From the Principal
This week we have been celebrating Book Week across the Junior and Senior Campuses with guest speakers, competitions, literature circles and, of course, our book themed dress up day on Tuesday, where once again I dressed as Gandalf from my favourite book growing up, The Hobbit. My highlight this week was spending Tuesday reading stories to classes from Kindergarten through to Year 4 and then speaking to both Prep and Junior School students (as Gandalf) at their respective Book Week assemblies.
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.
At their respective assemblies, I spoke to Prep and Junior School students about the “magic” of reading and the “power” of becoming lost in a story and being transported to another world. I remember being spellbound by this magic as a child, whether it was listening to my father read Irish fairy tales from his homeland and being transported to ancient Eire or reading The Hobbit and being transported to Middle Earth and a land of wizards and hobbits; orcs and elves.
Years ago I heard acclaimed Scottish writer, Andrew O’Hagan, give the opening address at the Sydney Writers’ Festival, and I believe his words, which I have previously shared, 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.
ISA Finals
Last Saturday, I had the great pleasure of watching our Girls 1st XI Hockey team as they convincingly won their semi-final to move to this week’s ISA grand final. I wish them, and all teams competing in ISA Finals this weekend, all the best, and I look forward to getting around to as many games as possible to cheer on our teams this Saturday.
Giving Day
A heartfelt thank you to the many members of our community – parents, students, staff, Directors and alumni – who made our Giving Day yesterday such a success. Whether it was through generous donations on the day and by matching donors, working the phones in the old “telethon” style or selling baked goods on the day, yesterday was a true celebration of Redlands and a powerful community connected event. As of Thursday morning, we had far surpassed our original goal and had raised over $520,000 for both the expansion of High Country Campus and the Coralie Amos OAM Means-tested Scholarship. Well done to the entire Redlands community!
Mr Sean Corcoran
Photo Caption: It was a pleasure to read stories dressed as Gandalf to classes from Kindergarten through to Year 4 for Book Week!