Head of Secondary School

Ballet and Dance Concert 

On Wednesday evening I had the great privilege of watching our annual Ballet and Dance Concert. It was another exceptional performance with our Ballet students performing the Nutcracker in the first act followed by an array of jazz and contemporary pieces in the second act performed by students of all ages. Martha Graham once said that, “Dance is the hidden language of the soul,” and judging by last night’s concert, our students’ souls are filled with passion and joy.

Dance at Redlands is certainly second to none. So, bravo and congratulations to all performers and a special thank you to teachers, choreographers, parent helpers, support staff and crew for not only their efforts in the two end of year concerts this week, but also throughout this year. 

Yr 8 STEAM Project 

The Yr 8 STEAM Project came to a wonderful conclusion on Friday. After a morning where groups busily prepared their presentations, Yr 7s were invited into the John Roberts Centre for a “learning walk” to hear the various solutions Yr 8 students were proposing to combat some of the environmental issues facing the Great Barrier Reef. There was a real buzz throughout the Centre and it was great to hear and see both the deep thinking, as well as the presentation skills, from our Yr 8 students. Five groups were chosen as finalists to present to Yrs 7 and 8 in Redlands Hall with the winning group sharing their design for an app to monitor our environmental impacts. I would like to thank the many teachers who made this exciting learning experience possible for our students, and in particular our teacher “STEAM Team” led by Mr Kuilenberg for their efforts over many weeks and months in preparing for this week. 

Kirby Cup Mooting Competition 

Last Friday Yr 11 students Lindsay McNeil, Isabel Binnekamp, Lachlan van der Pluijm and Chloe Woodward competed in the final of the Kirby Cup, a high school Mooting competition run by Western Sydney University. Over twenty schools began the knock out competition a few months ago which culminated in the final against Queenwood on Friday. Students were asked to make legal argument surrounding a citizenship case in front of a three person panel, including two judges. The Redlands students expertly argued their case and were victorious on the day! A huge congratulations to these students as well as Ms Mountain, who has expertly led the Mock Trial and Mooting teams to great success in their first year of competition.  

Canteen Update 

As many of you are aware, the Canteen has installed Tap and Go Eftpos facilities this term so students can use cards instead of cash if desirable. In addition, in recent weeks the Canteen has introduced a new healthier choice menu. We hope that this menu provides a larger variety of healthier choice options for students at school.

Lost Property 

As we come to the end of the year, the Lost Property pile is building up. We would ask students to please go through the Lost Property (located outside of the Medical Centre) in the next week. On Friday 30 November, the RPFA will go through the pile and take any good quality, unnamed items to the Second Hand Uniform Sale on Saturday 1 December. All items not collected and not used in the Second Hand Uniform Sale will be discarded.

End of Year Events

Mr Sean Corcoran
Head of Secondary School
scorcoran@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9968 9870