Head of Junior School
It has been wonderful to welcome the students back for the start of Term 2 and I extend a warm welcome to every Junior School family, particularly our two new families.
While the students have been away this past fortnight, the School has remained a busy place with the major project being the complete re-carpeting of our Junior School Arnold Library and connected Learning Plus rooms. I acknowledge the tremendous efforts of our Facilities and Library teams to ensure that this significant development was completed in this timeframe, with the packing up and then re-shelving of c.35,000 books, a major task in itself! We then took delivery of a new suite of soft furniture for the Library, which has been delightful to see students and staff enjoying as both a learning and recreational space this week already.
In addition to this, our Visual Arts room upgrade has also taken place and the Campus gardens have been tended to with the Yr 4 and 5 eating areas having had artificial turf laid to allow students to sit there for lunch and at other times. We have also laid similar turf on the Yr 4 balconies which will allow the balconies to become extensions of their classroom learning spaces.
ANZAC Service
Last week, I was privileged to attend the poignant Mosman Dawn Service on ANZAC morning where Redlands Secondary students were invited to have speaking roles in the Service. It was also wonderful to see many of our families paying their respects and honouring our country’s servicemen.
This week, our term opened with our own ANZAC assembly as we remembered those who have served in conflict for others. We were delighted to welcome Lieutenant Colonel Craig Delaney ADF (retired), as our guest speaker and he spoke with great insight and connection to the students with a particular focus on some of the shared values of the Army and our own School Values.
Thinking Skills for Life Parent Symposium
The busy start to Term 2 continued on Tuesday evening as Redlands welcomed many parents to our inaugural Redlands Life-Ready Symposium with our guest speaker, Mark Church, co-author of Making Thinking Visible, part of the ongoing work of Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Mark and his colleague, Ron Ritchhart, have worked closely with us in helping guide Redlands over the last eighteen months towards building and nurturing a Culture of Thinking in our School environment, some of the learnings of which I have shared in previous Note Day editions.
As a School, Redlands aims to nurture a learning environment where thinking is a way of being and that students recognise that the active process of learning is a consequence of thinking and the two are as much a collective enterprise as they are individual endeavours. At Redlands, we also often reflect and analyse the dispositions that we hope will stay with our students long after they leave us also knowing that these cannot be taught in isolation; more that they have to be nurtured and grown over time. These habits will, in many ways, be of far greater benefit to our students than the content that is covered in their learning.
As parents, what could you do to also foster this mindset? The language that we use is an important factor and where home is using similar language to school, the potential for consolidation is increased significantly. One of the questions many teachers use to guide student thinking and enable evidence for their assertions is, “What makes you say that?” We also aim to use the word ‘learning’ instead of ‘work’ which can have more negative connotations attached to it. Giving students appropriate ‘wait’ or thinking time to respond to questions is also important as we all process information at differing speeds. Equally, evaluating our students not only by the answers they give but more by the questions they ask is becoming an increasingly significant aspect of our classrooms as we challenge our students to not only be problem solvers but problem finders too.
It was wonderful to see so many parents from Preschool – Yr 12 in the audience and I encourage all families to take a moment to also read pages 32 and 33 in the Student Planner, which also visually explains how we are creating a culture of thinking in our environment here. We look forward to continuing the conversation of this topic with families on this exciting learning journey for us all.
NSW Swimming Success
In the last couple of days of last term, Yr 6 student, Hannah Morton, competed with great determination and distinction again at the State Swimming Championships achieving gold medals in the freestyle with a personal best of 29.50 seconds and in the backstroke in a time of 33.65 seconds, which is a new NSW State record. Just to round things off, Hannah then picked up a silver medal in the 50m butterfly in a time of 31.93 seconds and now heads to the National Championships in July.
Brainstorm Productions
On Wednesday, our Junior School students enjoyed watching Buddies, a show focusing on social and emotional learning, in particular the skills of friendship, problem solving and self-management. Approved by the Office of the eSafety Commissioner, the performance also explored cyber safety and anti-bullying themes and was pitched at the students’ level and class teachers will follow up on aspects of the performance with their students to ensure that the messages help guide and shape their social and emotional learning development and personal values.
22nd Redlands Parents’ Art Prize and Cocktails Evening
Next Thursday 10 May, sees our annual Redlands Parents’ Art Prize and Cocktails Evening at the National Art School in Darlinghurst. This is an exclusive event for Redlands parents to view and experience the professional contemporary artworks with other Redlands parents over drinks and canapés and I look forward to enjoying the evening with many in our community.
With limited parking around the venue, it is possible to book return transport from the School and for more information and a short video, please visit our website. Please book here to join us for this event.
A Trek to Everest Base Camp
Whilst the majority of us used the break to rest and refresh, Alex Arnold (Yr 6) and Mrs Benneyworth took the opposite pathway and coincidentally both travelled to the same amazing destination of Everest Base Camp! At over 5,000 m altitude, the journey was both challenging and inspiring and this significant accomplishment is one that will also leave them a lifetime of memories. Well done to you both.
Walk Safely to School Day
The 19th annual Walk Safely to School Day initiative is on Friday 18 May. Walk Safely to School Day (WSTSD) is an annual, national event when all primary-aged children are encouraged to walk and commute safely to school. It is a free community event seeking to promote road safety, health, public transport and the environment.
Students are encouraged to walk to school or as is more viable for many families, park further away from school and walk a short distance to school. Stickers can be collected from benches near the flagpole if you have walked to school, where some of our Yr 6 students will give them out.
National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN)
On Tuesday 15 May, Wednesday 16 May and Thursday 17 May, students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 in all Australian Government, Catholic and Independent Schools will sit the annual National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). The NAPLAN examinations are designed to assess reading, writing, language conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. Following the tests, all parents across Australia will receive results in a common reporting format.
All students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 are expected to participate in NAPLAN testing but it is important for you and your child to know that NAPLAN is not a pass/fail test. It simply looks at what level students are achieving in literacy and numeracy against National Standards and compared with student peers throughout Australia. A letter to Parents (Years 3, 5, 7 and 9) from the Head of Teaching and Learning (P-12) will come home on Friday with further details. In addition, parents can access information on the National Assessment Program website.
Mr Ari Guha
Head of Junior School
aguha@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9953 6022