Head of Junior School

Head of Junior School

JUNIOR SCHOOL UPCOMING EVENTS

 

Cyber Safety  

Following on from the recent student workshops led by ySafe, this week saw two highly engaging and informative sessions for Junior School staff and then for our parents, both led by ySafe’s acclaimed Executive Director, Yasmin London, a specialist in the field of cyber safety and social media.

Whilst some of the statistics may have been both surprising and confronting, the sessions provided some really clear guidance in our schoolwide approach to digital citizenship by an organisation known to be a leader in this field and who are certified by the Office of the eSafety Commissioner.

Connected to this and in partnership with ySafe, Redlands is pleased to launch a Cyber Safety Hub specifically for our community; a treasure-trove of current, research-based information and assistance for our families and staff. Yasmin shared this new Cyber Safety Hub with staff and parents and I encourage every family to take the time to explore this valuable resource to support you and your child, which includes a range of relevant topics such as:

  • Cyber safety guides
  • Managing screen time
  • Creating a safe home
  • Gaming
  • Setting up parental controls
  • App and Game reviews

What would your children say about your use of technology? Yasmin also talked about the need for adults to model respectful use of technology given that most adults are online every day and provide children with instruction for the safe and balanced use of technology.

We know that this is an ever-evolving landscape and look forward to continuing this important partnership with ySafe to support our students and wider community navigate the way through this important aspect of our current and future lives and most importantly, help to equip our students with the tools and information to keep themselves safe in an online environment.

Yr 3 Camp

The weather has been kind so far to our intrepid Yr 3 campers and I am currently enjoying a great day with them at Vision Valley with activities aplenty keeping us busy and healthily challenged. As always, I am grateful to our staff team for their care of the group and we look forward to welcoming the students and staff back to Redlands on Friday afternoon.

UPDATED RETURN TIME: Please note that we now expect the group to return at 2.15pm on the Murdoch Street side of the campus.

Nan Manefield Young Writers’ Award – Maya Turton

We were delighted to hear that Yr 6 student, Maya Turton, received a Commendation for 3rd place in her age group in this year’s Nan Manefield Young Writers’ Award for young people aged 11 to 18 years old.

As well as a certificate, Maya has received an invitation to an online Writing Masterclass with current Australian Children’s Laureate, Ursula Dubosarsky.

All entries will be on display in the Stanton Library in North Sydney for the next month and winning entries will be published on the library website here. Congratulations, Maya.


Baby Linus Richards

We were so excited to hear of the safe arrival of Linus Richards, a second child for Junior School teacher, Jessica Richards, and her husband, Guy. Linus and Jess are home and well and we look forward to welcoming them in for a visit next term.  

 

Open Morning

For the first time since August 2019, we welcomed over 100 prospective parents and students on to our campus for this week’s Junior Campus Open Morning. As well as hearing from Mr Webber, Mrs Breckenridge and me, our visitors thoroughly enjoyed hearing from two Yr 11 students, Julia Saunders and Billy Thomas. Julia and Billy articulately shared some of their fondest memories and experiences from their time at Redlands which had started in Kindergarten and Preschool respectively. Having known them both in those younger years, it filled me with immense pride to listen to them speak as young adults as they share their Redlands journey to this point. Our guests were also taken on student-led tours with some of our Yr 6 students partnering with Yr 2 students as tour guides. Many of our visitors commented on our students’ confidence, warmth and their pride in our School and as I shared with our guests, an important aspect of these types of events is the fact that we will have a completely different group of students next time to afford as many students as possible with these types of leadership opportunity.

Da Vinci Decathlon

On Thursday 6 May, two teams from Yrs 5 and 6 participated in the annual Da Vinci Decathlon academic competition.

This year it was held online but remained in the same format with students working as a group to come up with solutions to challenges in a range of disciplines including Art and Poetry, Maths, Engineering, Cartography and Code Breaking. The questions are designed to be challenging, most adults would struggle, and as teams the students have to cope with a number of challenges in the same time slot, students have to decide how to split up and work effectively across the disciplines.

Mrs Hibbert and Mrs Ling who supervised the day were very impressed by how well the sixteen students worked as a team. They also showed commendable tenacity and stayed focused during what was in effect an eight-hour-day on Zoom!

We were delighted to hear that the Yr 5 team came 2nd in the Engineering Challenge and our Yr 6 team came 3rd in Cartography.

Yr 5 team: Kate Andrews, Otis Gait, Giorgio Gazzilli, Thys Hulsbosch, Olivia Law, Lauren Rolfe, Samuel Shen and Johnny Shiao.

Yr 6 team: Sam Ashby, Daniel Bond, Caroline Brown, Lucy Goodsall, Kernel He, Alex Heller, Charlie Reeves and Maya Turton.

Congratulations to all of the students involved and to Mrs Ling and Mrs Hibbert for their guidance of the group.

 

Biggest Morning Tea – Thursday 27 May

We are excited to be part of this year’s Cancer Council event, Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea. We look forward to hosting this event on campus next Thursday where students will be able to purchase morning tea baked goods and be able to donate money too.

Parents and community members may also wish to support this student-led fundraiser by making a donation at our online fundraising page here.

Belinda Oxley Scholarship – Arts Cards

 We are delighted to recognise our Junior School winning artists for this competition in our assembly this week and these Arts cards can be pre-purchased here. They will then be distributed after Wednesday 26 May.

The online auction is also now open with wonderful prizes such as holiday accommodation, children activities and camps and incredible artwork. This auction will close at 2.30pm on Wednesday 26 May.

Proceeds made from these initiatives will be dedicated towards the Belinda Oxley Scholarship, a means-tested scholarship which is to be awarded to a Year 7 student for the entire Secondary schooling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Junior Jazz Band

In our continued return to live music, the Junior School were treated to an exceptional performance from our Junior School Jazz Band in assembly. Thank you to Mr Franks and Mrs Richardson for facilitating this wonderful entertainment.

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