Head of Junior School
Live from Yr 4 Camp
Please enjoy a few photos as I report ‘live’ from Yr 4 Camp in Kiama, where I am currently enjoying time the stunning scenery with the Year Group. More to come next week…….Photos can be found on Redlands Pulse.
Yr 7 2020
On Monday, Yr 6 students and their families enjoyed an opportunity to spend time in the Secondary School as the next step in our process of student transition from Junior to Secondary School. Students and parents were able to hear from Mr Corcoran (Head of Secondary School), Ms McGarry (Deputy Principal) and Mrs Shaw (Dean of Students) about various aspects of the Secondary School and I was also able to share aspects of the preparatory work in the transition process that is already underway, largely led by our very able Yr 6 staff team, the Junior Campus Dean of Students, Mrs Kourakis, and me. We also heard from Yr 7 students, Jasmine Black and Sholto Mirrlees-Black. Jasmine had come through the Junior School and Sholto has joined this year from a local school so their differing, yet similar, perspectives on how they have found their transitions this year were incredibly helpful and insightful for Yr 6.
Last week, the Yr 6 students had been surveyed on questions that they have and what they were looking forward to or had apprehensions about, so it was reassuring for them to have many of these questions deliberately answered in this session. The students also enjoyed a tour of part of the Senior Campus, led by Yr 11 Peer Support leaders, many of whom had previously been in the Junior School too.
NAPLAN – Yrs 3 and 5
This week saw students across Australia in Yrs 3, 5, 7 and 9 sit the National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy, or NAPLAN, as it is more commonly known.
I am proud of the way in which our students in Yrs 3 and 5 approached these assessments and I am grateful to the many teachers who have been preparing them and then looked after them during these national tests. Unlike many other schools, Redlands requested that our students continued with the pen and paper method and not the online versions of these assessments, given the testing phase that NAPLAN is still in with online testing. Sadly, as has been widely reported, students from many schools were impacted by technological glitches and connectivity issues, which I am pleased our students did not have to contend with alongside the tests themselves. As in previous years, we hope to get the students results back late in Term 3.
Primary Debating
Congratulations to both our Primary A and B teams who have enjoyed some excellent results in recent weeks. Our Primary B group have narrowly missed out on a finals place but our A team will be involved in a finals match next Friday 24 May against Loreto Kirribilli. Well done to the girls and boys involved and their teachers and coaches.
Wedding News
Congratulations to Yr 5 teacher, Kristie Randle, who was married last weekend. Kristie and her husband, Adam, enjoyed a wonderful weekend with family and friends in the Southern Highlands and we were excited to welcome her back this week as Mrs Coman. With another 5C class, her class will remain known as 5R for this year.
Mother’s Day Breakfast
Last Friday, we were delighted to host our annual Mother’s Day breakfast for Junior Campus mums. As always, it is a special community event which was splendidly attended. I hope the weekend was also a special one for the mums in our community and I thank our wonderful catering team again for their sterling efforts in catering for the large numbers in attendance with an array of culinary delights to start the day.
NSW Combined Independent Schools Sport Selection
Congratulations to Iona Gait who is our latest NSW Combined Independent Schools representative for 2019 after being selected in their representative Hockey team. Our Junior School Sports Captains, Stella Simpson-Morgan (Tennis) and Lachlan Carmichael (Basketball) both represented NSWCIS last week in the State Championships and were key players in a very high level of competition.
Mother’s Day Classic
Congratulations to the many people who ran as part of our Redlands team for last Sunday’s Mother’s Day Classic fun run in The Domain. This has always been a wonderful family-oriented event with categories for serious runners through to fun runners of all ages and Redlands was delighted to be placed 3rd in the largest School group category. Thank you again to the Redlands Parents and Friends Association who had a tent at the event as a meeting point for our families, staff and alumni.
Kiss and Drop Off on Murdoch Street
Please can I draw attention to parents who drop children off at the Murdoch Street gate on the Junior Campus. This is a strictly ‘drop off only’ zone in the morning given its proximity to Military Road and the congestion that can (and is) being caused where parents flout these simple safety rules of the road.
The intention and spirit of a ‘kiss and drop’ zone is to keep the traffic flowing. However, what is being observed and reported by parents, staff and students is that a number of parents are getting out of their cars to pass their children’s bags, blazers, chatting to other parents and brushing girls’ hair to name a few issues that are causing traffic in the immediate vicinity of the School. As has been seen, when this traffic builds up, it goes all the way to Military Road and Winnie Street, where cars are not able to turn into Murdoch Street, even after a couple of traffic light changes.
If you do wish to get out from your car, please find an appropriate car space to do so; there are some around the Campus. Many thanks for your cooperation with this important road safety concern. Ultimately, these rules are there to help us look after the safety of every community member, most importantly, your children.
Holiday Travel Toiletries
Thank you to the many Redlands families who have been donating their mini travel toiletries to our collection for Every Little Bit Counts, the organisation who support people in Sydney currently experiencing homelessness and need. The little red bin in Junior School receptions is being regularly emptied and will remain there until next Wednesday 22 May.
We intend to have this bin placed in Reception at the beginning of each term for three weeks so that we can make it a regular opportunity to link our School Values, being environmentally friendly and demonstrating kindness.
A sincere thank you to Ms Mara Bond (mother of Daniel in Yr 4), who has facilitated this giving opportunity for the School and to our Junior Campus Chaplain, Ms McKenzie, who has supported this initiative.
OOSH Vacation Care
Please note that information pertaining to the upcoming July Vacation Care program for Prep and Junior School students can be found on Redlands Pulse/OOSH for families to view. Booking details will be via the Flexischools website as per normal practice in the coming weeks. As a reminder, the OOSH office at Redlands is open from 11.00am to 6.00pm daily. If you would like to make a general enquiry, booking or alter a permanent booking, please email OOSHbookings@redlands.nsw.edu.au.
If you need to contact the OOSH team to relay a message affecting the day your child is in attendance, please call this number 0413 764 443 between 2.30-6.00pm only. Email messages are unable to be read between the hours of 2.30-6.00pm because staff are looking after the children in their care.
Matildas World Cup Squad Announcement
On Tuesday, the Australian Women’s World Cup team was officially announced and I was thrilled to see that last year’s Junior Sports Captain, Jasmine Black, had been selected to announce the squad. Jasmine is a highly accomplished goalkeeper herself, playing at State level for NSW, and she has also been selected in the Redlands Girls Football First XI as a Yr 7 student this year, a rare and very noteworthy achievement. Do enjoy the announcement here and congratulations Jasmine! It certainly would not surprise me at all to hear her name being announced at this level in years to come.
Mr Ari Guha
Head of Junior School
aguha@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9953 6022