Head of Preparatory School
Welcome
A warm welcome to Prep School families from me in this interim period between Mrs Fellowes’ departure and the arrival of Mrs Breckenridge for the start of next term. When Mr Webber asked me to take up this short-term role, I was delighted to have a brief window to get to know more of the Prep students and families.
Having been at Redlands for 14 years, I know the Prep School well and the staff. We have been meeting remotely via the platform of Zoom on a daily basis and I know them well enough to pick up exactly where Mrs Fellowes left off on Tuesday.
I know for my own children and many other students I spoke with on Monday, they are also sad to have to learn from home but we know that this short-term measure is for the greater good, as hard as that might be to fathom as a Prep School student.
Please do stay connected with us and each other and I would love to be sent any photos or short videos of your home learning set ups too via email, which I may then share in next week’s Note Day.
This has definitely been a term of ‘firsts’ for students, staff and families and my thoughts and prayers continue to be with everyone in our community and your extended families across the world.
Remote and Online Learning
Thank you to the many parents who provided insightful and constructive feedback on last Friday’s remote and online learning day, which has helped our Prep staff refine their planning this week. The day was timely given our move to off-campus learning and equally of great importance was the students’ feedback.
I have been so proud of the teachers’ unwavering dedication and commitment to their students’ learning in this online teaching platform. Their growth mindset and willingness to adapt and change is noteworthy. It is important that when we learn something new, or learn to do something in a different way, our ability to think critically increases, which is a positive outcome.
We have connected with schools across the globe regarding their experiences with remote teaching and learning and adapted these to what we feel is right for Redlands and our students at this point in time.
As Mrs Fellowes shared, Prep students will not be following the regular timetable that they would participate in at school. Instead, tasks will be set and these can be completed at a time convenient for your family and situation. While students may be missing some of the connectedness of the classroom, opportunities for teachable moments will arise through activities such as cooking, cleaning, gardening, sewing, craft, conversation and free play.
Please also don’t worry if your child is not able to complete every task that has been set; we appreciate that this will not always be possible and keeping students focused and on task is much harder at home than at school.
In discussing the student, parent and teacher feedback in the coming fortnight until the end of term, our focus will be to enhance our connections with our students, both in terms of teaching and learning and student wellbeing.
We know the morning and afternoon videos have been well received and moving forward, the staff are now exploring the capacity of Seesaw to be a platform for ‘live’ morning welcomes or using Zoom. Please visit the Seesaw Help Centre for your assistance and reference.
Thank you to all of the parents who have offered support and appreciation of our teachers’ efforts to support student learning. In our School’s aim to also look after staff and following consistent advice from the Government to encourage people to work from home if they can, we will now be supporting our teachers to work remotely from home too.
Student Wellbeing
As our young students become increasingly aware of the global situation and its impact on our day-to-day events, they may feel worried, anxious, uncertain or confused. We recognise that this is a challenging time for our students, staff and families and each class teacher spent time acknowledging this with their class before our campus closed on Monday. Students were encouraged to look after each other and stay connected and reminded that their friendships will remain even though there will be less actual face-to-face contact in the immediate future.
Our Dean of Students, Mrs Kourakis, has been working closely with class teachers to ensure that daily wellbeing practices are also built into the plans for each class, which will be reflected in their daily recommended schedules. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to any of our specialist Pastoral team, class teachers or me.
Kindergarten Reptile Man Visit
On Friday 13 March, Kym the reptile man came to visit Kindergarten. Students learned about bush animals and especially how to stay safe around them.
The children took turns to look, hold and study each animal. Many questions were asked like, “why does the frog always face upwards in their trees?” and “what is the difference between a turtle and a tortoise?”.
Other children had a lot of knowledge to share such as the definitions of omnivore, herbivore and carnivore. The presentation was very entertaining with many of the children showing incredible bravery when interacting with the animals.
Staying Fit and Healthy at Home
Our Head of Junior School Sport, Mr Dunne, has provided some activities to keep active as part of their everyday routine and with all of our teachers still in this week, the Sports department have created some wonderful interactive videos and resources for students and families to help with a variety of activities under the newly-created Redlands HomeFit button located on Redlands Pulse. This page will be regularly updated with tips, hints, blogs, videos and routines and I encourage you to make some time to visit this page in the coming days and weeks to see if there is something that would suit you and your family.
Mr Ari Guha
Head of Junior School (covering Head of Preparartory School)
aguha@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9953 6022