From the Principal
It was wonderful to see so many students, parents, staff, alumni and members of the local community attend our Redlands Autumn Fair on Saturday. This year I have spoken widely about my goal of reconnecting our community after the challenges of the past few years and the Autumn Fair certainly provided the chance for all of us to come together and share in the festivities. I can even confess that my half an hour stint in the Dunk Tank was a lot of fun, even though I was dunked regularly by the students. I was certainly impressed by their aim!
However, my highlight of the day was when I bumped into a Redlands graduate from the Class of 1961 on the second floor of the Liggins Building. She had no current connection to the school and had seen an advertisement for the Autumn Fair so decided to come in and show her daughter her old school after not setting foot on the campus for many years. She shared with me stories of her time at Redlands and even showed me a photo of her small class of approximately a dozen students from 1950. Her pride in her old school was palpable (once a Redlander, always a Redlander) and she shared with me how happy she was to see it thriving today. A truly unexpected, but powerful, reconnection of community.
I would like to extend my deepest appreciation to all of the staff, RPFA representatives and parent, student and alumni volunteers whose tremendous efforts made the day such a success.
From March 18-21, the Head of Secondary School, Head of Preparatory School, Dean of International Baccalaureate and I attended the IB Global Conference in Adelaide. After a three year hiatus due to COVID-19 restrictions, it was wonderful to attend this conference in person and to meet and hear from IB schools and educators from around Australia, the Asia-Pacific region and the world.
A key part of our current Strategic Plan is to review our P-12 curriculum frameworks to ensure they support and challenge students to achieve personal excellence through the programmes and pathways on offer. Over the second half of last year, the School had an external educational consultant conduct a review of the academic programmes at Redlands and to give feedback on the potential implementation of additional academic programmes offered by the IB (the Primary Years Programme, the Middle Years Programme and the Careers Programme). To inform this report, there was a review of existing and potential programmes and consultation through interviews, focus group feedback, classroom observations and surveys with key stakeholders including Executive staff, middle and senior leaders, teaching staff, support and operational staff, students and parents across different sections of the School.
Our recent attendance at the IB Global Conference allowed us to learn more about all of the IB programmes to assist in our review of them at Redlands. The School will be meticulous and deliberate in its review and analysis of any potential implementation of these programmes or other curriculum frameworks in the future to ensure that they will enhance the teaching and learning opportunities for current and future students at the School. We look forward to sharing more about any further consultation opportunities and reflections of these, or other academic frameworks, in the future.
Our Liggins Building, a precious part of Redlands’ heritage, is the only remaining element of our school grounds that links almost 100 years of Redlanders. Originally known as Liggins House, the building was opened on 9 May 1923 in honour of Redlands’ co-founder Elizabeth Liggins. Throughout its history, our community has generously supported some of its upgrades, including the 2007 Liggins Atrium Project enjoyed by students today. In preparation for the Liggins Building celebrating its centenary this year, we have embarked on a significant restoration to help preserve its historic façade and refurbish the interior to provide an exceptional learning environment for our students and staff. For more information on how you can support this treasured building please visit our Foundation section.
I would like to extend my congratulations to all of our rowers whose season culminated in their respective Heads of the River last weekend. There were some wonderful results by our students in quite tough conditions, and the spirit and camaraderie they showed over the weekend was exemplary.
Finally, tonight is the opening night of our School Musical, The Addams Family, which will run through Saturday. The many students and staff involved in the Musical have been working tirelessly for months in preparation for these performances. As many of you know, the annual Musical is a regular highlight on the Redlands calendar, and I look forward to seeing and hearing our students perform tonight.
Mr Sean Corcoran
Photo Caption: The Dunk Tank at the Redlands Autumn Fair was certainly a highlight of the day.