Head of Junior School
Friday 17 February Notice
All parents are notified that with the Twilight Parent function on the Senior Campus this week, the Junior Campus will be hosting Debating for our teams in Yrs 5-12 and classrooms across both Prep and Junior Schools will be utilised. Our usual after school programs such as Prep Sport, Chess and Dance will continue to operate as normal but please be aware that there is likely to be increased traffic around the campus until 9pm.
Parent Seminar: Sleep and Healthy Routines
Date: Tuesday 28 February 2023 (Week 5)
Time: 8:30am-9:30am
Location: Junior School Arnold Library
We are delighted to extend a warm invitation to all Junior and Prep School parents to our first parent seminar of 2023. The session will be led by our team of expert in-house counsellors and the Dean of Students and focus on Sleep and Healthy Routines.
All of us need regular, high-quality sleep, and helping your child get a good night’s sleep can enhance both their general functioning during the day, and their mental health and well-being. The establishment and development of healthy routines is without a doubt a critical aspect to help parents prepare their child for a sound sleep.
The session will particularly focus on:
– the importance of sleep and its connection to brain and mood
– common difficulties: nightmares, digital media, separation
– how to create and implement healthy routines
Registration: Please fill out this form
If you have any questions on the focus areas of the session you would like us to address, please fill out this anonymous voluntary form.
We look forward to seeing many of our families at this event.
Calling all Budding Writers (aged 11-18 yrs)
Stanton Library in Mosman is excited to announce that this year’s Nan Manefield Young Writer’s Award is now open for entries. Students aged 11-18 years can easily upload their entries via their website any time before 5pm, Sunday 30 April, 2023.
The Nan Manefield Young Writers’ Award is judged in five age categories. Poetry and short stories are judged together. This year’s judges are all award-winning authors (Sue Whiting, Will Kostakis, Tim Sinclair, Ursula Dubosarasky and Erin Gough) and this is a great opportunity for students to have their stories read by these talented authors.
The awards presentation will be on Thursday 8 June and will be a celebration focused on the young people and their writing. Families will hear directly from the judges and the young writers themselves, with the winning entries being read aloud.
Prizes total over $3500 and all place-getters will also receive an invitation to a Writing Masterclass with one of the judges in the July school holidays.
Attached are posters advertising the award and information about the judges. Past winning entries and the online entry form is available on the website. Creative writing completed in class would be suitable as entries.
Cybersafety Education
Next week, Yrs 5 and 6 students and all staff will be involved in Cybersafety education sessions with our partners, ySafe. Our longstanding connection with ySafe, industry leaders in this important ever-changing landscape, has allowed us to continue to review and refine the educational experiences for our students, in particular, to ensure that these sessions are both relevant and impactful.
As I have mentioned before, I also encourage every parent to explore Redlands’ Cybersafety Hub which was set up in 2021 with ySafe and is a treasure-trove of valuable information.
Swimming Carnival – Wednesday 22 February
Next week sees our first House Carnival of 2023 as we head out to Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre for our annual Swimming Carnival. We look forward to a day full of action and House spirit!
NAPLAN 2023
Parents of students in Yrs 3 and 5 would have received a letter this week from our Head of Teaching and Learning, Mr Matt Bentley about the upcoming National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), which is much earlier this year.
Previously held in mid-May, these national assessment of literacy and numeracy skills for all students in Yrs 3, 5, 7 and 9 are sat by all NSW schools and will be online in 2022, except for Yr 3 Writing. This means the results should be in the hands of teachers earlier than has been previously to inform and guide our teaching and learning programs throughout the rest of the school year.
Redlands will be participating in NAPLAN between Wednesday 15 March to Monday 27 March 2023. In preparation for NAPLAN, our Yr 3 and Yr 5 students will also be participating in familiarisation assessments beforehand. This will help students to become familiar with the online platform, the style of questions and how they are to be answered.
Excessive preparation for NAPLAN is not recommended. Students can use the public demonstration site to familiarise themselves with the types of questions and tools available in NAPLAN.
School Uniform Reminder
We are only in Week 3 but have some students not arriving in correct uniform. Please note that we will be addressing this with those students and ask that parents support the school expectations as well. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
Redlands App
Stay connected and informed with the Redlands App. This essential tool keeps you updated on all the latest news and events in our school community. Seamlessly integrating with Pulse, you can view your news and notices, groups, and calendar.
This year, we’re excited to introduce a new activities section that allows you to easily view your child’s activities, from Sports to Music lessons. You’ll receive push notifications for any session cancellations or changes.
It’s easy to get started! Download the Redlands App from Google Play or the Apple App Store and log in with your Redlands parent account. For more information and an overview of features, visit the Redlands App section on Pulse.
A Message from the School Chaplains
We enjoyed joining together to pray with parents and staff earlier this week at our Redlands Community Prayer Gathering held at St Peter’s Cremorne. Our next meeting will be in March and all are warmly welcome to join us.
We have so much to be grateful for at the start of this new year and during Junior Campus Chapel this term we are spotlighting gratitude. We have created a Gratitude Gallery in each of the reception areas. Check out the students’ fabulous illustrations and some examples gratitude. On Valentine’s Day in the Senior Campus, we tried to ‘spread the love of Jesus’ and remind each student that they are uniquely valued and loved by handing out heart lollipops at each gate.
Each campus has launched their lunchtime Christian groups for the term with K-2 on Wednesday (TGIL), 3-6 on Friday (TGIF) and Monday (Lumos) for 7-12. We are looking forward to welcoming any interested students to these groups.
Ms Kirsten Philips
Ms Fiona McKenzie
School Chaplains
Mr Ari Guha
Head of Junior School
aguha@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9953 6022