From The Principal
After weeks of staff preparation for the new school year, there was a wonderful energy earlier this week with the return of students to the campuses. I have loved having the “former” Kindergarten students run up to me in the Prep Playground and tell me they are now “big Year 1s”; or the new Year 7 student who exclaimed to me that they just “love school”; or the Year 12 students who told me this week that it finally feels “real” that they are the senior students in the School and have noticed how students truly look up to them.
I would like to extend the warmest of welcomes to all Redlands families as we commence this new year, and especially those families who are new to Redlands. As I mentioned at some of the student assemblies this week, when I started at the School six years ago, I asked everyone I met over my first few weeks at Redlands – students, staff and parents – what they loved most about Redlands as a school. What made it unique or special. And by far the most common answer I received was the sense of community – a warm, welcoming, inclusive and supportive community. Today, six years later, I share those very same views about what makes Redlands so special and am confident that new families will experience the same warmth and support from the Redlands community that I have witnessed and experienced over the past six years.
I am also fully aware of some of the challenges our community has faced over the past three years due to the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. That is why a focus of mine this year will be on finding ways to further strengthen and reconnect our community.
Last year I read Trent Dalton’s book, Love Stories, a collection of stories Dalton collected while stationed at a street corner in Brisbane for two months where he asked people to tell him their love story. This year I want to hear our community’s “Redlands stories”. I will be in classrooms and out in the playground speaking to students; I will have individual meetings with each member of staff; and I will be looking to further connect with our parent and alumni communities, as well.
Tomorrow I am honoured to be officially commissioned as Redlands’s twelfth principal in our illustrious 139 year history. While I would instinctively prefer that the spotlight shone on the students and not on me, I have come to the realisation that tomorrow’s ceremony is a celebration of the past, present and future of Redlands – a school I truly love – and I am humbled to have the opportunity to share in that celebration tomorrow.
I look forward to connecting with many of you in person at various community events over the coming weeks and months. When I see you, please feel free to tell me your “Redlands story”, too.
Mr Sean Corcoran
Photo Caption: It was wonderful to join the School Captains in ringing in the new school year with the old school bell on Tuesday morning.