Head of Secondary School
Falling Forward
Our Yr 12 Student Leadership Team have created a Fall Forward Award to celebrate Secondary School students who have experienced significant personal achievement, shown amazing engagement in the school community, or just simply stood out in a way that deserves recognition. Further recognition goes to those who have experienced some sort of disappointment or setback only to go on and grow from or overcome these challenges.
Students who are bestowed by our Yr 12 Leaders with a Fall Forward Award received an amazing gold Fall Forward-inspired badge that they can wear proudly on their blazer. Students also receive a certificate and chocolate.
So far in Term 1, two students have received the Fall Forward Award: Lachlan Price-Pontifex (Yr 9) and James Stuart (Yr 11).
Here’s what Yr 12 said about the student award recipients in recent assemblies:
Lachlan Price-Pontifex: The Fall Forward Award goes to a Yr 9 student who is more than deserving of this prestigious award. This individual, at a Rowing regatta a few weeks ago, was unfortunately injured right before his race, meaning that he couldn’t compete and got taken out of his boat. However, after two weeks of training hard and getting back into his groove, he, alongside his crew, went on to win the Under 16 Schoolboy Quad in Canberra, becoming Schoolboy Champions, and overcoming hardship and disappointment to row one of the best races of the weekend. Therefore, the extremely deserving winner of the first-ever Fall Forward Award is the amazing Lachie Price-Pontifex.
James Stuart: The Fall Forward Award goes to a Yr 11 student who has stepped in and stepped up in the School Musical – becoming the ‘swing’ and taking on five understudy roles for the Addams Family Musical. He has had to learn the lines and choreography for all of the main roles in the lead-up to the 2023 Musical. This person took it like a champ and instead of complaining, embraced the opportunity and FELL SO FORWARD. This is obviously a huge task and it is his dedication and commitment to other students and the production that absolutely warrants appreciation from the school community. Today’s Fall Forward Award goes to James Stuart.
The Musical Commences Tonight!
Tonight is the opening night of the 2023 Musical, the Addams Family. The Addams Family showcases the skills and talents of our Yrs 7-12 students and there are over 100 students involved on stage as performers, in the orchestra and in hair and make-up and production Our students have been working slavishly on bringing this fabulous production together, and supported by teachers and parents. We do hope you are coming along! A few tickets are still available.
A Win!
A huge congratulations to Aaron Oh (Yr 7) for winning the local final round of the Rostrum Voice of Youth Public Speaking Competition in the Junior Division, which was held on 22 March at Pymble Ladies College.
Ms Kang is pleased to announce that Aaron has qualified to compete in the upcoming regional finals scheduled for May. In addition, she would like to congratulate all students who took part in the competition and extend the School’s gratitude to the coaches and teachers who have provided unwavering support to the students throughout their oratory journey.
UAC Presentation Monday
The UAC presentation scheduled for Monday 27 March has been moved to an online format. All Yr 11 and 12 HSC and IB parents and carers are invited to join the online presentation by UAC.
Please note that this event has moved from Redlands Hall to a Zoom session.
The following information will be covered in this presentation:
– The ATAR: what is it?
– HSC scaling and how the ATAR is calculated
– IB and ATAR
– The UAC application process
– Adjustment Factors & selection ranks
– Educational Access Schemes (EAS)
– Schools Recommendation Schemes (SRS is UAC’s early entry scheme)
– Equity Scholarships
– University offers – what to do!
Parents and students will have an opportunity to ask questions at the end.
RULERing our Emotions
In last week’s Note Day, the R of RULER, Recognising our emotions, was explored. This week we move to the U of RULER, which is understanding emotions; and the L of RULER, which is labelling emotions.
Understanding Emotion
This skill involves understanding both the causes and consequences of emotions, including their effects on:
- Thinking
- Learning
- Decisions
- Behaviour
In other words, understanding emotion involves asking ourselves why we feel the way we do and what happens when we feel different emotions.
It’s important to remember that we all may have unique emotional reactions to the same causes. One person’s cause for alarm may be another person’s cause for excitement.
For example, a change in teacher may cause feelings of anxiety or uncertainty for some, especially if they don’t like change. However, some may feel excited or hopeful about the prospect of change.
Labelling Emotion
The L in RULER is for labelling emotion.
Labelling emotion involves having and using a nuanced vocabulary to describe the full range of emotions. When we give our feelings a specific label, we create a mental picture of what each emotion looks like so that we can identify it in ourselves and others.
Labelling also helps us to effectively communicate our needs and to identify the best ways to manage our emotions.
Recognising, Understanding, and Labelling Emotions
When we discuss the Mood Meter in relation to the RULER skills, we often group recognising, understanding, and labelling together. These three skills represent our personal experiences, and developing these skills can help us to enhance our self-awareness. It’s important to recognize, understand, and label how we’re feeling before we take action with the last two RULER skills: express and regulate (next Week’s Note Day).
When we plot ourselves on the Mood Meter, we can practise the “R,” “U,” and “L” by answering the following questions:
- Recognising: How pleasant and energetic do I feel? Where am I on the Mood Meter?
- Understanding: What may be causing me to feel this way?
- Labelling: What word best describes my feeling?
How are you feeling? Plot your current levels of pleasantness and energy using the scale below.
Ms Gemma Van de Peer
Head of Secondary School
gvandepeer@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9968 9811