Head of Junior School
Gratitude
In this final Note Day of 2020, I start by expressing my deep gratitude to all in our community: students, staff and parents for the collective way in which we have navigated and also thrived in this unique year. Of course, at times, it has been challenging but as I have often said to the students, it is exactly at these times of challenge and unpredictability that we are provided with the opportunities and experience for the greatest growth and I am so proud of how we have grown individually and collectively.
In some ways, the time spent remote learning seems like a lifetime ago but as shared previously, this shift also enabled us to think differently on a number of levels and will continue to be visible in 2021 when we hope to return to normality in all aspects of school life.
Whilst I am grateful to have had the regular contact with our students and staff, I have missed having incidental conversations with many of you, our parent group, and I know that the restrictions for parents have been tough for many of you, particularly given the strong sense of community that has always been part of the School’s DNA.
I hope that the upcoming Christmas break is one that allows you to enjoy some restful, reflective and restorative time with family and friends and wish all in our community a wonderful Christmas and all the very best for 2021.
Staffing News
Before information about our Junior School staffing updates for 2021, I wanted to acknowledge the support and influence our departing Deputy Principal, Ms Sarah McGarry, has had on both me and our Junior School in her seven years at Redlands. On behalf of staff and students, we wish Ms McGarry all the very best as she takes up the headship of Frensham Schools in the Southern Highlands, where I know she will also make a positive impact on their community.
As we approach the end of the school year, we say farewell to Ms Wynne, Mr Morrison, Mr Hemopo and Mr Sawa and thank them for their service to our School community.
I also make mention of the departure of Mrs Sharp in Yr 2 after twelve years of service as she moves to Knox. Mrs Sharp was a Junior School teacher and Year Coordinator for seven years before moving to Yr 2 and has taught many of our current Junior School students.
Simultaneously, we look forward to welcoming back Mrs Stacey Clarkson, Mrs Kristie Coman and Ms Jacqui Longworth who have all been on maternity leave in 2020 and also welcoming new Junior School teacher, Ms Hannah Patton, and our 2021 Gap Year student, Ms Lucy Wrigglesworth, a graduate from the Redlands Class of 2020 and a former Junior School student too.
For Term 1, 2021, our Junior Campus Chaplain, Ms McKenzie takes some much-deserved Long Service Leave and we welcome the very familiar face of Ms Julia Michaels to take on her Christian Studies teaching and our Senior Campus Chaplain, Ms Bronwyn Lihou, is looking forward to leading our Junior Campus Chapel services in Ms McKenzie’s absence.
Speech Day
All parents will have received the detailed letter explaining the logistics for this year’s Junior School Speech Day which takes place at 11.00am next Wednesday 2 December at The Big Top, Luna Park. All students are expected to attend this final formal occasion of the year and the letter can also be found here.
As outlined in the body of the email and in the letter, a reminder that under the current COVID-Safe guidelines for the venue and our School, regrettably only two guests per prize winner are permitted to attend but these attendees MUST register via the link in the letter before 3.00pm this Friday to allow us to provide Luna Park with all of the contact tracing information they require.
Please note that all students should be in full school uniform including blazers for this formal occasion with girls’ hair neatly tied back, boys’ hair appropriate in length and all shoes polished.
For students who use our Redlands Pittwater, Inner West and Eastern Suburbs bus services, please note that as the last day of operation for these services for 2020 is Tuesday 1 December, they will not be operating next Wednesday. Families are asked to make other transport arrangements to and from school that day.
Uniform
A reminder for Yr 6 boys moving into Secondary School next year that white short sleeve shirts are required to be worn. With boys now having the option of wearing shorts in Secondary School, they may continue to wear their grey shorts from Junior school in Term 1 next year.
Melanoma Awareness Day
Appropriately, the campus was a sea of sunshine and colour last Thursday as we came together during Sun Safety Week to host Melanoma Awareness Day, a most timely reminder ahead of the summer.
It was a joy to don the sombrero and join students and staff in embracing Crazy Hat Day as part of the day and there were some stunning home-made creations on view!
As if often the case, the day was student-led and driven, primarily by Yr 3 students, Charlie Benfield and Henry Hitchens, ably supported by a number of our older students. I also thank Ms Moore-Patel, Ms McKenzie and Ms Karpin for their gentle guidance in the background as the day raised $2,000 for the Melanoma Institute.
This sun safety video that Prep School teacher, Ms Angus, shared with me is another helpful resource that you might watch with your child over the break.
Yr 5 and Yr 6 – Time to Save Student Learning on iPads
As the year draws to a close, we would like to remind families about assisting their children with managing content and files on their iPads. During the term break, Redlands ICT will recall all iOS apps that are either deployed or managed by the School. While every effort is made to keep data from Apple apps such as Pages, Keynote, iMovie etc, from time to time, this may be deleted and not retrievable. Our strong recommendation is to back up and save any work students have done during the year to ensure no data is lost.
How can students save their work?
The safest way to protect any work on the iPad is to perform regular backups of your child’s device. Any work that is saved in the cloud will be safe when an app is removed. To mitigate the risk of losing any important work, Redlands ICT recommends performing a backup of your child’s devices and that any particular special work is saved in a secondary location.
Full instructions on how to complete a backup or share any important documents can be found on this link here.
Student Representative Council
Semester 2 saw the successful completion of two major initiatives by our Student Representative Council (SRC). Our young student leaders were the driving force behind the Lost Property Challenge and our Class Donation Boxes for Anglicare.
Earlier this week, the SRC students culminated their service by finalising the Lost Property Challenge winners and delivering donation boxes to the Senior Campus. We had anticipated walking our donations across the Military Road bridge and joining them with the Secondary School donations. However, there were so many items to deliver, a bus was required! The food and personal items donated by the SRC will be collected by Anglicare and will help those in need during the upcoming holiday season. The astounding volume of donations is a testament to the generosity and compassion of our Redlands students and families. Thank you for your involvement with this project.
Our goal of tackling the insurmountable obstacle of lost property was a lofty one, and though we did not solve it in its entirety, students made good progress in delivering items that were named. In continuing to develop students’ sense of personal responsibility, please remember to name all items that come to school. SRC representatives were excited to gather for our final meeting of the year, where they found out the results of our lost property challenge. The following classes were awarded for their efforts.
1st Place: 3 Yellow
2nd Place: 3 White and 5 White
3rd Place: 5 Green
I joined the SRC group as they enjoyed a celebratory lunch together at their final meeting of the year and in thanking them for their leadership and stewardship of these two major projects, I also thank and acknowledge Ms Cosolito, who has led this group over the year with great skill and dedication. Indeed, the dedication and direction of them all has had a positive impact on both our school and local community and we are proud of all they’ve accomplished.
Mr Ari Guha
Head of Junior School
aguha@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9953 6022