Head of Junior School

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Semester 1 Reports

Student reports for Semester 1 are currently being finalised by teachers and I look forward to reviewing them in due course too. For new families, in particular, these reports will be uploaded to Redlands Pulse for your private access during the holiday break and information on how to access and download these reports will be sent to you, along with notification on when they have been uploaded.

Community Health Matters

As has been the case this term, our position since bringing all students back to school earlier in May has been that we require students and staff who are symptomatic or who have been tested to stay away from school until they have received a negative test result. As we have taken a cautious approach overall, we have also asked siblings of any child being tested to also remain at home until that test result has been received. Over the holiday break, the School will review aspects of our processes ahead of Term 3 and communicate this with families before Term 3 starts.

Junior School Assembly

Whilst the advice for schools has been that assemblies can resume for a maximum of 15 minutes this week, we continued with our Junior School assembly on Zoom this week. Gathering together as a Junior School has been an important part of this period of time; initially with 450 students meeting remotely and online from home to our current position of connecting in their respective classrooms and being part of three live gatherings via their class SMART board screen. All things being well, I hope that we will be in a position to all gather in Dunnet Hall from Term 3, something that I have really missed during this time.

Class Parent Rep Meeting

It was great to attend last Thursday evening’s online Class Parent Rep Meeting and see this important meeting still take place. I was able to acknowledge the community support of our parents during the period of isolation, particularly for Redlands families who were new to Sydney or Australia at the start of the year and have family overseas. It was also good to get some feedback on aspects of the Junior School return to On-Campus Learning and answer questions about aspects of next term. I hope that this group’s termly meeting can return in person next term and thank Jay Cunningham and Rebecca James for facilitating this session for our Class Parents to remain connected.

Sport Uniform on PE Days

In this current climate, we have allowed our students to wear their PE uniform on days that their class have PE, as well as Wednesday when the whole Junior School have sport. As we have seen the benefits of this in terms of reducing time for students to need to change before and after class and avoid them having to carry an extra bag to school on these days, sometimes on days when they are also carrying musical instruments, we will continue this practice now moving forward. I have appreciated parent, staff and student feedback on this and all are aligned in seeing this as a positive change.

Staffing News

At the end of this term, we say farewell to two long-serving staff members who have contributed enormously to the life of Redlands during their time with us.

Currently on Long Service Leave, Mr Nigel Coutts, the previous Dean of Teaching and Learning, is moving to Melbourne to take up the Primary Head of Teaching and Learning position at Mentone Grammar School. Mr Coutts’ significant contributions to teaching and learning over his 18 year tenure as a class teacher, Year Coordinator and Dean are noteworthy, in particular his role in the update of our Redlands Learning Platform, including embedding a culture of thinking and learning. In his time with us, Mr Coutts led many engaging parent seminars on aspects of our teaching practice and provided great support and counsel to colleagues from all sections of the School. In more recent years, he has also been employed by the Harvard Graduate School of Education as a coach in their global Cultures of Thinking program. We wish Mr Coutts all the very best in this exciting new challenge for him where he will continue to influence learning on a wider scale.

At the end of the term, we also say goodbye to Yr 6 teacher, Mrs Trish Morgan who is returing to New Zealand at the end of term. Since her appointment to the Junior School teaching staff in 2011, Mrs Morgan’s dedication to her students, strong sense of collegiality and warmth have been outstanding attributes and she will be sorely missed.

Simultaneously, I am delighted to confirm that we have appointed Mr David O’Farrell to take over from Mrs Morgan from the start of Term 3. Mr O’Farrell was an integral part of our Junior School teaching team from 2012-2015 so is very familiar with the School. For the last 4½ years, Mr O’Farrell has been teaching at Garden International School in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and is returning to Sydney in July with his family.

Junior School Red Factor

Our Arts Captains, Kira Delaney and Dante Minassian, have guided a creative way in which our cancelled Red Factor talent show is still able to take place, albeit in a different format. This event will take place on the last afternoon of the term in classrooms. Students can choose between dance, music, singing, instruments, drama, comedy or other special talents and either make a two minute video at home to share with their class via the Red Factor Flipgrid. Videos can be uploaded here and whilst some students might perform in class, students can watch all of the performances that have been uploaded to the Flipgrid during the school holidays.

Road Safety

Continuing with our focus on road safety, we will be providing every Junior School family with a Transport NSW ‘Safety Door’ sticker. The sticker is designed to be attached to the window of the rear passenger door closest to the kerb, to remind children that this is the safest door to use to get in and out of the car. Our teachers will be looking for the stickers during our car line pick-up and drop-off with lots of positive reinforcement!

Further information about road safety can be found on the Safety Town website as well as tips, games, quizzes and videos you can do together with your children to support their understandings and awareness. Thank you for your continued support of student safety.

Term 3/4 Departure Notice

As we are approaching the mid-point of the year, this is a reminder that those families who are planning on leaving the School at the end of Terms 3 or 4 are required to give notice to the Principal via an email to registrar@redlands.nsw.edu.au by the following dates:

End Term 3 Departure:  Friday 26 June 2020
End Term 4 Departure:  Sunday 26 July 2020

As per our Conditions of Enrolment emailed to all families in December last year with the 2020 Schedule of Fees, there will be fees in lieu payable for any notices of departure received after this date.

If your family is experiencing current financial difficulties as a result of COVID-19, please contact our Chief Financial Officer at bweatherstone@redlands.nsw.edu.au to see how the School may support your child’s continued enrolment at Redlands.

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