Foundation

I hope all our families have settled back into a school routine. We are very excited to welcome students back on campus next week. Secondary School students will be amazed to see how the transformation of the Senior Campus has advanced.

Thank You

I would like to thank all our families, Alumni and staff who have supported us this financial year by making a tax deductible donation to any of the three tax deductible Funds (Building, Scholarship and Library).

We are fortunate at Redlands to have a community with a strong tradition of generously giving back to the School with financial donations or volunteering at various fundraising events and community building activities. It is through the contributions of previous families that current students are able to enjoy today’s facilities and resources such as the Peter Cornish Building (Junior Campus), Dunnet Hall (Junior Campus) and the Roseby Science Building/ Liggins Atrium (Senior Campus).

The Redlands community is strong and connected. People passionately care about our School and this is abundantly clear in the current scenario we face together.

Our journey continues to further support the means-tested Peter Lennox Scholarship. If you wish to join us and other members of the Redlands community with enabling a student to experience a Redlands education, please click here.

Virtual Speed Mentoring

We will be hosting this event as part of National Careers Week together with our Careers and Tertiary Advisor, Ms Simone Salier. Over 20 Alumni and Redlands parents have been confirmed as Mentors including three Alumni from overseas. Participants have been selected from a wide range of industries including Law, Technology, Marketing, International Aid, Consulting, Design, Finance, Armed Services, Performing Arts and Health Services and will connect with students from Yrs 10-12. Students will be able to register for these sessions next week.

The Mentors include Rod Brown (Redlands parent), Mattia Bondanza (2007), Hugo Burt-Morris (2011), Brendan Byrne ( 1994), Amy Cheung (1990), Sandra Cooper (1994), Ben Edwards (1992), Zoe Gomez (2005), Jean-Marc Grant (2002), Abe Mitchell (2005), Belinda Pratten (1995), Lachlan Pryor (2008), Lizzie Renkert (1993), Nik Riddell (1995), Katie Smallwood (2001), Zoe Smith (1989), Caroline Tanner (1980), Dr Kathryn Taylor (1992), Jack Turnbull (2008), Amy Whereat-Terdjman (1988), Andrew Woodyatt (1992) and Melinda Young (1988).

I would like to thank Caroline Jane, Alumni Manager, for all her efforts to secure such a great range of Alumni Mentors to participate.

Alumni Spotlight

Jeff Brown, Redlands School Captain 2016, was awarded a UBS Cadetship after graduating from Redlands. Jeff was recently featured in a Professional Cadetships Australia article detailing his progress as a 4^th year cadet.

Platinum Girls Celebration

In lieu of holding the annual Platinum Girls Luncheon this week, a tribute honouring these students who attended Redlands more than 50 years ago was placed on the Redlands Alumni Facebook page. We look forward to welcoming our Old Girls to Redlands later in the year.

Happy Mother’s Day

I would like to wish you a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend. If you haven’t already, there is still time to register for the Mother’s Day Classic, joining the Redlands MDC20 Team for 4km or 8km run or walk. You can register here.

Mrs Dana Casimaty
Director of Development
dcasimaty@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9968 9858

Head of Preparatory School

Resilient and Courageous Learners

Each morning this week I have enjoyed the smiles and greetings from those students  who have come to school as their parents are essential workers. The one thing that has struck me is the resilience and courage they demonstrate in their approach to learning. I watched with a smile as they sat down, unpacked their bags, organised their learning space and demonstrated their readiness for the day. Under the watchful eye of  teachers and support staff, these young learners log on to the platform, find their Daily Plan and are off and running with their tasks. Their willingness to problem solve a situation before asking for help was impressive. I couldn’t stop smiling as our Kindergarten learners said to me, ‘Mrs Breckenridge, what about if we try this…’ as I attempted to solve an IT issue for them. This made me reflect upon the skills that students will be gaining from the Remote Learning experience. It certainly proves to me that our young learners can do anything! They may not get it right the first time or even the tenth time, but the resilience to keep trying is a skill they will have for life. Needless to say, I am eager to see all our students return during the week so I can learn more about them.

Pictures from Kindergarten’s Crazy Hair Day online.

Week 3 Welbeing Space

Before our students return to On Campus Learning next week on their allocated day, our teachers will prepare them for some of the changes to normal routines. The drop-off procedures and temperature checking process, amongst other things, will be explained so that students will be aware and comfortable with what to expect when they arrive at school. The photo below was shared with the students in Prep Chapel/Assembly this week. The picture is a good visual to share with your child to help explain what they will see at morning drop off. We recognise that there may be some excitement, as well as some anxiety amongst the children, and this will also be acknowledged and addressed. Returning to school may also trigger renewed questioning about COVID-19 at home. A parent resource can be found on Redlands Pulse containing lots of helpful tips to reassure children and support conversations about Coronavirus, using child-friendly language and correcting any misunderstandings. In addition, our learning at home weekly wellbeing sessions across each Year Group have focused on developing personal and social capabilities, in particular supporting our children’s emotional awareness and resilience. If you have particular concerns about your child’s wellbeing, our Dean of Students, Mrs Sam Kourakis, and our Chaplain, Miss Fiona McKenzie, are available for you.

Week 3 Further Information

Further to the email outlining arrangement for Weeks 3 and 4, we would like to clarify the pick-up and drop off arrangements for Prep School.

We are encouraging all families to use the underground car park for both drop off and pick up, however all options for both morning and afternoon are listed below. Please note that there will be NO parking on the School side of Allister Street, as it will be reserved for a moving car line.

