Head of Secondary School
Taking Action
This year as professional educators we’ve been reflecting both formally and informally about the impact of the pandemic on our young people. At school we’ve noticed that some students are struggling to read non-verbal and facial cues, impacting their social awareness in a range of settings. We’ve also noticed that some for some students, capacity to cope with typical experiences such as disappointment and sadness, has been more challenging. We’ve reflected that this might be from significant time in lockdown, diminished face-to-face interactions and increased screen time while learning from home.
At school, we’re always focused on developing and deepening our young people’s social and emotional competencies, and recently, we’ve been engaging in a range of interventions to counteract the impacts of the pandemic. As parents, you might be wondering what you can do at home to ensure the development of healthy mental models in your children. I really enjoyed a recent article published in The Washington Post, Five Skills parents Can Learn So They Can Help Their Child Cope, by Kathryn Reynolds Lewis. She explores a range of strategies across five areas of focus: attuning, emotional literacy, self-regulation, self-compassion and re-framing. The advice provided resonated with the messages we shared with Yr 12 earlier this week when they returned from their Trial Examinations. Key messages were:
- Growth comes from being challenged and challenge is uncomfortable.
- Expect and embrace discomfort.
- Don’t believe everything you think.
We explored some of the common ‘thinking traps’ such as ‘black and white thinking’, ‘predicting catastrophe’ and ‘mind reading’ in order to enhance student self-awareness around ‘automated negative thinking’ (ANTS) or what Dr Adam Fraser refers to as our inner negative voice ‘Kevin’.
When faced with negative thinking, it’s hard to change our thinking with more thinking. Instead, we change our thinking with action. This week and next, Yr 12 have been tasked with ‘taking action’ – proactively seeking and applying feedback, via teacher conversations and scheduled study.
Digital Wellbeing
Parents are also encouraged to take action too! The digital wellbeing of our young people requires a conscious and united effort by schools, students and parents. Nest Wednesday evening, ySafe return to Redlands for another valuable Parent Seminar. In partnership with industry leaders, the session will focus on the specific challenges and opportunities Secondary School students may encounter in the digital environment and what parents can do to support their child’s digital safety and wellbeing, especially when at home. For your convenience, we have arranged the seminar as both face-to-face in the Learning Hub and accessible via Zoom. I highly recommend this presentation – Dean of Students, Ms Jansons and e-learning Co-ordinator, Ms Wendy Duckworth, will be available in the Learning Hub, to respond to questions, after the seminar.
Please register and attend our ySafe Parent Seminar (in person or via Zoom) next Wednesday 31 August from 6.00pm
Who: Yr 7-12 Parents and Carers
Date: Wednesday 31 August 2022
Venue: Learning Hub – Level 2
Time: 6pm – 7pm
Booking: Places are limited so please RSVP here (face-to-face and Zoom)
Parents might also be interested in the following SchoolTV Special Reports
Building Resilience Post Pandemic
“Resilience is the capacity to face, overcome, be strengthened and transformed by adversity. Never before, have parents needed the skills, the knowledge and the strategies to build resilience in their children as much as they do now.”
Building Belonging Post Pandemic
“A sense of belonging involves more than simply knowing other people. It is also focused on gaining acceptance, attention, and support from others as well as having the opportunity to provide the same to other people.”
“Parents have an important part to play in role modelling a positive approach to using screens and assisting young people to navigate the content they watch.”
Student led Assembly (10-12)
Students in Yrs 10 to 12 were fortunate to hear from Ms Zali Steggall OAM, MP, Federal Member for Warringah in our assembly this week. Coinciding with the Greenlands Week student initiative, Ms Steggall spoke with passion about her fight to promote action on climate change and talked to students about the role they can play in being a cause for good in their community.
Greenlands Week offers a number of activities to raise awareness of the importance of the environment, including a raffle to raise money for the WWF Northern Rivers Wildlife Hospital. Thanks to Environment Captains Iris Buisman and Jacob Gold for their leadership in this space.
