From The Principal
On Monday evening, our Director of Digital Innovation, Mary-Lou O’Brien, and I attended a webinar on Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools in Education which was promoted by the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia. In this webinar four educational leaders discussed some of the opportunities and challenges for schools in light of the rapid advancements in AI, including the recent emergence of ChatGPT. This webinar was just one of many professional learning sessions attended by Redlands staff in recent weeks focusing on generative AI.
Our Redlands Vision is to inspire girls and boys to achieve life-readiness and to let their light shine, through the provision of a world recognised, contemporary education. The reality is that this world for which we are preparing our students to live, work and learn in, is now being, and will continue to be, rapidly transformed by technologies such as AI. Therefore, for our students to be truly life-ready, it is our responsibility as educators to discuss with them not only the threats and challenges of generative AI like ChatGPT, but also the potential benefits and opportunities. At the heart of our Redlands Learning Platform is a focus on critical thinking, creative thinking and deep understanding. We will continue to harness and prioritise these dispositions in our students’ learning as they engage with AI and other new and emerging technologies.
Our Director of Digital Innovation, Mary-Lou O’Brien, has published a more indepth article on Pulse about how the School is responding to the emergence of ChatGPT and other generative AI. The article can be found here.
Last Thursday, our Secondary School Chaplain, Kirsten Phillips, our Dean of Students (7-12), Marita Jansons, and I accompanied our Secondary School student leaders to the Annual Service for Student Leaders of Anglican Schools. Our students joined other school leaders from more than 30 Anglican schools across NSW for this special service. In the service we heard the reading from the Gospel of John where Jesus washes his disciples’ feet and says to them, “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.” This focus on servant leadership is at the heart of our student leadership model at Redlands, and I have already been privileged this year to witness numerous examples of students in both the Junior and Secondary Schools displaying servant leadership in the playgrounds, at the school gates or during special events.
On Tuesday afternoon I was excited to speak to my Prep School friends at their first assembly of the year. I encouraged the students to aim to be their best selves this year and read them an excerpt of a poem that I remembered from my Lower School days in America entitled Be the Best of Whatever You Are.
If you can’t be a highway then just be a trail,
If you can’t be the sun be a star;
It isn’t by size that you win or you fail —
Be the best of whatever you are!
I look forward to seeing many of you at our Twilight in the Garden this Friday evening on the Fahl Garden of the Senior Campus as the event provides yet another opportunity for us to come together as a community.
The Fahl Garden has provided a wonderful setting for a number of recent events, including last night’s Year 12 HSC and IB Information Evening, which you can read more about in the Head of Secondary School’s section of Note Day, as well as the recent Principal Commissioning, highlighted in this short video.
Mr Sean Corcoran
Photo Caption: Our Secondary School student leaders learnt more about servant leadership at the Annual Service for Student Leaders of Anglican Schools.