Head of Junior School

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Student Services Team

A newly-formed Junior Campus Student Services team has been set up, centred around providing teachers, students and families with specific support and guidance across teaching, learning and wellbeing. Alongside the Head of Prep School, the Dean of Teaching and Learning and the Dean of Students, we will meet on a fortnightly basis to review individual student progress and suggest recommendations for teachers, parents and support staff. Where appropriate, additional staff might also be added to this team on a needs basis. Teachers can refer students to the Student Services team for support and guidance, knowing that each student will be considered from a multi-disciplinary perspective. The team is an important new addition to our processes and systems, ensuring every student is known, supported and valued across our campus.  

Community Code of Conduct

An updated Redlands Community Code of Conduct has recently been published and available for parents to access here on Redlands Pulse . The School recognises and appreciates the benefits of an inclusive, cohesive community and the purpose of this Code of Conduct is to provide guidance to ensure mutual understanding of our expectations of community behaviour and interactions for all members of the School community. All stakeholders are required to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with this Code.

From the document, I particularly draw your attention to a point I also mentioned in my first letter of the year to all parents, reminding parents of the expectation that all forms of communication with staff should be appropriate, respectful and courteous in both tone and content and that there are no circumstances under which an aggressive manner towards a member of staff is acceptable. If you do have a concern, I encourage you to raise this with us through the appropriate channels as also clearly listed in my letter at the start of the year, which do not include WhatsApp groups.

Health Matters

All parents are asked to support our community welfare by being specific about reasons for medical absence when emails are sent to class teachers and the Junior School Absences email. This way we will know whether to seek further medical clearance before your child returns to school.

Return to Interschool Sport and Debating

It was great to have our Debating and Sports teams all resume interschool competition last weekend and both Yr 5 and 6 Debating teams won against, arguing the affirmative case for “That schools should supply free healthy options in school canteens”. Our Netball, Football, AFL and Rugby teams also enjoyed the resumption of competitive sport and I am grateful to families for supporting the necessary precautionary steps at varying venues.

Junior School Athletics Carnival

All things being well, we are looking forward to having our Junior School Athletics Carnival next Wednesday 5 August at the Sydney Olympic Park Athletics Centre, Homebush. As you will have noted from Mr Dunne’s letter last week, for safety reasons, spectators are not permitted to attend this event and apart from a few of the centre staff, only Junior School students and staff will be in attendance on the day; we have also decided not to involve any of our Secondary School House Captains as has been the case in the past. We have a number of measures in place to support our COVID-safe plan for the event and we will continue to monitor the latest health advice in the days leading up to the scheduled event and make changes or even cancel the event if COVID circumstances change in NSW.

Young Investigators Science Club

Places are still available for our popular Science Club run by Eye Heart Science. If your child is keen to join this exciting club for curious scientists, please do so via this link. Young Investigators runs on a term by term basis with each term covering an exciting new Science topic. This term, the team are exploring an eight week program on microbiology and the sessions will involve fun hands-on Science experiments, activities and demonstrations. Some of this term’s sessions will involve making DIY hand sanitisers and soap, an up close look at some microorganisms and other exciting new challenge. All sessions are designed to help inspire and motivate the next-generation of critical thinkers by sharing and instilling a passion for Science. 

School Photos

A reminder that our Junior School class and individual photos will take place next Thursday 6 August.

Orders for photography packages from Advanced Life can be placed securely online here using our School’s unique 9 digit order code which is: WG5 WJZ 1J5. Late fees/additional charges will be applied for purchases ten days after our photo day.

All children are required in their full school winter uniform, including blazers. Please ensure shoes are polished and socks are correct length. Girls need to have hair tied back with navy elastic, ribbon or scrunchie. Only gold or silver studs may be worn. Where students have PE on this day; for this day only, they should also bring their PE kit separately and will be guided to change in the changing rooms in small numbers to ensure adequate distancing.

Should you have any queries concerning the online ordering process, please direct them via email to enquiries@advancedlife.com.au. Mrs Fairfax in the Junior School Office can also assist with any general enquiries via email or on 9953 6022.

Jeans for Genes Day

Next Friday 7 August sees our annual support of Jeans for Genes Day where students are encouraged to wear jeans and/or denim and bring a gold coin donation to support this charity.

Spanish News

The Education Perfect Regional Championships for NSW began on Tuesday 28 July at midday and will conclude at midday on Tuesday 4 August.  

This competition provides students with the opportunity to compete against other language students in schools across NSW. All students in the Junior School are registered to participate. To compete, all students need to do is answer Spanish language questions on Education Perfect. Points are awarded for all questions, except self-marked questions and dash.

As an added incentive, Education Perfect has provided some prizes for students of Spanish in our Junior School. The student with the top score in Spanish in each Year Group will also receive a $30 Giftpay Voucher. There will also be further prizes for students so stay tuned for more information. I encourage all students to participate to improve their Spanish skills and have fun in this exciting and motivating competition. ¡Buena Suerte!

Junior Campus Photos

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