From the Principal
Preparatory School
Please note that the title “Head of Early Childhood” (Mrs Fellowes) has changed to “Head of Preparatory School”. ‘Early Childhood’ actually refers to the years prior to formal schooling, Preschool and Transition. Mrs Fellowes is our Head of Section for Years K-2 and our Early Childhood program.
Foundation Day
Last week Redlands celebrated Heritage Week and the traditional Foundation Day Service was held on the Friday. As this annual internal School event was my last Foundation Day and I was invited to be the Guest Speaker this year, I thought that parents might like to read my musings about why it is important that we celebrate the history of this remarkable School.
Foundation Day
Friday 7 June 2019
This year, we are celebrating 135 years since the School’s co-founders, Miss Elizabeth Liggins and Miss Clara Arnold opened our School on 12 July 1884. Within 15 years, the School had outgrown its original site at Milson’s Point and, after some deliberation, the Principals bought ‘Redlands’, a large house on Military Road set on four acres of land. So, it was 120 years ago that these two adventurous women opened the doors of their relocated school in September 1899, renaming their school Redlands, after the house and property they had bought.
Why do we, as a nation, and as a School, also remember our past history each year at ANZAC Day? The landings at Gallipoli were poorly planned, they were a military disaster that resulted in the deaths of a many Australians for no tangible outcome. Yet there is no sign of ANZAC Day fading from our national memory: quite the contrary.
So, why do we take time each year to celebrate our Redlands history and heritage in the first week of June, and conclude the week with a special Foundation Day Assembly? Why does the past matter? Is the history of Redlands just a past that really has no great meaning or importance for us today?
I believe that this annual remembrance of our School’s heritage and history helps us to feel connection with the place where our staff come to work and continue to learn, and where you, our students, come to learn, to play and to make friends. It helps us to understand the journey that other students and staff before us have had, and to appreciate and be thankful for the vision and determination of those who have been leaders of our School. Redlands started as a school that was ahead of its time and it has continued to be a school that moves with the times rather than being locked into preserving the past.
Moving the School to another suburb 15 years after its foundation proved to be a well-considered risk. The move must initially have caused the two founding Principals some anxiety; student numbers initially dropped when the School relocated to Military Road. However, Ms Liggins and Ms Arnold had rightly predicted that the tramline that ran outside the front gates of the new site would transport students from the growing suburbs of Mosman, Cremorne and the Northern Beaches in one direction, and from the lower North Shore in the other. They also trusted that the School’s already excellent reputation would attract new students. The two Heads also foresaw that the new site would enable them to provide on-site boarding facilities for country students, and perhaps even more significantly, offered space for games and sport to be introduced. That is why we had a luncheon at RSYC last term to celebrate 120 Years of Sport at Redlands and why we invited four Redlander Olympians to speak to the guests.
Their well-considered risk paid off, and we can thank Miss Liggins and Miss Arnold for their vision and courageous conviction. The sports program of today has morphed over the years to become a major part of Redlands’ offering.
The founding Heads of Redlands had a vision that girls should become equals with men and should be prepared and entitled to have a no lesser education than boys. As a result, Redlands girls were some of those who were the first women to graduate from the University of Sydney and who then embarked upon careers in leadership and professions similar to their brothers. The educational vision of those founding Heads also included their recognition of the importance of the early years of schooling for young children.
In the mid-1970s the School was threatened with closure and was saved by parents who valued a Redlands education, some of whom made heroic personal efforts to allow the School to continue. The Redlands community rallied behind those who led the battle to keep the School open.
The era which followed in the following decades did not merely maintain the status quo. Soon after, the School’s leaders made the decision to make Redlands a coeducational school. At that time all the other long-established independent schools on the lower North Shore were steadfast in their view that single-sex schooling provided a superior education for girls and boys. This view reflected the history of secondary schools, in particular, in the UK during the 19th Century and carried on well into the 20th century.
In 1989 another milestone was reached. 30 years ago the first Redlands Seniors sat their International Baccalaureate examinations. The introduction of the International Baccalaureate Diploma had been another adventurous decision. For, at that time, there was no existing evidence to measure its likelihood of success in an Australian context. However, like the original founding Heads decision to relocate their school, this was also a thoughtfully calculated risk, led by then Headmaster Mr Peter Cornish, aided by research overseas by his Deputy, Mr Christopher Brangwin, and then supported by the Board. At times our current IB students bemoan how hard they have to work, but they might spare a thought for those early IB candidates who studied both HSC and IB courses in their senior years and then those who sat their IB examinations had to stay on until May, as there were then no southern hemisphere IB Diploma examinations.
I myself have learned to understand and appreciate the history of Redlands and of the achievements of those who led the making of that history. It has certainly made me feel connected to and proud of this School, which I have been privileged to lead over the past 12 years.
I hope that all of you will continue to appreciate how the school of today has evolved from its beginnings to become the school it is. And I trust that your knowledge of Redlands’ history will continue to grow and assist you to feel connected to those who built this School and those who continued to nurture and develop it for its students.
Dr Peter Lennox
Photo caption: We were delighted to welcome Founding Trustees, Mr John Roberts and Mr Bruce Adams, along with Mrs Marcia Adams and Chair of Redlands Board, Ms Glenda McLoughlin, to our annual Foundation Day Service, celebrating 135 years of Redlands history.