Head of Junior School

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14^th House Poetry Recital

On Tuesday, we were thrilled to enjoy our 14^th Annual House Poetry Recital, an inspiring and engaging event for students, teachers and families. This term, every Junior School student has been immersed in poetry having read, written, appreciated and presented poems. With one representative selected from each Junior School class, the rest of the school enjoyed a memorable afternoon with our performers showing poise, charisma and confidence as they delivered their respective poems to the audience of students, teachers and their family.

We were particularly delighted and honoured to have the Chair of the Redlands Board of Directors, Ms Glenda McLoughlin, join us on this occasion. From a recent conversation when Ms McLoughlin shared how she had rekindled her love of poetry during the last lockdown, the invitation to join us and share a poem herself was one that she needed no second invitation.

As well as Ms McLoughlin, the audience also enjoyed poems delivered by Señora Colagiuri, Mrs Robinson, Mr Watkins and Mrs Henery. Congratulations to all of the students for their involvement this term and in particular the students listed below who performed so marvellously.

Junior School Wellbeing Day of Activities – Friday 18 November

Tomorrow, our Junior School students will enjoy a day of wellbeing activities and fundraising that will focus on the wellbeing of our students, teachers and our wider community.

To support this, we have partnered with Bear Cottage, a children’s hospital in Manly with whom Redlands has had a long connection with and will be fundraising for Bear Cottage.

As well as a number of fun activities that the students will be involved in, we will also be raising money through a variety of fun stalls and games at lunch time. We will also host an optional sausage sizzle for students.

Bear Cottage merchandise will also be available for sale as per the flyer if your child would like to purchase any of the merchandise.

What do students need to know or bring on the day?

• Plenty of gold coins for lunchtime stalls and activities
• Lunchtime stalls will include ice-cream cones, fruit kebabs, chalk art drawing and Bear Cottage merchandise for sale
• $2 for an optional sausage sizzle which will be run by some of our class parents
• Zac Fowler (Yr 6) will also be raffling a Taronga Zoo Family Pass for 4 x people valued at $152, which the zoo has kindly supported this day with.
• Zooper Doopers will also be available for those students who are dairy or gluten free.
• All students should wear PE uniform on the day
• Please note that if your child has allergies or is gluten free, they will be able to use their coins on non-food related activities.

We look forward to a fun Wellbeing Day!

COVID-19 Reminder

With the increase in positive COVID-19 cases in Sydney and the wider community, please be reminded of the key points from Mr Corcoran’s letter of 17 October to the Redlands community as outlined below. 

• students and staff must notify the school of a positive COVID-19 test in the same manner as before 
• while self-isolation is no longer mandatory, students and staff should only return to school if they no longer have any acute symptoms (sore throat, runny nose, cough or shortness of breath) 
• once their symptoms subside, students and staff must wear a mask in indoor settings on campus for 3 days after they return to school 
• if any students or staff members are household contacts of a positive COVID-19 case who is unwell at their home, they should also wear a mask in indoor settings at school while that person continues to have acute symptoms. 

Thank you again for your continued support of the health and wellbeing of our school community noting the continued importance of keeping students at home if they are unwell.

Student Recognition – Kids Giving Back

I was proud to receive an email from Gabrielle Morrisey Hansen, CEO of the organisation Kids Giving Back, sharing how a number of our Junior School students and their families spent time volunteering during Term 3 of this year and the last school holidays.

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 help and support for people experiencing food scarcity or hardship.

These students were among close to 500 young people who produced over 7,500 hot meals, cold meals, fruit kebabs, breakfast boxes, snack packs and care packs which all included empathetic, positive messages on each item. These were then distributed to 9 charities around Sydney. 

We will duly acknowledge these students in assembly next week but I wanted to also do so through this wider community communication as well.

Cooper Willis (Yr 3), Thomas Bentley, Harrison Joseph, Aimee Kang and Mackenzie Willis (all Yr 6)

To hear of our Redlands students embracing the concept of contributing back into the community is heart-warming and a wonderful example of our students living our School Values whilst making a difference to the lives of others.  

Uniform Responsibility

The issue of lost property continues to be ongoing for many and whilst we are doing what we can to repatriate items of clothing, lunch boxes and drink bottles, I am asking parents to support this message at home.

As we have also asked the students to have a hat on outside, we have found students who have taken other people’s hats from lost property or elsewhere which is unacceptable. Again, parents are asked to ensure that the clothing your child wears is both labelled and theirs and I appreciate your support in this matter.

2023 Junior School Student Class Placements

Class teachers will begin to undertake the process of class formations for 2023 towards the end of this term once we have finalised the composition and balance of each year group team of teachers. Past experience has shown that the meticulous and professional approach we take ensures the optimum learning environment for each student.

Class placements are organised by the teaching staff who see and teach these students each and every day and hence, know the students best in the context of the classroom learning environment, taking particular account of the following factors:

• the individual learning, social and emotional needs of each child
• knowledge of the different teaching styles of teachers in the next year group
• friendships of students where this has a positive impact on their learning (students are also involved in this step)
• ability levels to ensure an even spread of ability levels across each class
• an aim to balance gender in each class, as best possible

Please understand that parents cannot request a specific teacher for your child as this would set a precedence that is neither sustainable nor equitable for all families. Please also note that younger siblings will not necessarily be placed with the same class teacher as older siblings as invariably, siblings can be very different in both their learning preference and their personal traits.

A significant amount of time, professional dialogue and thought goes into this important operational process to aim to match each individual student with the right teacher and peers and our Dean of Students, Counsellors and I also take part in this process with our additional knowledge of students.

Once Year Groups have finalised these, there will be a comprehensive face-to-face handover of knowledge between teaching staff before the start of Term 1, 2023, to ensure that teachers have as much information as possible ahead of next year. These class lists are then displayed on the first day of the new school year but we also have individual student timetables up on Redlands Pulse a day or two before the start of term so that parents have access to see who their child’s class teacher will be before the start of the 2023 academic year.

I hope this summary clarifies the detailed process that will take place later this term in this very important part of our preparation for 2023.

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