Head of Junior School
Book Week
Book Week at Redlands has been celebration of stories, imagination, and the joy of reading. The theme, Reading is Magic truly came to life, especially on Character Dress-Up Day. The excitement was tangible as students and teachers transformed into their favourite literary characters. The highlight of the day was undoubtedly our School Principal, Mr Corcoran, who wowed everyone by embodying Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings! His impressive costume and inspiring message in our special Assembly reminded us of the power great stories have to transport us to other worlds. Events like these remind us of the importance of reading, not just as a fundamental skill, but as a gateway to creativity, enjoyment, empathy and lifelong learning. My thanks to our Teacher Librarian, Mrs Wiebe and her team, for organising a wonderful Book Week.
UNICEF
Our Year 6 cohort has recently been engaged in an in-depth study of natural hazards and disasters, focusing on their impacts within Australian communities. We were fortunate to have UNICEF visit on Monday this week, providing our students with an immersive learning experience. Through this, they had the opportunity to ‘step into’ the shoes of a child directly affected by a bushfire. As part of the exercise, students developed empathy maps to articulate what such a child might feel, think, say, and do. This activity helped them anticipate the challenges and emotional responses often encountered by children in these environments and encouraged them to think critically about potential solutions.
In addition to this enriching experience, we were visited by SES parent volunteers on Tuesday who shared firsthand accounts of what it is like to live through a natural disaster. We were also privileged to receive a short recording from Redlands parent David Campbell, featuring his co-host from the Today show, who has previously been the face of media coverage for some of Australia’s most devastating natural disasters.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to all the volunteers for their time and for sharing their invaluable experiences with our students.
Student Reflections on the UNICEF visit:
When UNICEF came and visited us, we had a lot of fun. They taught us the importance of helping children in need as well as the dangers and effects of bushfires. We were immersed in our learning as it was informing and enjoyable. We created empathy maps and saw what it was like to step into a child’s shoes during a bushfire. What would you do, say, think and feel if you were them? What would you do if you were in the middle of a bushfire? We also created fabulous posters on how you would feel if you were in a bushfire or a solution to bushfires. You got to use textured paper, stickers and cutouts of news articles based on bushfires. These activities were fun and informative. We got to put all our bushfire knowledge to the test and create amazing pieces of work. Thank you UNICEF for teaching us about bushfires and how fortunate we are compared to other children?
-Emily Robertson
When UNICEF came to our school to visit us, we had a lot of fun. They taught us about the 54 children rights and what they do as an organisation. They also told us about bushfires, the effects and dangers. We created an empathy map, stepping into the shoes of another child after a bushfire. There were categories like say, think, do and feel. We had to write what we thought the child was feeling, saying, thinking and doing at that time. Then we had to make a poster on what you would do if you were in the fire or the solutions on how to stop it . We used texters, paper and newspapers (cutouts). We got to learn a lot about bushfires, increasing our knowledge about them. This will help on our UI project later this term. We ended up with two wonderful pieces of work. Overall, we had a wonderful time learning and making things with UNICEF. Thank you so much UNICEF for visiting us and teaching us about the amazing bushfires. We are very fortunate to have them visit us.
-Stanley Huang
Representative Debating
Congratulations to both our Representative teams who have won 3 out of 4 debates in the SDN Competition and have made the knockout stage of the Australian National Virtual Competition.
We are very impressed with their improvement in arguments, rebuttal and identifying clashes. We wish both teams best of luck for the upcoming debates.
Visual Arts 3-12 Annual Exhibition
Father’s Day Celebration
We are excited to invite you to join us in celebrating Father’s Day on Monday 2 September from 7.45 am at the Junior Campus Piazza. Please note that bookings will close on Wednesday 28 August, reservations are necessary for catering purposes.
In the event of rain, the celebration will continue as planned, with arrangements made to accommodate refreshments undercover.
Term 3 Parent Presentation
Mr Ian Holden
Head of Junior School
iholden@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9953 6022