School Captain Sophia Maxwell also spoke about the new Redlands GSA.
Celebrating Diversity and Redlands Gender Sexuality Alliance (GSA)
This Friday students are invited to add some purple to their normal school uniform to show support for LGBTQIA+ young people. Research shows that a large majority LGBTQIA+ young people suffer bullying or discrimination, and have a higher proportion of mental health issues compared with their peers.
Striving for a diverse and inclusive community where everyone feels safe to be themselves, we are supporting the Wear it Purple Day to raise awareness and make our support visible.
Coinciding with this is the launch of the Redlands Gender Sexuality Alliance (GSA).
The GSA is a lunchtime meeting that aims to:
- provide an inclusive, supportive and safe forum, open to all, to develop understanding and awareness of LGBTQIA+ issues;
- promote inclusiveness at Redlands;
- combine support, advocacy, and a social space;
- develop a school-wide community where diversity is celebrated and everyone feels accepted.
Over the past couple of months interested students and staff have been working together to plan how we can meet these aims. There will be an informal launch at lunchtime tomorrow for students and staff, with a regular club commencing from Week 9.
Relationships Day Week 7
Next week, Dr Tessa Opie (In Your Skin) will be visiting Yr 8 to Yr 10 students hosting half-day workshops on the topic of relationships and sexuality. Dr Opie’s workshops support young people to develop healthy relationship skills. Students are encouraged to actively consider their relationship values and expectations in order to develop a healthy and realistic sense of self and ‘other’. Yr 7 and Yr 9 will also engage in 1-hour presentations. Outcomes of the Relationships Day aim to improve sexual health and safety, support healthy psychosexual development and promote fun, consenting and egalitarian relationships. Dr Opie’s work is sex positive, evidence-based, inclusive, with a focus on harm reduction. Refreshing and informative, our students and parents have responded well to her previous visits.
Winter School Wonderland
You may know that Mr Webber and Mr Corcoran headed to Winter School for a couple of days this week and joined students and staff in a Winter Wonderland at High Country Campus. The snow dumped down on Tuesday after receiving 15cms of snow overnight. Mr Atkins said it was a sight to be seen! Students were in great spirits and looking forward to the half-way point of the programme.
Yr 12 Careers Presentation
On Monday, Yr 12 met with the Redlands Careers and University Advisors, Ms Clare Hurst and Ms Justine Fowler to hear about the technicalities of how to apply to UAC.
Students were provided with all of accompanying due dates, which parents can access here. The Careers and university Advisors include Yr 12 information in Note Day, and share all of their communication pieces to students with the parents, as they appreciate parents working with them in support of our young people. Ultimately, the goal is that Yr 12 engage with their university applications independently of parents, as we pursue providing them with the foundations for future success as independent young adults.
Subject Selections
Over this term, Students in Yr 9 and 10 have been provided with the opportunity to select their elective subjects for 2023. These preferences have allowed us to develop the timetable structure for 2023, where the allocation of subjects is based on a preferential model rather than a selective model where students would have had to select subjects from pre-allocated lines. Using the preferential model, a higher number of students receive their elective subjects of choice as the subject lines are based student choices.
Students in these year groups have recently received an email informing them of their allocated subjects for 2023. While some changes may still be able to be made, any further changes will need to work within the determined subject lines and class size restrictions. If any student wishes to change their allocations, they should contact Mr Bruce Barry, Dean of Academic Administration.
Yr 7 Students are currently participating in a similar process where they are choosing the Language subject to continue for 2023 and which Creative and Performing Arts subject they wish to commence.
Spring Fair
If you haven’t already heard, the Redlands Spring Fair is back on Saturday 3 September with tons of food, fun and entertainment, showcasing the community’s diversity and depth of students’ arts-related activities. Tickets are now on sale! Pre-purchase wristbands and coupons here to receive a special discount. Orders before 26 Aug can be delivered directly to your child’s classroom.
PURCHASE TICKETS
Ms Gemma Van de Peer
Head of Secondary School
gvandepeer@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9968 9811