From the Principal

Refreshed Redlands Learning Platform

The Redlands Learning Platform is the educational philosophy and framework that underpins all teaching and learning at Redlands. It provides a common language and core foundation of what both excellent teaching and learning look like in action.

The Redlands Learning Platform is a bespoke model, designed for the Redlands context, based on world-recognised learning frameworks and research, including Harvard University’s Teaching for Understanding and Making Thinking Visible. It was first designed in 2007, in response to the emerging changes in the modern world and the resultant implications for schooling and learning.  Redlands recognised at the time that there needed to be a shift from traditional schooling methods to more contemporary approaches to learning and teaching, in order to best prepare students for future life success. These changes have impacted upon how learning occurs, how teachers teach and the role students play in their own learning. 

A decade later, the School has undertaken a collaborative process of reviewing the Redlands Learning Platform. This process reflects Redlands deep commitment to continuous improvement, to ensure the provision of meaningful and challenging learning for all students, in order to give them an exceptional advantage for life in a rapidly changing world.

The renewed Redlands Learning Platform draws on current international research, including Harvard University’s Cultures of Thinking, and builds on our strong foundations. It captures a learning journey that begins with who we are as a learning community and ends with our aspiration for Redlands students to achieve life-readiness and contribute to the world with compassion and confidence. 

The following provides a snapshot of the renewed Redlands Learning Platform. Some of you may have noticed this image in classrooms or displayed on the electronic noticeboards at each campus of the school. Please click the image for a detailed graphic.

Looking closely at the Redlands Learning Platform, you will see:

• the foundations upon which we build our teaching and learning at Redlands (that is, our identity, our why and our beliefs),
• the actions teachers and learners take as they plan and learn together (our planning for teaching and our learning environment), and
• the learning outcomes that we aspire to at Redlands to prepare students for the future (our learning attributes and our place in the world).

We believe that through our nurturing of the learning and of the learner attributes, Redlands students will have the opportunity to equip themselves with the skills, knowledge, character and dispositions that will help them find their place in the world, support future life success and promote active contribution to society.

Our teachers have already begun using the revised Redlands Learning Platform and are reporting that it provides them with a very useful tool for planning and implementing teaching and learning with their classes.

We next intend to create a version of our updated Redlands Learning Platform specifically for parents that fleshes out the seven stages of our learning journey.

I encourage comments or questions about this Redlands Learning Journey and the refreshed Redlands Learning Platform to be addressed to either our Head of Teaching and Learning (Dr Emma Burgess: eburgess@redlands.nsw.edu.au) or our Dean of Teaching and Learning (Mr Nigel Coutts: ncoutts@redlands.nsw.edu.au).

Year 12 Trial Examinations 

These Examinations begin next week and I wish all our Senior students the very best. They will be doing their examinations off-site, as they have done all their previous exams over the past two years due to the construction work on the Senior Campus.

I also advise all parents to read the following message from Deputy Principal Ms Sarah McGarry.

Dr Peter Lennox

Emergency Procedures at Redlands

As parents may be aware, in the first two weeks of this term we have conducted Lockdown and Evacuation Drills on both Sydney campuses – Junior and Senior. This same exercise will be repeated at High Country Campus, in Jindabyne, at a later time in the term. These are part of our ongoing Emergency Procedures training.

As a School we have an Emergency Planning Committee, we have extensive emergency management plans in place, we train our students and staff, we conduct planned drills periodically and reflect and analyse when unplanned evacuations occur.

Our Plans

The School works with emergency management specialists to develop and implement safety procedures, and the goals of drills throughout the year are to improve our ability to protect students, save lives, and reduce injuries, in the event of an emergency situation. These practice drills allow us to evaluate our emergency response plans and improve our response skills.

We do not generally announce in advance whether a lockdown or an evacuation is a planned exercise. It is essential for the safety of our students, staff and any campus visitors, that they are very familiar with our processes and can perform the required steps to complete a safe lockdown or evacuation without forewarning. In the case of younger children, we practise these more frequently so that they are not unduly alarmed in the case of a drill.

We are pleased with the outcome of our recent drills and feel reassured that our safety plans can be implemented effectively by our staff. On both our Senior and Junior Campuses, students have been reminded about what to do in the case of a lockdown or an evacuation and all new students are provided with this information when they start at the School. This information is also contained in the front section of the Student Planner.

Communication

Students are not, under any circumstances, permitted to use their mobile phone during a lockdown or an evacuation. 

We would usually not communicate to parents that we are undertaking a lockdown or evacuation unless it resulted in a serious emergency requiring a longer disruption to the School day.

If an emergency situation does continue to disrupt the day, the School will communicate to parents via SMS if it is safe to do so.

In the case of an emergency situation requiring parents to collect their children, the School will communicate to parents with specific details about pickup arrangements.

Site Access

No person may enter or leave the site during an evacuation or lockdown, including students, staff, parent visitors or helpers. If you are onsite during an evacuation or lockdown, you must follow the instructions of the staff, in particular the wardens (wearing coloured safety helmets).

Please talk with your child, if you deem it appropriate, about the recent drills. Our goal, while practising important safety procedures, is to be sure all students feel safe and confident in how to respond. If you have any questions or need further information, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s class teacher or tutor.

Ms Sarah McGarry

Photo Caption: Congratulations to the IB Theatre and HSC Drama students who presented their ensemble major works this week in the Showcase performances.