Head of Secondary School
R U OK Day
Today is R U OK Day and provides an opportunity for all of us to focus on mental health and to reflect on how we can best support people around us who might be struggling, through the simple actions of asking a question, listening, encouraging them to take action and checking in later. We know how challenging these past six months have been for everyone due to the disruptions and uncertainty caused by Covid-19 and our Yr 12 student leaders wanted to use R U OK Day to have a wider Secondary School focus on mental health. In today’s online assembly, our students heard from our Counsellors (Tanya and Lara), our Principal (Mr Webber) and other staff about how we can best support ourself and others when times are tough. Tomorrow we have a mufti day in the Secondary School to raise money for organisations which focus on mental health where we are asking students to wear yellow and make a gold coin donation in support of this cause. It was wonderful to see this initiative led by our Yr 12 student leaders who wanted to address an issue that affects so many young people in a responsive and supportive manner.
Staffing Updates
We wanted to update you with some staffing updates in the Secondary School. As has already been communicated, Ms Abigail Walker commenced her maternity leave position this week and we are fortunate to have Ms Ebony Stewart return to the HSIE Department to cover Ms Walker’s leave. In addition, next term our Dean of Students, Ms Carolyn Shaw, will commence her maternity leave and we wish her all the best in these coming weeks and months. We are pleased to announce that current Yr 9 Year Advisor, Ms Marita Jansons, will step into the acting Dean of Students role in Ms Shaw’s absence and are fortunate to have such a highly experienced Year Advisor to be able to cover this position. Accordingly, we will confirm who will be stepping into Ms Jansons’ acting Yr 9 Year Advisor role in the coming weeks. Finally, our Head of Secondary School Sport, Mr Thomas Kindred, will be leaving Redlands at the end of this year to take on another leadership position at Oxley College. We appreciate Mr Kindred’s tremendous efforts in developing the Secondary School Sports program over the past three years and wish him and his family all the best with their “tree change”. We will be commencing our search for a new Head of Secondary School Sports to start in 2021 in the coming weeks.
Congratulations
Congratulations to Yr 12 students Grace Flavell, Alec Henderson and Faith Oosthuizen for having their HSC individual performances nominated for OnSTAGE, a selection of performances and individual projects from Higher School Certificate Drama students. This is a wonderful achievement to be nominated for this showcase and confirmation of ONSTAGE performances will occur later in the year.
Sports Update
While we have been transitioning to our summer sports season, some winter sports concluded last week. The NSNA Netball competition finished up with six Redlands teams in the finals. Congratulations to the 7Cs and 9Bs who won their respective Grand Finals over the weekend. Also, the Redlands Tennis Championships concluded on Saturday with Semi Finals and Finals matches. Congratulations to Stella Simpson-Morgan for winning the Junior Singles Championships and Phillip Hible for winning the Senior Singles Championships.
Spirit Week
Next week we will be celebrating Spirit Week in the Secondary School. Spirit Week was an initiative started by Yr 12 student leaders in 2017 to celebrate our community and school spirit across the Houses, Sports and the Arts. This year, we will kick off Spirit Week with our Final Yr 12 Prefect Assembly on Tuesday. On Wednesday we will hold various House competitions during Recess and Lunch and students will be able to wear their House colours in mufti dress on the day. Thursday we will have a number of Sports activities at Recess and Lunch and Friday we will have various Arts activities at Recess and Lunch. We hope the week is an enjoyable time for students to celebrate some of the many different activities which make up their Redlands Secondary School experience.
Canteen Update
As stated last term, we have commenced online ordering in the Secondary School Canteen and we are strongly encouraging students to use this system for purchasing food in the Canteen. There is a much more extensive menu through the online ordering system and by using online ordering, students will ensure that their order is waiting for them at the beginning of Recess or Lunch and will not have to worry about availability of food items once they arrive to the Canteen. Students can pre-order items from the Canteen through Flexischools, and parents and carers can create a Flexischools account for their family via this link https://www.flexischools.com.au/ and link a credit card and student number to the account. More details regarding online Canteen ordering are available on Redlands Pulse.
RPFA Community Trivia Night
It is wonderful to see our Redlands Parents and Friends Association set up an inaugural socially distant community event for our Redlands with a Kahoot Trivia afternoon lined up. Zoom in to see friends and families in House colours and see who can answer the most multiple choice questions the quickest! The quiz, which is being run by a quiz company, has been designed to be suitable for all ages and students can earn House points as well as lots of prizes during the quiz.
Mr Sean Corcoran
Head of Secondary School
scorcoran@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9968 9870