From the Principal
I wish to congratulate our Mock Trial team on their win in the Semi Finals of the NSW Law Society competition this week. With 200 teams competing across the whole of NSW, the team have been undefeated in all of their Trials this year. We wish them all the very best for the Grand Final to be held at the Mooting Court of Sydney University at the end of the month.
I also wish to congratulate Year 6 student Jesse Forrest who has won the UNSW ICAS Medal for English for achieving the highest score in NSW/ACT. This is the first time that the School has had a primary medal winner. Jesse will be presented with his medal at an official ceremony later this year. Jesse joined Redlands in Term 3 this year and we acknowledge his outstanding achievement, as well as the support from his teachers at his previous school in the USA.
Board Retreat
Our annual Board and Executive Retreat (including new Principal, Stephen Webber) at the end of last week was considered by all to be a great success. Our two world recognised Keynote Speakers provided us with data and ideas about the rapidly changing world in which we are living, and the aim of keeping the sessions at a high strategic level was achieved.
On Friday afternoon Mr Michael McQueen focused on the topic of Artificial Intelligence and the impact which this is likely to have on schools and on the workplace. Driverless cars can be predicted to progress from the current Level 3, which describe the elements that are in the cars which we drive today, to Level 5, when the cars fully drive themselves and manage to make roads safer for those in the vehicles as they automatically interact with other vehicles on the road, whilst passengers can read, sleep, eat a meal whilst the car is driving, watch a movie or a sports game. It was even suggested that children currently in their first years of school will never drive a car. Facial Recognition Technology is already being used for many purposes, some of which may give many people pause as its benefits may need to be balanced by its disadvantages. We all agreed that in the past jobs were about use of our muscles, today jobs are about use of our brains and futurists are predicting that jobs will be about heart. Michael spoke about the increasing importance of creativity as a skill. It was heartening when Michael said that the briefing which he was given as to Redlands’ approach to teaching and learning seemed to be on a promising track to deal with the world of the future. It was agreed that schools must not only be about academic learning but must also encourage relationships, compassion and humanity. Robots are unlikely to be able to replace these essentially human elements.
On Saturday morning Mark McCrindle addressed the future of education. We asked him to share with us data that his research team has compiled relating to the generations that are alive today: Builders, Baby Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y, Gen Z and now Gen Alpha. Exploring this topic helped us to test what we mean when we are talking about teaching our students to be “life-ready”. We discussed the growing expectation that schools are one of the remaining institutions that provide a sense and experience of being part of a social community. Cultural diversity was another very interesting topic: we learnt that 29% of Australians today were born overseas; a percentage double that of the USA and the UK and 1/3 higher than Canada and New Zealand. We discussed the rise of parent engagement in their children’s schooling and talked about the opportunities and the challenges for schools in this regard. Related to this was the importance for schools to engage students in their learning (a fundamental goal for Redlands in its becoming a culture of thinking and learning).
It was an excited mood in the room when the Retreat ended. Many ideas had been raised and explored and the conversations are sure to guide further planning and development in Redlands vibrant culture and programs.
Donor Recognition Wall in the New Learning Hub
I sincerely thank all members of our community who have contributed to the New Learning Hub Appeal. This generosity will be recognised in a specially designed wall which will be a permanent feature of the New Learning Hub entrance. The Family Plaques will create a fabulous mosaic made from innovative materials, to celebrate the wonderful support of our community.
If you would like to support the New Learning Hub and have your family acknowledged, please sign up by 31 December 2019 by clicking on the image below. There are three different sizes based on donation value. Your contributions will be dedicated to the final fit-out of this transformational new development.
End of Year Events
Dr Peter Lennox
Photo caption: Students participated in a variety of rich learning activities at the Year 4 STEAM day.