Head of Secondary School

Head of Secondary School

Step beyond Award Recipients

HSC student and Wellbeing Captain Anneka Steele was pleased to award the following students with Step Beyond Awards at our Stage 4 Assembly this week.

  • Year 7 – Alex Reid for delivering his ANZAC Prayer with such clarity and confidence.
  • Year 8 – All students who contributed to the Student Voice session of Relationships Day. Students who stood out for their considered and mature contributions were Fergus, Lachlan and Juliet. This week, the Year 8 Step Beyond award was bestowed on Henry Richardson for his honest vulnerability.

Year 9 Moonbah Program 2025

A bespoke residential experience, the Year 9 Moonbah Program, is underpinned by Redlands’ commitment to the development of each student’s personal growth. Living in community and on country at Redlands’ High Country Campus outside of Jindabyne, students connect, learn and lead to foster deep understanding and critical thinking via a rich and varied interdisciplinary curriculum. Through the 9-week program, students deepen independence, responsibility and are empowered to become the authors of their future selves.

Over 30 students from our current Year 8 cohort, who embraced the opportunity to form part of our student focus group for the 2025 residential program, are preparing themselves for a week of Connection in Week 4 this term. Today, Ms Jansons and Ms Matthews met with the Moonbah Connection Crew to outline the week-long Connection program. Students began the session with some games designed to get them moving and sharing – we cannot wait to take them away for a week mid-term so they can experience, enjoy and engage with each other in this wonderful setting. They look forward to sharing their adventures and experiences with the community in the weeks after they return. Stay tuned!

Transitioning from Homework to Home Learning: A Message to Parents

At Redlands, we’re committed to nurturing not just academic excellence but also fostering the skills necessary for lifelong learning. With this in mind, we’d like to share a gentle reminder regarding the importance of independent study for your child’s progress, particularly as they progress through the school years.

Research shows that regular independent study significantly contributes to academic success and personal development. Therefore, we encourage Year 7 and 8 students to engage in 60 minutes of independent learning each evening, while Year 9 and 10 students are encouraged to dedicate 90 minutes. Additionally, we suggest 3-4 hours of independent study over the weekends.

Independent learning or ‘Home Learning’ encompasses a variety of activities, including studying for or working on assessments, completing teacher-set tasks (primarily in Maths), revising daily content, reading and re-reading English texts, and finishing unfinished class tasks. Importantly, we emphasise independence in learning, encouraging students to not solely rely on teacher-set tasks for their academic growth.

To support this endeavour, we recommend employing effective independent learning strategies such as the SQ3R method. SQ3R stands for Survey, Question, Read, Recite, and Review, providing a structured approach to comprehending and retaining information.

It’s vital for parents to understand that not all subjects will require nightly teacher-set tasks. Instead, students may be working on long-term projects spanning several weeks or even a term. Therefore, ‘homework’ in the traditional sense of the term, might not always be provided in finite amounts each evening, but this is not to mean that students should not be engaged in meaningful academic activity of an afternoon or evening.

By fostering a culture of independent learning, we aim to equip our students with the skills and habits necessary for success not just in their academic journey but throughout their lives.

Technology – in the evening young people need to switch off from devices. This week at our Stage 4 Assembly we spoke to students in Year 7 and 8 about being mindful of their technology use in the evening after receiving reports from students that they were experiencing overwhelm. Below are a few strategies that the Year Advisors shared with their cohorts.

NSWCIS Swimming Championships

Congratulations to all our swimmers who competed at the NSWCIS Swimming Championships on Monday and Tuesday this week:Freja Nixey (Yr8), Holly Smith (Yr10), Alexander Halfen (Yr12), Olivia Price-Pontifex (Yr10), Alice Franceschi (Yr9), Tara Ward (Yr9) Sasha Gordon (Yr7) and Amelie Swann (Yr9).

Special congratulations to Amelie who won a silver medal for 50m butterfly (and PB 29.31), and bronze medal in the 50 backstroke, which qualifies her for the CIS team at NSW All Schools on 30-31 May. She is also nominated for 100m backstroke and CIS.

Well done to all swimmers.  They have showed up, tried their best and achieved lots of PBs!

Amelie Swann

Parent Webinar – Monday 13 May, 6pm

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