Head of Secondary School

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IWD Breakfast 

We began the week with our inaugural IWD breakfast featuring Bronnie Taylor and Vicki Condon, hosted by Liz Green, our Innovation and Entrepreneurial Learning Strategist. I was really proud of our Service Captains Antonia Morgan and Will Algar who offered a heartfelt and meaningful welcome to the community. It’s never easy to speak to a large group of people at a formal event, but Antonia and Will did so with ease, humour and compassion. Before commencing the Panel, Madison Noes (Year 11) offered a powerful Acknowledgement of Country, which can be read here. We’ve already begun considering who our 2025 speakers will be! I want to thank all who were involved, including Liz Green for hosting and Julie Wood, our Events Manager, for bringing the event together so seamlessly.

Feedback and Reporting – A RAD is an Important Part of the Growth Process

A RAD or Record of Academic Discussion is used to inform parents of a conversation between their child and a subject teacher in order to provide additional guidance, recognise growth or provide an opportunity for extension.

Student Voice – Curriculum Review and Co-Design Session

This past Tuesday, an elite ensemble of performing arts prodigies from Years 8-12 took centre stage in an exclusive co-design workshop. What’s the buzz? The crafting of a possible new elective for Year 8 called Musical Theatre. Could this dazzle us in 2025? Our students responded with – Yes! Let’s explore! At the heart of this venture lies the voice of our students, driving the beat of a dynamic new offering.

Students and staff spent time discussing and collaborating around what this new subject might look like and how it might be taught and assessed. Co-designing with the students the curriculum, assessment and pedagogical approaches enables agency and motivation.

A huge thank you to Ms Boase, Ms Williams and Ms Smith who enthusiastically participated in this workshop, and a resounding applause to our extraordinary students, whose boundless creativity and unwavering dedication to the performing arts illuminated the workshop with their brilliance.

Year 8

Astrid Vincent
Alba Martin-Gomez
Mackenzie Willis

Year 9

Tara Ward
Connor Grossman
Isabella Solgaard

Year 11

Anneke Golowenko

Year 12

James Stuart
Hallie Hunt
Olivia Everingham
Sholto Mirrlees-Black

Writing Competitions

Every year, Redlands students demonstrate their initiative by entering various writing competitions which showcase their creative skills and talents. In 2023, Daniel Koppers (now in Year 11) won the Senior Secondary Poetry Prize in the Mosman Youth Awards in Literature for his poem, “Hiroshima.” You can read his winning submission here.

The following writing competitions are now open for submissions from students in Year 7-12:

• The Nan Manfield Young Writers’ Award – deadline: 14 April 2024
• The Whitlam Institute What Matters? Competition (fiction, non-fiction, prose or poetry) – deadline: 17 May 2024
• Mosman Youth Awards in Literature (prose and poetry) – deadline: 31 May 2024

We encourage all students to have a go at crafting and submitting a piece of writing for entry into these competitions. Whether it’s based on work completed in English class or pursued from personal interest, writing a piece that is judged externally is an excellent way to gain validation for effort and skill.

For more details, please visit the websites or contact Dr Phoebe Poon (High Potential Learning Coordinator) at ppoon@redlands.nsw.edu.au 

ISA Grand Finals

The Summer ISA season drew to a close last weekend with Finals in Touch Football and Basketball.

Congratulations to or ISA Winners in Touch Football the Senior 1^st Boys and Junior B Girls! Special mention to the Senior 1^st Girls and Junior A Girls who made their Finals but couldn’t quite clinch it.

In Basketball, we had a total of 7 teams in the Finals, and after a mixed day out at Penrith the Senior 2^nd Girls, Senior 3^rd Boys, U15B Boys and U15D Boys came out on top. Let’s also congratulate the U15A Boys, U13C Boys and Junior C Girls who faced tough competition and finished Runners Up.

Runners Up

Touch Football

• Senior 1^st Girls
• Junior A Girls

Basketball

• U15A Boys
• U13C Boys
• Junior C Girls

Winners

Touch Football

• Senior 1^st Boys
• Junior B Girls

Basketball

• Senior 2^nd Girls
• Senior 3^rd Boys
• U15B Boys
• U15D Boys

Balmoral Swim

The Balmoral Swim Schools Relay Challenge is back! On Sunday 24 March, local schools will come together to raise funds for the Children’s Cancer Institute and have fun participating in an open water swim relay.

Each team consists of four swimmers, and each swimmer will swim a 200m leg of the relay. Participants can choose to swim in their year category or an older category, and the entry cost is a $20 donation per swimmer.

Not a swimmer? No problem! You can still support the cause by donating to the Redlands fundraising page to help raise funds for the Children’s Cancer Institute.

This is a fantastic opportunity to come together, have some fun, and raise funds for a great cause.

Register your Team

Contact Ms Riley at rriley@redlands.nsw.edu.au for more information. 

Instrumental Competition

On Monday this week, we were delighted to listen to the incredible instrumental talent of Years 7-12 across three divisions. It was amazing to hear an incredibly high standard and have them be adjudicated by the Music Educator and Music Director, Barry Warmsley. He had the impossible task of adjudicating the competitive display of talent and provided valuable feedback for our performers. 

Many thanks go to the staff involved in bringing the event together, including Mr Jason Xu, our Head of Bands and Small Ensembles, Ms Kirsty Hales, our Senior Music Administrator and Dr Jeremy Eskenazi, our Resident Associate artist, who spent many hours rehearsing and performing with the competitors. We would also like to thank all our audience members for the evening, including our Deputy Principal Ms Sabine Partington, and the Friends of Music for providing food to fuel the competitors before their big performances!

The prize-winners of the competition can be found below. Congratulations to all competitors!

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE 2024 INSTRUMENTAL COMPETITION

Ms Gemma Van de Peer
Head of Secondary School
gvandepeer@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9968 9811