanied me on the evening, his reminder to value knowledge and ask critical questions of media and social media, really resonated. 

Uniform Shop

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

Online Orders

Thank you to parents, carers and students for your prompt collection of online orders. Just a reminder to that there are some online orders that still need collection. 

Opening Hours

The Uniform Shop will be closing at 4pm on Thursdays until further notice. 

Ms Gemma Van de Peer
Head of Secondary School
gvandepeer@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9968 9811