Year 9

Happy Easter

The energy on campus today reflected Year 9’s excitement about the long weekend ahead. The cohort has approached the new school year with enthusiasm and commitment, and we hope both students and families enjoy the well-deserved mini-break.  

While due dates of assessments are certainly approaching quickly, we hope that the extended weekend also provides the opportunity to catch up with friends and recharge before the final two weeks of the term. Happy Easter! 

Tutor Today

Over the past few weeks in Tutor Time, we have been exploring the VIA Institute’s Character Strengths. Last week, Year 9 students ranked which strengths they felt were most important to them with many groups highlighting the value of leadership and kindness. This week, we began our tutor session with students guessing which strengths belonged to each teacher. The stakes were high, with Easter Eggs on the table for the winners and needless to say, this inspired some eager participation.  

Students then took the VIA Character Strengths Survey themselves to discover their individual strengths. The cohort’s collective responses revealed that while there is diversity within our strengths, love and humour stood out as characteristics that many of us share. Interestingly, this aligns strongly with the strengths that the cohort self-identified in our Year Meeting last week. 

Subject Focus – Commerce

Last Friday, six Year 9 students attended a highly collaborative and experiential day of entrepreneurial learning and confidence building at the Macquarie University Incubator. These six students were invited to attend due to their strong performance in the Year 8 STEAM Days last year as the event provided another opportunity to connect the kind of structured innovation experienced throughout the STEAM Days with the possibility of taking an idea further. 

The day had crucial skills at its heart—empathy, interviews, problem statements, ideation, MVP, prototyping—and by day’s end, they pitched a ‘disposable’ idea with aplomb. Redlands students collaborated with peers from across Sydney, an invaluable insight into the importance of diverse teams. They also worked within the award winning MQ Incubator and gained understanding of the opportunity’s universities are now provided to combine tertiary study with support for fledgling enterprises. 

We look forward to more structured opportunities for the entire Year 9 cohort to flex their entrepreneurial muscles as the year unfolds. 

Youth Voice to Parliament

Yesterday, a few Year 9 students participated in a discussion facilitated by three of our Year 12 IB students. Students were given the opportunity to share their opinions about Youth Mental Health, which was previously identified as an area of importance for Redlands Secondary School students. Key takeaways from this discussion will influence a report directed to North Sydney MP, Kylea Tink in the hopes that she can take these findings to Parliament, influencing positive change for future generations. Here is what two Year 9 students had to say about the experience: 

Zaira McHutchison – “Yesterday I attended the Youth Voice to Parliament Meeting with many other people from different Year Groups. It was very interesting to hear everyone’s perspective on our agreed topic: mental health. We discussed how Redlands could improve the negative stigma around mental health problems and how the School could make support systems more available to everyone. We also discussed social media’s influence on how we think about mental health and how hearing people our age going through the same situations as us would help validate our concerns and help us find ways to improve our mental wellbeing that works for us. Overall it was a very insightful experience!” 

Hugo Burton – “We discussed youth mental health in our school and community. We talked in small groups, responding to given questions. I enjoyed hearing everyone’s different perspectives and sharing my own. I hope some of our ideas, like promoting awareness about the school counsellor, reducing the stigma around mental health and advocating for mental wellness on social media, can be put into action. I enjoyed the meeting and am curious to see what happens next.” 

Mr Tobias Horan
Yr 9 Advisor
9968 9872
thoran@redlands.nsw.edu.au