From the Principal
A key strategic driver at Redlands is supporting and challenging students to achieve personal excellence, and over the first part of this term it has been wonderful to see the many different ways we support and challenge students to stretch themselves academically.
On way is through our “Day(s) of AI” programs which have run over the past few weeks for students in the Junior School and Year 7. Last Thursday on the Junior Campus, we hosted students from other primary schools for an interactive day of learning with collaborative and hands on activities which extended students to explore how to thrive in a technology driven world. Our Year 7 students were also involved in a separate two-day program developed in partnership with the Melbourne Institute of Technology, where they explored how to use AI to tackle the challenges posed by climate change. Guest speakers included Mark Hamill from Amazon, Natalie Kyriacou (OAM) from Green World and our very own Redlands Year 11 student, Liam Petersen.
On Tuesday 7 May, 35 Year 9 students had the opportunity to extend themselves by participating in “Climate Fresk” – an interactive and collaborative activity where students use their critical thinking and problem solving skills to delve into the science behind climate change.
Last Wednesday 15 May, select students from across Years 7-11 competed in the da Vinci Decathlon – an academic competition for schools across NSW where students compete in teams of eight, tackling challenging activities in disciplines such as Engineering, Mathematics, Art/Poetry, Science, Codebreaking and English. I am pleased to report that Redlands’ Year 11 team finished 3rd overall (2nd in Codebreaking, 2nd in Ideation, 3rd in Cartography) while our Year 9 team finished 3rd in the Science category and our Year 8 team finished 2nd in both the English and Art/Poetry categories.
At Redlands our high potential learning program is founded on high quality learning opportunities both within and beyond the classroom and utilises both an inclusive and targeted approach to stretch students’ learning. Our approach has been developed in consultation with academics from the University of New South Wales Gifted Education Research, Resource and Information Centre (GERRIC), ensuring we incorporate a best practice approach.
During the staff professional learning day at the beginning of this term, one of these professors from UNSW GERRIC, Dr Marie McGregor, delivered a keynote session to all Secondary School teachers on research-based strategies for differentiation in a mixed-ability classroom and provided staff with training in the foundational principles of inclusive differentiation to incorporate a ‘low floor and high ceiling’ approach.
These are just some of the ways that we are supporting and challenging our students to achieve personal excellence by extending them academically and I look forward to sharing more in the future.
Mr Sean Corcoran
Photo Caption: Our Days of AI saw both our Junior and Secondary Schools take part in interactive and innovative learning projects, focusing on Artificial Intelligence.