Head of Junior School

Head of Junior School

UPCOMING EVENTS

Please note that all Upcoming Events for the Junior School are now on their own Note Day article/page.  

This Head of Junior School page will consist of general information from the Head of Junior School. 

A Night to Remember!

What a wonderful showcase of musical talent and education we were treated to last Thursday night at the 2019 Junior Music Festival: Music Through the Decades! 

As I shared in my closing remarks, it was an absolute privilege for me to have the opportunity to acknowledge our talented staff and students and I know my sentiments were shared by everyone in attendance. Just as we challenge students to improve each year, every year I wonder how we can improve on the previous one and every year we do! Thank you also to parents who have shared similar thoughts with our Music staff and me.

There were so many teachers, tutors and support staff that came together with such collaboration to enable an event of this magnitude and I particularly acknowledge our Music team led brilliantly by Mrs Hilary Luck.

The joy and energy that emitted from the stage was palpable and I was also moved by the quality of both performance and song choices as the audience travelled back in time through the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s.

This event is also one that allows every single student to perform on stage at least twice and this in itself, is significant and very special and amazingly, a number of our new students who just started in Term 3 were up on stage!

All in all, a truly memorable night; thank you for the music, Junior School.

Junior School House Athletics Carnival

Yesterday, bathed in stunning sunshine, the Olympic Athletics Training Stadium at Homebush was again the scene for a magnificent Junior School Athletics Carnival. As set out in assembly this week and by Mr Carter before the first event, the focus was on participation, enjoyment and sportsmanship and this was clearly evident throughout the day. Coupled with this, there were some wonderful personal bests achieved by most students.

Similar to our Junior Music Festival, this is an event that involves every single one of our Junior School students which is very important to us. Alongside this, the efforts and collaboration of teachers, coaches and medical staff enabled the event to run so well and with such high levels of student engagement. On behalf of the students, my sincere thanks are extended to our Sports Department of Mr Adrian Carter and Mrs Sarah Ellis, who led much of the pre-Carnival preparation and oversaw the day’s events.

Jeans for Genes Day

Last Friday, the School took to casual clothes in support of the annual Jeans for Genes day. On this day, Class 3L also hosted a bake sale to raise further funds for this particular charity that is poignant for two of their classmates. The bake sale raised a staggering $670.40 and the gold coin collection raised $600, providing a very healthy $1,270.40 to support the Children’s Medical Research Institute. Thank you to everyone for their monetary and culinary contributions, particularly the students and families of Class 3L.

Operation Christmas Child

At the very start of this year, I was approached with a charitable idea by Yr 4 student, Alexis Mar. Operation Christmas Child is run by Samaritans Purse, a not for profit organisation providing emergency relief and development assistance to suffering people around the world.

Operation Christmas Child is a project run every year where gift-filled shoe boxes are sent to children in poverty around the world. The shoe box the child receives is likely to be the only gift in their lifetime. Within each shoebox is: 

  • Something to wear;
  • Something for school;
  • Something to play with;
  • Something for hygiene, and 
  • Something to love.

Over the past four years, Alexis has been helping to change to lives of children in need by packing gift filled shoeboxes that are distributed around the world. She started doing this in 2015, after a conversation with her mum about how fortunate she was compared to so many other children her age across the globe and that Christmas, Alexis packed 24 boxes to be sent to children in need. Not satisfied with that, the following year, Alexis wrote a proposal to her mum’s employers asking if they would support a cupcake fundraiser. With their help, Alexis managed to pack 124 boxes. In 2017, Alexis ran her own cupcake fundraiser again and called upon friends and family. She also asked her friends to pack a shoe box to celebrate her birthday instead of giving her a present. Together they managed to pack 226 boxes! And so, to 2018, Alexis ran another cupcake fundraiser again, called upon the employees at her mum’s work and managed to pack 301 boxes! Her goal this year is to provide 350 shoe boxes and she is hoping the students, staff and families of Redlands can come together and support her, in order to reach this goal and help her change the lives of children in need.

Alexis shared that in her six years at Redlands, she has learnt the importance of our School Values, with Compassion being one that she feels great connection. Alexa’s empathy and drive was both inspiring and humbling and I hope that many us will help her achieve this target.

Look out for additional information in the coming weeks as we aim to have these boxes packed and ready by the end of Term 3.

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD)

Every year, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about supports provided to students with disability. These relate to legislative requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, in line with the NCCD guidelines (2019). 

Information provided about students to the Australian Government for the NCCD includes:

  • year of schooling
  • category of disability: physical, cognitive, sensory or social/emotional
  • level of adjustment provided: support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice, supplementary, substantial or extensive.

This information assists schools to:

  • formally recognise the supports and adjustments provided to students with disability in schools
  • consider how they can strengthen the support of students with disability in schools
  • develop shared practices so that they can review their learning programs in order to improve educational outcomes for students with disability.

The school will provide data to the Australian Government in such a way that no individual student will be able to be identified – the privacy and confidentiality of all students is ensured. Further information about the NCCD can be found on the NCCD Portal (https://www.nccd.edu.au).

If you have any questions about the NCCD, please contact Mrs Lisa Ole (Coordinator of Learning Support K-12) lole@redlands.nsw.edu.au.

Every Little Bit Helps

Thank you for your generous donations to Every Little Bit Helps. Your travel toiletries and additional gifts will make a difference in the lives of those in our community who are experiencing homelessness at this time. A special thank you to Mara Bond, mother of Daniel Yr 4, who is collecting and delivering the donations for us. We will be collecting until next Wednesday and then again for the first four weeks of every term.

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