Head of Junior School

Junior School Upcoming Events

Student Recognition – Kids Giving Back

I was proud to again receive an email from Robyn Miller, CEO of the organisation Kids Giving Back, sharing how a number of our Junior School students and their families spent time during the last school holidays to help others through this organisation.

Kids Giving Back is a charity whose mission is to create the next generation of generosity through meaningful, hands-on experiences for young people to give back to others. Through charity partners, they arrange opportunities for children aged 6-18 years old and their families to provide assistance and support via preparation of meals for the homeless, packing of care packs, as well as packing and delivering hampers for people experiencing food scarcity.

The contribution of our students resulted in over 3700 meals and resources being prepared and distributed during the December/ January school holiday period and 11 charities were assisted as a result of their work.

I will duly acknowledge these students in assembly next week but it is important for me to also do so through this wider community communication as well. Thank you to the following students who participated in one or more of the programs during the school holidays:

Amelie Cadman (Yr 3)
Amelia Svensson (Yr 3)
Charlie Hutchings (Yr 4)
Sasha Gordon (Yr 4)
Joshua Svensson (Yr 5)
Charlie Reeves (Yr 6)
Daniel Cohen (Yr 6)
Talie Kara (Yr 6)
Zoe McKeown (Yr 6)
Jack Hutchings (Yr 7)
Luka Gordon (Yr 7)

To hear of our Redlands Junior School students embracing the concept of contributing back into the community and experiencing altruism is heart-warming and if there are families interested in the organisation’s April school holiday programs, this will be launched on 1 March.

Junior School Swimming Carnival

It was fantastic to enjoy our first Junior School Carnival of 2021; the annual House Swimming Carnival, held in the notable arena of the Sydney Aquatic Centre, the venue for the swimming at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

The Olympic Creed states that, “the most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.” Indeed, this, in fact, would have been a perfect summary of the day with the infectious energy, enthusiasm and House spirit amongst our students.

As well as some exceptional swimmers on show in all age groups, as was evident by the show of hands at the end, I also congratulate the many students who took a risk to swim in a race that took them out of their comfort zone or swam for the first time in a carnival. These achievements are also noteworthy and invariably not measured by a placing ribbon.

As always, I extend my gratitude to all of our staff and sports coaches who deserve worthy recognition as both 25m and 50m pools ran non-stop over a number of hours to allow all students to enter in as many races as they wished to.

In particular, I congratulate Mr Dunne and Miss O’Sullivan for their meticulous preparation and planning for this major event and leadership of the day. All in all, a wonderful day for students, staff and families and well done to Cowper House on their sixth successive Swimming Carnival victory!

We look forward to our House Athletics Carnival on the penultimate day of Term 1, Wednesday 31 March, and details will be sent to families closer to the event.

Secondary School Engagement Session

Yr 5 Parents and Students

While Yr 7 2023 is almost two years away, parents and students often start thinking ahead towards Secondary School at the beginning of Yr 5.

Yr 5 parents and students have been invited to a Secondary School Engagement Session to learn more about Secondary School and the transition from Junior School.

Date: Thursday 25 February
Time: 5.45-7.00pm
Location: Redlands Learning Hub, Senior Campus, 272 Military Road Cremorne

At the Engagement Session, Principal Mr Stephen Webber, together with Deputy Principal Mr Sean Corcoran, Head of Secondary School Ms Gemma Van de Peer, and members of the Leadership Team will meet with Junior School families.

To RSVP: please RSVP your attendance here (including the number and names of parents attending) by Friday 19 February 2021.

Over the next 18 months there will be more information about Secondary School provided to Yr 5 students and parents as part of our Transition program. We look forward to seeing you next Thursday.

Student Health Matters

Thank you to our families for continuing to support our community’s health by adhering to the current NSW Government Health guidelines with regards to testing students who have displayed COVID-19 symptoms and keeping them at home until they have returned a negative test result and become free of symptoms.

We are aware that COVID-19 and seasonal allergies share some symptoms, but there are often some key differences between the two. The advice we have been given indicates that students who have seasonal allergic rhinitis or another condition that presents similarly to flu-like symptoms are still required to get tested for COVID-19 and return a negative test result. In addition, documentation from a GP confirming that your child is able to return to school and that their symptoms are typical of your child’s condition would be kept on file by the School Nurse for future reference.

Social Emotional Learning (SEL)

The shifts over the last few months have amplified our understanding of how our students’ Social Emotional Learning competencies (coping mechanisms, maintaining relationships, making responsible decisions) support their learning environment.

This week, in our class Circle Times, students in Yrs 3 and 4 have been looking at ‘Understanding Their Emotions’ with a focus on them being able to:

state the different words that describe various emotions
state the relationship between circumstances that give rise to different emotions
differentiate between helpful and harmful emotions
learn about their emotions and how to manage their emotions so they do not get overly upset, when negative things happen.

At the same time, our students in Yrs 5 and 6 have spent time with their class teachers looking at ‘Persistence and Self-awareness’, working towards them being able to:

effectively articulate what student persistence and self-awareness looks like.
explain that most successes are due to effort and not luck.
give themselves credit for their successes rather than attributing their successes to luck or ease of task.

I encourage families to share a conversation over the dinner table about these things and often sharing real examples allow students to develop a stronger sense of these topics.

Representative Debating

Good luck to our Yr 5 and Yr 6 Debating teams who take part in their first Interschool debates of 2021. The debates take place in the Redlands Learning Hub on the Senior Campus and I look forward to getting along to see them later this term.

Mr Ari Guha
Head of Junior School
aguha@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9953 6022