Head of Preparatory School

Head of Preparatory School

PREP SCHOOL UPCOMING EVENTS

Welcome to Prep Music for 2021

If you’re new to Redlands, we thought this week’s Note Day might be a great chance to explain the various Music opportunities that we offer all our learners in the Prep School. Our Music offerings from P-12 at Redlands are divided into three categories: Curricular, Cocurricular and Extra Curricular.

Curricular Music

Our curriculum Music classes are at the very core of our weekly music offerings. Comprising weekly sessions and specialist extension classes in Choral or Instrumental specialisations, these classes are aligned with the NESA Creative Arts Syllabus (2006) and taught with an integrated Orff and Kodaly approach. 

Kindergarten and Yr 1 Music classes are further supported by our whole-cohort Choral and Instrumental sessions each week. Though these programs are COVID-adjusted for now, they remain such a fun collective music-making time as we learn action songs and Auslan, enjoy dancing and rhythm games, and embed foundational musical ideas through play and movement. Easing NSW Health restrictions will hopefully and happily see our return to singing as the bedrock of all our Music offerings in due course. 

The Year 2 classroom program is augmented by the Yr 2 Strings program which has had its joyous launch with this year’s cohort. All our Yr 2 students have now been allocated a violin or cello as their instrumental focus for the year and are enjoying exploring this instrument in their Thursday specialist sessions.

Extra Curricular Music

Our extra curricular offerings for our Preparatory students include Private Instrumental lessons in a myriad of instrument disciplines (see the sign-up sheet on Pulse for a full list of all the instruments we offer) for which students are collected during class time by one of our wonderful specialist tutors. Students are timetabled on a rotational basis so as to avoid missing too much of the same learning content or subjects within their regular class programming.

Cocurricular Music 

Our Cocurricular Music offerings for the Prep School are the Prep Choir (Fridays 7.45-8.15am) and Prep Strings (Mondays 7.45-8.15am). As previously mentioned, our singing activities are all thoughtfully and safely framed by NSW Health guidelines. 

Our Prep Music team for 2021 include:

Coordinator of Music (P-12) – Mr Darren Kuilenburg
Head of Junior Campus Music – Mrs Amy Richardson
Junior Campus Music Administrator – Ms Jaqueline McGlade

Redlands House Music Specialists – Mrs Amy Richardson and Mrs Susan-Gai Anderson
Transition Gold Music Specialist – Mrs Amy RIchardson
Kindergarten Music Specialists – Ms Katherine Moses and Mrs Susan-Gai Anderson 
Yr 1 Music Specialists – Ms Stephanie McInnes and Mrs Susan-Gai Anderson
Yr 2 Music Specialist and Head of Strings – Ms Katherine Moses

If you have questions about any aspect of our Redlands Music offerings, we welcome you to contact the Junior Campus Music Office on 02 9908 6495 or by emailing juniormusic@redlands.nsw.edu.au. 

Like to Do More?

We have a wonderful and much-appreciated Friends of Music committee who work directly with our Music team to support the many events and opportunities that we are able to afford our Redlands students.

The Prep and Junior School Friends of Music team are hosting an informal Q&A session for Prep parents on Friday 12 March at 8.30am in the Prep Music Room should you like to come along. We’d love to have you there. Contact Jennifer Mast (Prep Parent Coordinator) for more information.

Prep School Technology Orientation Session

Thanks to our e-Learning facilitator, Mrs Argiro Anagnostu, and our Yr 6 Technology Leaders, the inaugural Prep Technology Orientation session was a huge success this week. Parents were introduced to the what, why and how we use our iPads in the Prep School. After introducing where ICT skills sit in the NSW and Australian curriculums, our Tech Leaders guided our parents through the skill processes involved in using Book Creator and uploading their product into a SeeSaw page. We look forward to our next Tech Orientation session in Term 2.

Learn to be Safe with Emmy and Friends

Act for Kids with be running workshops with our Yr 1 students in Term 2, Weeks 1-5 for an hour a week session. Act for Kids is a national not-for-profit organisation committed to ensuring Australia’s children have the safe and happy childhoods they deserve. The aim of this program is to help your child:

  • identify when they are feeling unsafe,
  • understand their rights around their body,
  • identify the difference between private and public body parts,
  • recognise the difference between safe and unsafe secret and
  • build a network of safe people they can talk to if they ever feel unsafe.

Shortly, Yr 1 parents will receive information and a consent form for your child to attend.

On Monday 1 March, Yr 2 students will be participating in their final workshop that they missed in 2020 due to COVID. Consent forms for our new Yr 2 students will be sent shortly.

Second Hand Uniform Sale

The second hand uniform sale will take place next week. Please visit the RPFA article for more details. 

Around the Preparatory School

Mrs Ainslie Breckenridge
Head of Preparatory School
abreckenridge@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9968 9848