From the Principal
This week I have greatly enjoyed celebrating Book Week with our Junior Campus students. Some highlights were joining in book related learning activities, reading stories to Prep School classes and, of course, joining in the Book Week Dress Up on Tuesday. Even though many students mistook me as Dumbledore from Harry Potter, I was impressed with how many did know of Gandalf from The Hobbit!
As many of you are aware, I am an English teacher and both of my parents were English teachers, as well. So, it is not surprising, that I have a personal passion for reading, literature and the imagination. While I love all of the festivities of Book Week, what is most important to me is the reminder for our students of the power of books and the importance of reading.
As I shared to Junior School students at their assembly, the reason that Gandalf is my favourite book character is the book, The Hobbit, was the first book that I ever truly “got lost in”. I read The Hobbit in the summer between 5th and 6th grades, and I still vividly remember one rainy day that instead of heading out to play with my friends, I spent the whole day on my front porch voraciously reading The Hobbit. I was transported to Middle Earth and a land of wizards and hobbits; orcs and elves. I didn’t want the story to end and when I turned the last page, I remained on my front porch for a little while longer to stay lost in the story and in my imagination.
Sixteen years ago I heard acclaimed Scottish writer Andrew O’Hagan give the opening address at the Sydney Writers’ Festival, and I believe his words still effectively capture the power of literature.
“Literature is not something you do in your spare time, but the beat of time itself, and we will feel that pulse in every major area we turn to…. This is what we do if we are truly alive. This is what we do if we live close to our imaginations. And how do we do that, how do we keep company with our imaginations, what do we do to be so alive? It’s easy – we read books.”
Happy Book Week.
Redlands Parents/Carers Arnhem Land Midawarr Trip
Information Evening, Thursday 14 September, 6.30-7.30pm
We are delighted to advise of an exclusive opportunity for Redands Parents/Carers to visit Arnhem Land in May 2024 to experience the unique Culture College Midawarr program.
This opportunity to deeply explore miny’tji (art), manikay (song), bunggul (dance) and story-telling at Gulkula, the site of the annual Garma Festival, is planned for Sunday 26 – Thursday 30 May 2024.
We will be hosting an information evening on Thursday 14 September in the Redlands Learning Hub, Senior Campus, to provide more detailed information on this truly amazing experience offered exclusively to the Redlands community.
To find out more, please see the Community Engagement section of Note Day or reserve your place at our information evening HERE.
Mr Sean Corcoran
Photo Caption: Book Week has been a wonderful celebration of Literature, with our Junior Campus students and teachers getting into the spirit with some tremendous costumes.