From the Principal
Over the past week we have been excited to share further information with our community via a dedicated Pulse page about the Year 9 Moonbah Program – our residential experiential learning program at High Country Campus for Year 9 students commencing in 2025. (Moonbah is the actual location of our 214 hectares High Country Campus, which is situated 7 kilometres outside the town centre of Jindabyne.)
On this page you will find an overview of the program, a link to Frequently Asked Questions with answers (43 thus far) and other information. We appreciate that as we share more information there will be further questions that arise, so we will be updating this page regularly over the coming months and look forward to sharing more specifics about the program in early Term 2.
While we initially plan on targeting our communication with our current Year 8 students and their families, we appreciate that all members of our community will be interested in the development of this program – especially students and their families from younger Year Groups.
Over the coming months we plan to hold a variety of different information sessions and activities to help students and their families familiarise themselves with our beautiful High Country Campus, as well as being able to ask questions and hear more information about the Year 9 Moonbah Program itself.
We appreciate that for some students and their families, there might currently be uncertainty about Year 9 Moonbah Program, so I thought it was important to briefly summarise some of our rationale behind it.
Redlands has been running its Winter School on the High Country Campus since 1996 so we have extensive experience leading a residential learning program. For the past four years the School has been exploring how we can further this type of experiential learning experience in line with our Vision of inspiring students to achieve life readiness and our Strategic Driver of supporting and challenging students to achieve personal excellence through programs and pathways. We also realise that not all students currently have the opportunity to attend Winter School so the Moonbah Program will now afford this opportunity to all Year 9 students.
As a Round Square school, we are drawing on the educational theories of Kurt Hahn and see the Year 9 Moonbah Program as an opportunity for our students to truly live the Round Square Ideals of Democracy, Environmentalism, Adventure, Leadership and Service through a holistic program that will build character, competencies and life skills in our students.
As part of our continued commitment to innovation we have been conducting our own internal and external research and firmly believe in the academic, pastoral and social benefits for the students who will attend this program. This belief firstly stems from our review of Winter School and observations of the growth of the students who attend it.
In their surveys at the end of Year 12, many of these students have mentioned Winter School as the highlight of their experience at Redlands, not because of the snowsports element, but because of the residential experience and the corresponding social development, fostering of independence and cultivation of self-directed learning dispositions.
Over these past four years, Redlands staff have also comprehensively reviewed, researched and visited many residential experiential learning programs at leading independent schools across NSW, Victoria and South Australia, including site visits to coeducational schools Wesley College and Ballarat Clarendon College, and this examination has only further confirmed our belief in the benefits of a bespoke program for Redlands.
Finally, the School has also drawn on academic research on residential experiential learning, immersive, interdisciplinary and outdoor education programs which have found positive impacts on students’ wellbeing, relationships, self-confidence, resilience, engagement with learning and overall academic achievement. We believe that in this current age, this type of experience will now be even more beneficial for our students than ever.
In a final update, we are pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Eddy Atkins as the Head of High Country Campus from 2024, who will now oversee both the Year 9 Moonbah Program in Terms 1 and 2 and Winter School in Term 3. Mr Atkins joined the Redlands Secondary School in 2015 as a PDHPE teacher before moving into a Year Advisor role. Since 2022 Mr Atkins has been the Head of Winter School and Outdoor Education and has successfully led these programs. Mr Atkins will not only bring his experience of leading our current residential program on High Country Campus, but also has a strong understanding of the Redlands culture, as well.
More specific information about the Year 9 Moonbah Program can be found in the FAQs section of the Pulse Page and we will look forward to sharing much more in the months ahead.
Our alumni of Redlanders can be found locally and globally and we look forward to welcoming them to our Back to Campus Reunion on the Fahl Garden on Friday 5 April. This special event will unite our cohorts celebrating milestone reunions and also connect past students in celebration of our 140th year as a School. We are not just a school, we are a community and we value the relationships we have with each other. Our students past and present, families, staff and members of local and global communities are valued and included through a shared connection with Redlands.
Mr Sean Corcoran
Photo caption: We’re excited to share further information about our Year 9 Moonbah Program, our residential experiential learning program at High Country Campus, commencing in 2025.