Head of Junior School

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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. 

Every Little Bit Helps

This has been an incredibly harrowing and difficult week in NSW and Queensland as the soaring temperatures and winds have sparked a number of devastating bushfires. Even in Sydney, the effects of the region’s plight have been felt and I know that many in our Redlands community have personal connections to people and places that are literally in the line of fire.

Tomorrow, the whole Redlands community will come together to fundraise to support our rural fire services and affected families through monetary donations, which I know will assist to making a small difference to the lives of many. Just yesterday, I received a timely email from Junior School parent, Mara Bond, who assists in collecting for the Every Little Bit Helps charity that we support at the start of each term through collecting travel wash items. Mara collected the small red bins last Friday and passed them to the charity this week and received a message from the charity’s founder saying, “the timing of your donations were perfect. We had a request today for care packs for fire victims in Grafton and so with Redlands donations and another, we were able to make 70 care packs that will be sent tomorrow so thank you”.

I know that you will join me in keeping those affected in your thoughts and prayers in these coming days and weeks and I am thankful that our School community can respond with compassion to support others.

Speech Day 2019

As you would have seen in the calendar, our Junior School Speech Day takes place at 11.00am on Wednesday 4 December and will again be held at The Big Top, Luna Park. All students are expected to attend this final formal occasion of the school year and further details of student arrival times for rehearsals and the event will be communicated to families in the next week.

Yr 6 Car Wash Fundraiser – Postponed

Whilst we were initially granted a permit from Sydney Water, with both the current water restrictions and this week’s unprecedented bushfires, we have now been advised to postpone the planned the car washing fundraiser this Saturday. I thank the students who signed up to take part and parents who also signed up to have their cars cleaned. Particular thanks are extended to Yr 6 School Captain, Krishna Gupta, for his meticulous leadership of this idea. If we are able to procure another date, we will communicate this to the community.

Academic Success

Following last term’s ICAS Assessments, which a number of our students take, we were thrilled to be informed that Jesse Forrest (Yr 6) has been confirmed as the winner of this year’s UNSW ICAS Medal Winner for English, presented for the highest score across the whole of the NSW/ACT region. This is the first time that the School has had a primary medal winner and the medal will be presented at an official ceremony later this month which his class teacher and his parents will attend. I congratulate Jesse on this outstanding achievement and we also acknowledge the guidance and tutelage of the teachers who taught him prior to him joining us at Redlands this year.

2020 Orientation Day

Last Friday saw us welcome over 50 new students who will join the Junior School in 2020 as part of their process of orientation into Redlands. Our current students welcomed their soon-to-be peers with warmth and friendship, as many of the new students commented on to me in the final session I spent with them. All of them left having made a new friend or two, an aim of both theirs and us for the morning.

As part of the day, Yrs 2, 3, 4 and 5 also moved up a year to the Year Groups that they will be in next year. This allowed them some time with new teachers, new students, and begin to get a feel of new learning spaces and expectations. Students rotated around each classroom doing a series of engaging activities and from speaking to many students and observing them, I know that this time was hugely beneficial for many of them.

12^th Annual House Poetry Recital

Monday saw our 12^th Annual House Poetry Recital, a joyous event that both students and teachers look forward to. This term, every single 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 truly memorable start to the week with our performers showing poise, charisma and confidence as they delivered their respective poems to the audience of students, teachers and their parents.

As a new aspect to this event, students were excited to hear poems read by a number of teachers. As well as Junior School teachers, Mr Latimer, Ms Cleary, Mr Hemopo and Mrs Robinson, we were thrilled to welcome both Mr Corcoran (Head of Secondary School) and Mrs Rolon (Head of English), to the recital. As an English teacher too, Mr Corcoran joined Mrs Rolon in opening the recital by presenting their favourite poems to a captivated Junior School.

Well done to all of the students for their involvement this term and, in particular, the students listed below who performed so marvellously on Monday.

NSW State Athletics Championships Success

Last week, Junior School students Daniel Benoleil, Jeffrey Benoleil, Ashley Corn and Joel Daily competed at the NSWPSSA State Athletics Championships, representing the NSW Combined Independent Schools team in the 4x100m relay event and Joel also competed in the Long Jump.

It was a fantastic experience for the boys who ran brilliantly to narrowly miss out on a podium place by 0.03seconds, finishing 4^th in the final. For interested viewers, please enjoy this link of the race and scroll through to the 7 hours 8 minutes mark to watch the boys run in lane 8.  Excitedly, Joel went one better to pick up a bronze medal in the Long Jump and it was a pleasure to acknowledge the boys in our assembly this week. As I mentioned to the assembly of students, whilst there is a degree of natural athleticism in the boys, I am fully aware of their dedication and commitment to training and improvement over many weeks that has resulted in this achievement, of which we are all enormously proud.

Musical Performances

Congratulations to our Junior Strings groups who performed exceptionally well at Monday’s Strings Concert. On this same day, our assembly was treated to the cool sounds of our Junior Jazz Band and over the course of the week, many students have been performing for their parents in lunch time music soirees. At all of these events, the joy of performing for others is a wonderful reward for the hours of practice and tuition that comes beforehand, which I recognise and applaud our talented musicians for.

Surf Education

Based at Freshwater Beach, our Junior School students completed their Term 4 Surf Education program today, which has been another purposeful learning experience. As well as being great fun, an important aim of the program is to ensure that our students feel comfortable and safe in the ocean ahead of the upcoming summer holidays. Junior School students enjoyed rotating through a range of different activities in small groups including:

• Resuscitation and beach first aid
• Tube rescues
• Board paddling and board rescues
• Beach flags racing
• Surfboards – learning the wave
• Touch football
• Beach volleyball
• Float and survive – identifying a rip

My thanks are extended to Mrs Robinson from our PDHPE department who has coordinated the program for the students to enjoy and benefit from.

Anglicare Toys ‘n’ Tucker Campaign

Helping young children learn the joy of giving to others is always a delight.  Junior Campus families have an opportunity to share the joy of Christmas by giving to the ‘Anglicare Toys and Tucker Campaign.’ If you would like to be involved by purchasing a toy or special Christmas food, please bring in your gifts and place them under the Christmas trees in the Prep or Junior School Receptions. Ideas for items to purchase can be found below and families are asked to drop items between next Monday 18 November and Tuesday 3 December.

Food items can be packaged in a hamper and may include items such as: Christmas cake, Christmas pudding, tinned ham or salmon, tea or coffee, small Milo tin, a packet of biscuits, dried pasta, pasta sauce, long-life milk, custard or cream, tinned fruit and vegetables or jam.

Gift ideas could include: age-appropriate games, educational toys, picture books, outdoor games, sporting equipment, gift cards/vouchers or toiletry packs. Please note that chocolate cannot be included as it will be likely to melt.

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