Head of Secondary School
Prefects Commissioning Service
On Thursday 13 February, Mr Webber, Ms Shaw, and I accompanied our Yr 12 Prefects to the Annual Commissioning Service for Prefects in Anglican Schools at St Andrew’s Cathedral. Our Prefects joined student school leaders from over 30 other Anglican schools across NSW at this event. The Service provided an opportunity for the students to reflect on leadership and the important role they play as student leaders in a school setting. The Gospel reading was from John 13 when Jesus washes his disciples’ feet. A passage from the gospel reads, “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.” I often stress the importance of servant leadership to our student leaders and was pleased to see the message further reinforced to them at this service.
Approaches to Learning Awards
Next week’s Secondary School assembly will focus on the importance of effort and during this assembly we will be presenting our first Approaches to Learning Awards. These awards will be presented to students in Yrs 8-12 who demonstrated significant improvement in their Approaches to Learning over the second semester of last year. These awards are determined by comparing the overall Effort Tracking Score from the end of Term 2 2019 to the overall Effort Tracking Score from the end of Term 4 2019 and then looking at their overall Effort Tracking Score for the year. The overall Effort Tracking Score is derived from the teachers’ assessment of each student’s three measurable Approaches to Learning: Diligence, Engagement and Behaviour. We are pleased to be recognising effort in this manner as, not surprisingly, we have seen as part of our academic review, a correlation between student’s effort and their overall academic results. We look forward to finding further opportunities to reward students’ effort in other awards throughout the year.
Summer Sports Update
Despite the school year only just commencing, the summer sports season is quickly coming to close. Our girls’ Basketball, boys’ Basketball and girls’ Touch Football teams are having successful regular seasons in the ISA competitions and are well positioned for the upcoming finals. Our Tennis teams continue to perform well in the summer NSTA competition while our rowers and sailors have had some excellent results in recent competitions and regattas as they gear up for some of the big races at the end of the season. We wish all competitors all the best in these upcoming competitions and we continue to be so proud of the manner they represent themselves, their teams and the School.
Twilight in the Piazza
I hope to see many of you at the Twilight in the Piazza on the Junior Campus tomorrow evening from 6.00–8.00pm. It is a great opportunity for parents to connect with other parents across the School and also meet key staff who will be working closely with your son or daughter over the coming academic year.
Mr Sean Corcoran
Head of Secondary School
scorcoran@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9968 9870