Head of Junior School

Head of Junior School

UPCOMING EVENTS

Please note that all Upcoming Events for the Junior School are now on their own Note Day article/page. 

This Head of Junior School page will consist of general information from the Head of Junior School. 

Junior School Speech Day

Please find below a reminder of the schedule for our annual Junior School Speech Day, the final event in the Junior School calendar on Wednesday 4 December. Attendance for all students is compulsory and it is exciting that every student will perform at least one item on stage.

In particular, please note the uniform requirements of full Summer school uniform including blazers, neat hair and polished shoes.

Yr 6 Fundraiser – Monday 2 December

With the recent planned car wash fundraiser cancelled due to water restrictions and the bushfires, there will now be a Zooper Dooper ice pole sale next Monday, which the Yr 6 students are organising. More details on the Upcoming Events page.

Time to Save Student Work! 

As the year draws to a close, we would like to remind families about assisting their children with managing content and files on their iPads. During the holiday break, Redlands ICT will recall all iOS Apps that are either deployed or managed by the School. While every effort is made to keep data from Apple Apps such as Pages, Keynote, iMovie etc, from time to time this may be deleted and not retrievable. Our strong recommendation to ensure any work completed on the iPads over the holidays are backed up. 

To assist you with this, we have created a series of steps on how to back up your child’s iPad work on Redlands Pulse here for parents to follow.  

iPad Program 2020

Please note that from 2020, all Yrs 3 and 4 students will be provided with an iPad for learning use at school, when required, and do not need to bring one in from home. The Bring Your Own iPad continues for Yrs 5 and 6.

Boys Uniform Year 7 2020

We are delighted to advise that we will be introducing shorts as a summer uniform option for Secondary School boys commencing in Term 1 next year, in response to requests from parents and students through the uniform surveys we have undertaken. So for Term 1, Yr 6 boys transitioning to Yr 7 have the option of continuing to wear their current Redlands shorts, or wearing trousers or the new Secondary School shorts. The shorts are currently in production and are scheduled to be delivered to the Uniform Shop at the end of January. We will advise parents when they are available for purchase. The shorts are to be worn with knee length grey socks as per the current Junior School summer uniform. 

Uniform Shop

The shop will open on Friday 6 and Monday 9 December from 9.00am – 3.00pm before returning on Monday 13 January 2020. For details on making an appointment, please see Redlands Pulse.

From 13 January 2020, the Uniform Shop is going cashless. You will be able to pay for your uniform purchases via debit cards and all major credit cards including American Express.

You can also order online by visiting www.flexischools.com.au and following the prompts where you will see a full list of uniform items to order. 

Thank You Dr Lennox

In this final Note Day of 2019, it is with appreciation and admiration that I acknowledge the significant contributions of our Principal, Dr Lennox, as he retires at the end of this term.

Dr Lennox appointed me to the Head of Junior School role at the start of 2009 and over the eleven years I have had the privilege of working and learning alongside him in our Executive leadership team, I have seen the enormous impact that he has had on the School in general and directly with colleagues, students and families. He has served as a mentor, sounding board and anchor of support to me over this time.

Dr Lennox’s relentless energy, commitment and influential leadership has seen the School continually grow over the last decade into one of the leading schools in Sydney and beyond as the School’s reputation radiates further and further afield across the globe.

Over his tenure at Redlands, he has enjoyed many visits to Junior School classrooms to spend time with students and teachers and only last week, he enjoyed the opportunity to visit the Year 6 Gallery Walk and connect again with students and their learning, which he shared with Executive colleagues during our meeting earlier this week.

A side of Dr Lennox that perhaps not all in our community may see is his great sense of humour and fun and we shall miss this too.

On behalf of the Junior School community of students, staff and families, I thank Dr Lennox for his dedication to Redlands and indeed to education in Australia over his stellar career and wish him and his wife, Sandra, many happy future times together with their family.

Staffing News

Looking ahead to 2020, please note the staffing changes below as we say goodbye to some staff and welcome others to Redlands.

Dean of Teaching and Learning P-6

Our Dean of Teaching and Learning, Mr Coutts, will step down from his role next year and will be taking a year’s leave of absence after 18 years of dedicated service to Redlands. Mr Coutts has a number of plans during this time including further study, research and possible travel and we wish him all the best on his adventure and look forward to seeing him again in 2021.

From January, we are delighted to confirm the appointment of Mrs Stacey Smith as our new Dean of Teaching and Learning P-6. Mrs Smith is a highly experienced educator and leader of learning with nearly 20 years’ experience in a number of leading schools including Pymble Ladies College and Newington College and joins us from Wenona School.

Head of Junior School Sport

After a number of years in the role of Head of Junior School Sport, Mr Adrian Carter will return to a full time PDHPE teacher role at Redlands from 2020. Mr Carter has decided to spend more time with his own sons’ sporting commitments from 2020 and in supporting this, we are delighted to retain his expertise on staff as a full time PDHPE teacher on our campus. I acknowledge the significant contribution that Mr Carter has made to the growth of Junior School Sport and his passion and dedication to the students’ enjoyment and participation is noteworthy. 

As his replacement, Mr Trevor Dunne will commence as Redlands new Head of Junior School Sport in 2020. Mr Dunne has spent the last 17 years as Sports Master and PDHPE teacher at St. Aloysius College Junior School and brings a wealth of leadership in sport to this role. He has already spent time with Mr Carter and the Sports team as part of the handover and will also bring fresh ideas to this role.

