Year 7

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie – Oi, Oi, Oi!

Well, what a week – nay, month – it has been for Australian sport; and particularly women in sport. The Australian Women’s Football team, the Matildas, have been inspiring us on and off the field, playing a brand of high energy and high skill football, and also modelling highly respectful play, showing us all the beauty of good sportsmanship. It has been a joy to watch them progress from 32 teams at the World Cup down to the top four, and it was a little bit heartbreaking to see them knocked out last night (but what about that goal by Sam Kerr?!).

Redlands loves its sport, and it was wonderful to see students and staff getting behind the Tillies (with some supporting the British Lionesses too!) prior to last night’s semi-final. The School allowed students to wear green and gold to support the team, adding a positive vibe to the day, as little splashes of colour painted the Senior Campus.

And what a perfect time to show our support for powerful icons of sporting skill and sportsmanship as our winter sport teams prepare for their finals this week.

Good luck to our winter sport teams who have made it into finals this week. I want to especially extend my good luck wishes to all our Yr 7s who have reached their first finals for representative winter teams, including the Football Boys 13As, the Football Girls Junior As, Hockey Junior A, and the Netball Junior C, D and G teams. They each have some tough matches ahead, and I hope they can play with the same dignity and love for their sport as we have seen the Tillies embody.

Good luck everyone!!

Fall Forwards (flipping backwards, rolling sideways, jumping vertically and moving ever so gracefully) award – Phoebe Sun

On Tuesday, our Yr 12 leaders were back at the helm, presenting our student leaders’ assembly for Yrs 7-9. There were some important notices about the role scientific breakthroughs are playing in supporting environmental concerns and our Sports Captains held an engaging ‘heads, shoulders, hips’ quiz about the history of the Matildas.

Most importantly, though, we saw our Captains award another Redlands Fall Forward award – this time to Phoebe Sun. You might have guessed from the sub-heading or recognised the name from previous Note Day editions, but Phoebe is a phenomenal dancer. She has already achieved great success in external competitions this year and also performed recently in her first Gala Arts night. Phoebe has also engaged so well in other areas of the school, including her academics, and so she was such a suitable recipient of the Fall Forward award. Congratulations!  

Dropping the Beats with 7R

I try to move around the School when I can to get a sense of the different things Yr 7 are doing around the place. I was fortunate enough to pop my head into 7R in Music on Tuesday and caught them in the midst of creating EDM tracks. They were layering a range of various instrumental and vocal tracks together to create some sweet EDM beats. Now, I remember playing recorder in school and perhaps being allowed to graduate to percussion at some stages, but never did we get to do such engaging musical exercises. Who knows, maybe we will find the next Skrillex or David Guetta amongst us?

Making use of Great Resources – the Study Centre and the Library

At Redlands, we know how important it is to support students in their academic endeavours. The School offers a range of supports to assist students in completing home learning, engage in valuable assessment study and generally develop their executive functioning skills. One of the most utilised and certainly most useful of these resources is the Study Centre.

The Study Centre is open on Level 2 of the Learning Hub on Monday to Wednesday from 3:30pm to 5:30pm. You can check the Yr 7 page on Pulse for a full timetable. It is an excellent resource as it offers students both quiet and group work spaces for moving through home learning, preparing for assessments and consolidating their class learning. A range of subject teachers are also available for guidance and one to one coaching where necessary. If students need some extra support, the Study Centre is a great place to visit.

Our Library can also be a great space for students to collaborate and catch up on home learning when they need a settled space to work at lunch time. It has been pleasing to see a vast range of Yr 7 students making use of these locations to help support them through our busy term of assessments.

A Book a Day Keeps the Literacy Police at Bay

The Library is a great place for quiet work but, most importantly, it is a great place to borrow a book! Recently, many Yr 7 English classes have been making use of a DEAR (drop everything and read) approach, starting each lesson with quiet reading to get them engaged in the lesson ahead. We all know the great benefits reading has in building vocabulary, developing confidence in writing and refining general expression skills, so let’s keep encouraging Yr 7 to get behind a book and read, read, read!

Reminder: History Excursion in Week 6 (August 22 and 23)

In Week 6, Yr 7 are going on a History excursion to examine ancient artefacts at the Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney. It will be a wonderful and engaging experience for them, offering them the chance to see and hold a wide range of interesting artefacts, and view some surprising representations of the ancient world!

Key information:

  • Core classes 7B, 7O, 7P and 7Y will attend on Tuesday 22 August
  • Core classes 7G, 7M and 7R will attend on Wednesday 23 August

Students will depart from the Senior Campus at 8.20am and return to school by 1pm. They will eat lunch at school and attend their regular timetabled classes in Periods 5 and 6.

Students are required to wear their full school uniform (including blazer), and are asked to pack their recess, water bottle and any personal medication (e.g. EpiPen, asthma puffer) in a small bag that is not their school bag.

A Reminder of Behaviour Expectations

On Monday of this week, Yr 7 had their fortnightly Year Assembly. I took the opportunity to remind students of the wonderful resources, learning environment and community we have at Redlands, and the importance of making sure it and each individual within it is cared for and supported. I reminded students of some key expectations we have of them to ensure everyone in the school is able to ‘let their light shine’. Some of the messages repeated were to keep:

  • using student planners effectively to keep track of home learning and assessments. And remember to get them signed by Friday Week A.
  • mobile phones in your locker during school time, to remove unnecessary distractions.
  • your lockers locked – important for the security of your possessions.
  • the Undercroft tidy by picking up rubbish and keeping personal belongings and bags in your lockers.
  • your uniform neat and in good order.
  • bringing a respectful and reflective demeanour to Chapel and other formal occasions.
  • showing kindness and gratitude in your interactions with others.

I finished the assembly by challenging everyone to engage in at least one random act of kindness over the week. I know how kind our Yr 7s can be and hopefully we will keep seeing them build their care, compassion and concern for each other as we move through this year together.

Term 3 Key Dates and Upcoming Events

  • Week 9: ISA Athletics Carnival

Mr Jimmy Tod-Hill
Year 7 Advisor
jtodhill@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9908 6462