Head of Secondary School

Term 2 Welcome

It has been wonderful to see the students return this week and hear their excited greetings and their laughter ringing through the playground. Our Yr 12 HSC and IB students are sitting their Half Yearly Examinations offsite for the first two weeks of this term and we wish them all the best during these assessments of their learning. It was a busy holiday period for many of our students who travelled to China or Japan on Languages tours, travelled to Arnhem Land on one of our Service Learning trips or participated in the Winter Sports Camp at Berry. It sounds like all of these have been fulfilling and enjoyable experiences for our students and I would like to thank the teachers and staff who organised these trips for them. It was also a great pleasure to see a number of staff, parents and students at the moving ANZAC Dawn Service at Georges Heights in the holidays. School Captain, Jasmine Zhou, and Service Captain, Hugh Smylie, laid a wreath on behalf of the School and assisted in the Service by reading pieces during the ceremony.

On Monday, Dr Helena Popovic presented to the staff about ways to boost our brains as we prepare for the term ahead. The advice she gave resonated with the staff but was also applicable to students and parents in our wider community and I will share more in a future Note Day. We also were very fortunate to have Mark Church, co-author of Making Thinking Visible, which is part of Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, continue his ongoing work with our academic leaders while Pastoral leaders and teachers focused on mental health issues that affect our students and support strategies we can implement. As Mark Church said when speaking to parents on Tuesday evening at our inaugural Life Ready Series event for parents, a school that truly values students’ learning must also truly value teachers’ learning and I can proudly say Redlands values both.

On Tuesday morning, we held our own Secondary School ANZAC Service in Dunnet Hall. It was a moving and poignant service of music (with a specially commissioned piece, Proud Echo, composed by our very own Commander Phillip Anderson, OAM RAN, and played by our Advanced Concert Band); reflections (from both staff and students); history (with Dr Lennox sharing an excerpt from a Redlander in the days after the Armistice in 1918); and powerful messages, punctuated by an address by our guest speaker (and Redlands parent), Lieutenant Colonel Craig Delaney. He focused on the ANZAC values of Courage, Initiative, Respect and Teamwork that were not only so important on the shores of Gallipoli over 100 years ago, but are so important for our school community today. I thank everyone who made this Service such a special start to the term.     

Staffing Update

It is with sadness that we will farewell HSIE Teacher and Assistant Yr 9 Year Advisor, Mr Ted Scott at the end of Week 2. Mr Scott joined Redlands at the beginning of Term 4 2015 and has been a valued teacher, Pastoral leader and Snowsports enthusiast during his time at Redlands. Mr Scott leaves us to return to the Department of Education at North Sydney Girls High School and we wish him all the best in his new position. For the remainder of Term 2, Ms Sarah Major will be taking on the majority of Mr Scott’s classes until we appoint a replacement. Ms Major is a familiar face in the Redlands community as she has taken on a number of short term teaching positions in the HSIE Department over the past few years. We will also be interviewing for a new Yr 9 Assistant Year Advisor and will announce this appointment in due course.

Life Ready Series: Thinking Skills for Life

It was wonderful to see so many of you attend our inaugural Life Ready Series talk Thinking Skills for Life. Mark Church, co-author of the book Making Thinking Visible: How to Promote Engagement, Understanding and Independence for All Learners, spoke to parents about the importance of developing thinking dispositions and shared some of the journey he has been on with our teachers for the past year. This talk was followed by a Question and Answer session with school leaders across the three campuses.

One of the questions from the audience was, “What can we, as parents, do to support these initiatives at home?” and some of the responses from the panel and Mark Church were:

  • Help develop a growth mindset with students by focusing your praise on the process, learning and effort rather than their skill or ability.
  • Ask them questions about their learning as opposed to their results. (For example, instead of asking them, “What mark did you get on that assessment?” ask them, “What did you learn from that assessment?”)
  • Focus on the learning over the work. The completion of work should not be the goal of an assignment; rather the learning should be the goal.
  • Challenge them but don’t rescue them. When your child encounters difficulties, don’t jump in to solve the problem for them but ask them probing questions that will help them think through the problem and find a course of action moving forward.

We look forward to future presentations in the Life Ready Series in the months ahead and continuing to build our partnership between school and home.

Study in the USA Information Evening

Redlands is proud to once again host the Study in the USA Information Evening on Monday 7 May from 5.30 – 7.30pm. Representatives from 30 American universities will be in attendance to not only share specific information on their universities, but to also give students and parents valuable insights on the process of applying to American universities. I would encourage families who are thinking about applying to American universities in the future to attend this excellent event.

Winter Uniform

A reminder that students should be in proper Winter uniform for Terms 2 and 3. Please ensure students continue to take pride in their uniform by wearing their blazers to and from school. Also, a reminder that girls should have skirts with a “hem falling to the top of the knees” and that boys should have hair that is cut “away from the eyes, ears and collar and a style that is neat and conservative”. Students and parents can refer to the Student Planner (p19-20) for further information.

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