As we finish this term, we express gratitude to the following departing staff:

  • Yr 6 Teacher and Assistant Coordinator, Ms Amber Bidwell, is moving to MLC Burwood, where she has been appointed to the leadership role of Stage Coordinator.
  • Yr 5 Coordinator, Ms Julie Francis is relocating to Perth where she is excited to move back into a boarding school environment as Deputy Head of Boarding at MLC, Perth.
  • Mr Brad Hemopo leaves our PDHPE team to sign up for the New England Freejacks Rugby Union team in the US and is looking forward to starting a professional Rugby career.
  • Mrs Danielle Vitaconcludes concludes her Music teaching contract with us after three terms.
  • Ms Eliza Peirce comes to the end of her part time contract in our PDHPE team.
  • Miss Lily Wickham leaves us as our Gap Year student and begins a Primary Teaching degree at the University of Sydney next year.
  • Mrs Stacey Clarkson will be on maternity leave in 2020 and we look forward to hearing of the safe arrival of her second child early next year.

We wish these teachers continued happiness and fulfilment in their new roles and thank them sincerely for the contributions that they have made to the Redlands community in their time with us.

As 2020 begins, we welcome the following teachers to the Junior School:

  • Mrs Leila Snooks resumes her class teacher role after maternity leave. Mrs Snooks has been back this term but has not taken on a class for just one term so is looking forward to having her own class again.
  • Ms Romy Tobiansky joins us from St. Michael’s Grammar School, Melbourne (also a P-12 co-ed, independent school), where she has been for the last five years. Prior to this, Ms Tobiansky worked at Ravenswood School for a number of years so this move is a return back to Sydney for her. 
  • Mr Matthew Price joins us from the Australian International School, Hong Kong, where he has taught for the last few years. He has been living and teaching in Hong Kong for the last decade and is returning to Australia next year to take up this role.
  • Ms Katherine Moses joins our Music team from MLC Burwood, where she is currently teaching Music. Ms Moses will teach Music across the Campus and take a leadership role in the School Strings program.

In addition to these new staff, I am also pleased to confirm that Mr Hugh Brakell and Ms Lyn Wynne have been appointed as Yr 5 Coordinator and Yr 5 Assistant Coordinator respectively from the start of next year. Both Mr Brakell and Ms Wynne have worked successfully together in our Yr 6 team this year and have held leadership roles in their previous schools, prior to joining Redlands. I also thank Ms Francis and Mrs Benneyworth for their leadership as they have served in these roles in acting capacities.

TEDx Video Winners

In our assembly on Monday, we were excited to hear the announcements of the winners of the unique and exciting opportunity presented to our Junior School students last term.

Ahead of TEDxBlighStreet in February 2020, which has the theme of Interconnection, over 30 Junior School students submitted a one minute video connected to the theme.

The opportunity sparked a lot of excitement and two videos were selected to be showcased at this event, which is very exciting for both the School and more importantly, the students.

Congratulations to Yr 4 student, Harrison Tucker and the Yr 3 group of Ari Abe-Apostolou, Liam Randall and William Chee, who created the two winning videos selected by the TEDx team. In addition, we were delighted to also hear that Yr 4 student, Evie Krallis, had her video highly commended and this will join the other two on the TEDxBlighStreet website.

The Junior School students enjoyed watching these brilliant videos in assembly where the wining students were also presented with certificates by Junior School parent, Kat Collins, who is curating the event and to whom I am most grateful to for providing our students with this creative experience and opportunity.

Poetry Writing Success

I was thrilled to hear that Yr 4 student, Rowan Petersen, was awarded a certificate for Excellence in Writing for a poem he submitted in the Write 4 Fun competition. Rowan’s poem was placed in the top 5% of all entries and will be published with other poems next year. Rowan’s poem is shared below and we congratulate him on this recognition.

Hello to the World

“Hello”
It was soft and slow,
It was the first word
I heard

Was it my mummy?
Because I just came out of her tummy.
Or was it my daddy
Or even a baddy

I saw some men in white coats
And they looked like they were on sailing boats
Or maybe I could be dizzy
Because they were very busy

The lights were bright
Which was no delight
It was very loud
So it brought a crowd

They were poking and prodding
Trying to get me nodding,
They were snipping and clipping
Trying to get me licking

Their spirits were soaring
While I was roaring
I was hungry and tired
That’s why I cried

I wanted to snuggle back
Into my mummy’s sack
Where it was quiet and happy
With no need for a nappy

All on the day I was born 

Anglicare’s Toys and Tucker Campaign

It has been heart-warming to see the growing array of gifts again underneath the Christmas tree in Junior School reception as we turn our eyes to families in need in Sydney. Redlands has a longstanding connection with Anglicare’s Toys ‘n’ Tucker campaign and the gifts donated in every Reception at Redlands will make a difference to the lives of those less fortunate in this festive period. Thank you for your generous support. 

Junior Black Belt Jujitsu

Congratulations to Yr 6 student, Michael Havryk, who achieved his Junior Black Belt in Jujitsu last weekend. Michael has been training since he was four years of age and is one of the youngest to achieve this level of award.

And finally……

I am grateful to all in our community: staff, students and families, for your support of Redlands in 2019, a year that has continued to see growth in so many ways as we end the decade.

As is sometimes the case, we say goodbye to some in our community and I wish those leaving Redlands much happiness in their next chapter. To our returning families, I will send communication in mid-January ahead of the start of Term 1 2020, which will be on Wednesday 29 January, and we look forward to welcoming students back then.

I wish you all the happiest of festive breaks and memorable time with loved ones at Christmas. The opportunity to disconnect from our daily lives and ‘live in the moment’ with family and friends is something that I rediscovered on my long service leave and would strongly encourage others to consider in the upcoming break.

With very best wishes for 2020.

Mr Ari Guha
Head of Junior School
aguha@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9953 6022