From the Principal
Times of adversity often bring out the best in people and once again this is the case with our dedicated and professional team of staff. I am inspired by the way that our staff continually focus on the needs of our students and broader community, giving of themselves and collaborating together to provide the best learning experiences in the current circumstances.
I thank all parents and carers for your ongoing support and valuable feedback and encourage this to continue through feedback@redlands.nsw.edu.au. I greatly appreciated the sentiments conveyed at our recent RPFA Zoom meeting and enjoyed passing the group’s support back to staff. There is a confidence amongst the staff that through our past experience and continual focus on improvement, we will provide an engaging Remote Learning program for our students. We are also very conscious of the need to focus on the wellbeing of students at this time and the Pastoral teams across the School have strategies in place to connect and provide support. Please do not hesitate to reach out and be in touch if we can provide further assistance in this most important area.
Whilst obviously missing the daily interaction with students I have enjoyed the opportunity to connect with them virtually in various contexts. In the start of the term assemblies across the School, I encouraged students to focus on the things that they could control and not get anxious about future events and uncertainty. I stressed the importance of practising daily gratitude and maintaining perspective with the challenges they are facing compared to others in different local and global contexts. The comment from a local community leader in Fairfield that many residents had previously faced persecution as refugees and that they would certainly rise to the current challenge, was a stark example. This is not to downplay the impact on our students at this time, but to encourage them to know that they often have untapped resilience that they can draw on and support available to them.
Our student leaders are investigating a range of ways of connecting with the student body and encouraging them to continue to be active along with providing wellbeing strategies that work for them.
At the beginning of this week, our Sports Department launched a Redlands Olympic Challenge for our whole Redlands community to run, cycle, row, walk or workout the 7,824kms from Sydney to Tokyo. More details of this exciting challenge, aimed at encouraging fitness during this lockdown period, can be found in the Sports sections of Note Day. As per this video I will be cycling to Tokyo. How will you get there?
Mr Stephen Webber
Photo Caption: Students working together across a virtual platform during Week 2 of Remote Learning