Head of Junior School

JUNIOR SCHOOL UPCOMING EVENTS

Staffing News

This week, we have welcomed Ms Madeleine Mu Sung, who has worked alongside Ms Cosolito in Yr 6 ahead of Ms Cosolito commencing her maternity leave next week.

We wish both teachers all the very best as they start the respective next phases in their lives and we look forward to hearing of Ms Cosolito’s impending arrival in due course.

Connected to this staff change, Mr David O’Farrell will step into the Yr 6 Assistant Coordinator role until the end of the year and we wish him all the best in this leadership role supporting Mrs Robinson.

As parents of Class 5 Yellow are aware already, Mr Hugh Brakell will be on leave for the rest of this term and Ms Alix Smith has stepped into the Yr 5 Coordinator role in an acting capacity from her Assistant Yr 5 Coordinator role.

STEAM Week

National Science Week has been the inspiration for a number of learning activities, talks and challenges over the week and it has been wonderful to see our students engaged in design, build, remix and make challenges under our theme of ‘imagine, ideate, tinker and create’.

There was an amazing buzz in the Junior School cyber space and I enjoyed spending some time in the connection rooms during the STEAM day where friends could collaborate, chat and create together.

This morning, Yrs 5 and 6 heard from dual Olympian and medal winner rower, Cameron Girdlestone on how Science and Technology has enabled development in elite rowing and tomorrow afternoon ,Yrs 3 and 4 and interested netballers will hear from NSW Swifts and Australian international, Maddy Proud, on the same topic.

Feedback and Refinements

We have welcomed the measured and valued feedback of 391 Junior School students this week and alongside that of parents who completed the survey, we have responded with a few more adjustments for the next phase of Remote Learning as outlined below:

Lunch time is now aligned with Prep School and largely crosses over Secondary School’s lunch break.
Review whether two longer morning breaks instead if three shorter ones with the same total break and learning times might be favourable
Social connection and activity times each week for students to see friends informally on Zoom and chat
Continue to have a lighter screen-focused day in the middle of the week
Daily timetables now have a clear symbol to assist students with knowing which learning tasks need to be submitted
Reduce printing requirements
Create more screen-free Sports options

As a staff, we will continue to review and reflect on what we might be able to adjust or improve in Remote Learning moving forwards with the students’ interests continuing to be central in our plans.

SRC

Our Junior School Student Representative Council continue to meet fortnightly and are providing feedback and enjoying connecting with students from different Year Groups.

Community Quiz

Thank you to the RPFA for hosting last Sunday’s Redlands Family Trivia night for over 110 families. With a special guest appearance from Olympic javelin thrower, Mackenzie Little, the Olympic-themed quiz was well-contested and the final positions based on Houses were as follows:

Student Participation in Volunteering

Due to the lockdown, a number of our students who had committed to volunteer work in last term and the midyear school holidays through participation in programs with Kids Giving Back were unable to attend the programs they had booked for but I would still like to acknowledge these students as well as the students who took part in our online programs during the lockdown.

Thanks for your service-focused compassion to the following students:

Daniel Benoliel, Jeffrey Benoliel, Amelie Cadman, Harper Cadman, Freya Carroll, Levi Ford, Willow Ford, Zoe McKeown, Poppy Pope, Zara Siva, Freya Stevens, Leo Stevens, Zoe Stevens, William Thomson and Zoe Trevena.

Book Week – Week 7

Our plans are in place to celebrate this year’s annual Book Week the week after next. Our pre-booked authors have confirmed that they will still be able to present to the students via Zoom and Yrs 3 and 4 will enjoy hearing from Gregg Dreise and Yrs 5 and 6 from author, Allison (A.L.) Tait.

Book Character Dress Up’ Day

Monday: Yrs 3 and 4 (aligned with author visit and assembly)

Tuesday: Yrs 5 and 6 (aligned with author visit and assembly)

As well as a range of literature-inspired activities connecting to this year’s theme of Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds, we will also hold our annual ‘Book Character Dress Up’ day so you might like to talk to your children in planning your outfits and families would be most welcome to join in too! Some suggestions are listed below based on this year’s theme but of course, students can also dress up as any book character. There is certainly no expectation on costumes as we are mindful of being in lockdown too!

New worlds: NASA Astronaut
Old worlds:                 A mystery in Ancient Egypt
Other worlds: The Hobbit
Very old world:           Dinosaurs
Other worlds:              Under the Sea
Other worlds:              Monsters!
Other worlds:              The world of Wizardry and Magic!

Borrowing Books from the Arnold Library

From next week, we will trial the option for Junior School students to borrow books from the Arnold Library under Covid-safe protocols. We will review the operations at the end of next week before looking further ahead and the process is outlined below:

Parents should email the Junior School library directly here with book requests/ genre.
Our part-time library staff will process requests and package books up to be collected from the table outside the Junior School reception building.
The library staff will confirm via return email the time and date only one parent/child should come to collect their named book package.
At collection, you must wear a mask and sanitise hands at the entry gate.
Returning books will be via the book return drop box only which will be outside the school (again, please wear a mask and sanitise your hands at the gate).

All book collection times will be outside of arrival and departure times for students of essential workers.

Week 7 Request for On-Campus Learning for Children of Essential Workers

Parents who are essential workers can lodge a request for on campus learning support for the week of 23-27 August. Booking requests close again at 8pm on Friday 20 August to allow sufficient time for staffing to be organised based on the numbers.

Please click for Week 7 request: Junior Campus booking

Please be reminded that any students’ attendance is dependent upon their health. Students must be kept at home if they show any signs of an elevated temperature or a cold. Any student who presents at school with even the mildest symptoms of COVID-19 will be sent home and not permitted to return before a negative COVID-19 test result and are symptom free. Students must also not attend if they have been identified by NSW Health as either a casual or close contact of a confirmed case.

Top 5 Tips for Promoting Positive Behaviour

Rewards are important – try to use their “currency”. This could be time playing the sport they like, TV time, gaming time. If they do not behave or meet the expectations, it’s important the parent doesn’t give in. If we don’t use their currency, what’s left for parents to use? The rewards need to be reasonable and inexpensive.
Get your child to keep a behaviour chart. This needs to have concrete behaviours you wish to improve, for example, not just “well behaved” but something more specific such as “sat quietly to do work” or “regulated emotions today”. Praise them for their positive behaviour in a very specific way, e.g. “you regulated really well today!”, “you sat down in front of your classes so well today”.
A “social space” refers to the space where the family gets together, e.g. the dinner table, the lounge room. People are not allowed to be upset or angry in these spaces, e.g. “That’s something we don’t do in this space!”.
If there is a meltdown: “I can see you’re really upset. I’m going to sit down on the chair in the room. I will give you a cuddle if you want, but we won’t do anything else until you have calmed down”. This can be discussed with the child beforehand. Where would the child like the parent to be, in the room or in another room? The first time they might scream for ages, but this is quite often reduced the second time round.
A great time to discuss a problem can be the next day. “I’d like to talk about what happened yesterday. What happened when I asked you to clean your room? How can this look different next time?”

Competition – Postcards from the Future

Mosman Council have a couple of optional competitions for students who are being invited to have their say on how Mosman should look in 2032. ‘Postcards from the Future‘ is a project just for local primary and high school students with a range of prizes up for grabs. Read more HERE.

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