Morning car drop off: We ask that all students have their bags ready on their knees to assist in speeding up the drop off process. Parents are to remain in the car, while your child/ren are assisted to disembark, before having their temperatures taken.

Morning walk-in through Prep Reception: This will be managed one at a time to enable temperatures to be taken at the door. Markers to help with the 1.5m distancing will be placed along Allister Street.

Afternoon collection by car: Please join the car line along Allister Street, turning into the underground car park. There will be staff members to assist at the car park entrance and at the bottom of Allister Street. If the line stretches to the end of the street you may be asked to drive around the block to prevent cars from queueing on Rangers Road.

Afternoon collection on foot. Please enter through the Murdoch Street entrance only, going to your child’s usual meeting place. Please maintain distancing at all times and leave the school grounds immediately after collecting your child, through the Murdoch Street gate.

Children of essential workers who are coming to School on days not allocated to their Year Group should enter through Prep Reception in the morning. Temperatures will be checked and the children signed in.

Uniform Shop

Chaplain

Mrs Ainslie Breckenridge
Head of Preparatory School
abreckenridge@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9968 9848

Redlands House/Transition Gold

We are very excited to welcome the children back to Redlands House next week to On Campus Learning. I know they will be eager to reconnect with their teachers and classmates. Please ensure you have a sound understanding of the guidelines around the drop off and pick up routine. Please don’t hesitate to ask Donna at Redlands House Reception if you have any questions. Although On-Campus Learning will recommence, we will continue to contribute learning experiences to Storypark. This will ensure the children can still engage in quality learning from home.

Independent Thinkers

At Redlands, one of our major objectives is to encourage children to be critical independent thinkers. Our educators support the children to focus and develop their critical thinking, problem solving, communication and collaboration while encouraging creativity and innovation. We develop these skills by encouraging the children to make connections between new ideas and their own experiences, building on their prior knowledge, identify children’s current understandings and addressing any misconceptions. We engage the children in real-life problem solving, encouraging them to describe and verbalise their thoughts to co-construct meaning, challenge ideas and viewpoints. Some families will ask us, “how do I help my child develop this at home?”. This is a great question as the connection between family and school is so important. Families can assist in developing these thinking dispositions by helping children make connections between new ideas and own experiences. This can be achieved by asking questions to find similarities and asking the child to describe their thinking and expose them to a variety of viewpoints.

Uniform Shop

Chaplain

Mrs Chemane Huon
Redlands House and Transition Coordinator
chuon@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9904 1448

Mrs Ainslie Breckenridge
Head of Preparatory School
abreckenridge@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9968 9848

Secondary Sport

Parents and students can refer to Redlands Pulse or iLearn for the most up to date schedule of online fitness/sport sessions and the relevant Zoom links to sign in.

Fitness Centre

We have a number of pieces equipment which are great for the athletic development of students (and adults), including skipping ropes, resistance bands and stretch bands. These are great for warm up and short at home workouts. If you would like to borrow some, please contact Mr Gooding. We have a number that can be borrowed or alternatively we can arrange for them to be purchased. 

Football

Please follow the Football program on Redlands iLearn – Football. Each week the sessions will be updated on Monday, with a different “at home” training session, Redlands Football Challenge which are due on each Friday at 4.00pm. The live Zoom sessions will continue to run on Wednesday morning from 7.00am. These sessions, as well as the challenges, are compulsory for all Redlands Football participants.

Hockey

There is a lot of great Hockey resources on the Redlands iLearn – Hockey page. As with all winter representative sport, the live Zoom sessions are compulsory. Hockey players are reminded to be ready to start at 3.30pm on Tuesday afternoon. For those students who are on site on Tuesday (Yr 12 and Yr 10), there will be space available for you to complete this workout on school grounds.

Rugby

Term 2 will resume with online resources for all Redlands Rugby students. These resources will cover Skill Development along with weekly Rugby and Fitness challenges. There will be additional videos added each week covering a range of skills and topics including important team building exercises and game plan specific training. Each week new challenges will be released along with the weekly Friday Fitness session tailored towards Rugby.

Make sure students are completing the current challenges:

• Redlands Rugby Bronco Challenge
• Redlands Rugby Wk 2 Challenge

Students are reminded that both the challenges and the Friday Fitness session are compulsory for all Redlands Rugby students as part of their Winter Rep Sport commitment. 

Tennis

Tennis is going to look a bit different this year. We are aiming to keep students engaged in Tennis through a variety of fitness sessions, skill sessions on court and skill-based challenges. As Tennis is a representative sport, students rep commitments still remain this term. Weekly participation in organised Tennis training, Tennis challenges and general fitness sessions provided by the School is compulsory. The training sessions will help us keep active and allow us to keep improving our individual skills. Each week, students are required to:

1. Attend a live Zoom general fitness session or complete an alternate activity outlined on the Tennis iLearn page AND
2. Participate in the weekly Tennis challenge.

Please refer to the Redlands Tennis iLearn page for further information. Students’ attendance will be tracked and will count towards final awards and pocket criteria at the end of the season.

“It’s not about the top. It’s about the process of getting there, and the process of everyday staying there.” Patrick Mahomes II – Kansas City Chiefs Quaterback – 2018 NFL MVP

Mr Tom Kindred
Head of Secondary School Sport
sports@redlands.nsw.edu.au

All Sports contacts can be found on Redlands Pulse.​

From the Principal

There has been a positive feeling amongst the staff this week as we prepare to welcome back students to On-Campus Learning from the beginning of next week. I am so thankful for the dedication and leadership displayed by our staff as we have worked to ensure all aspects of the AHPPC advice to schools have been thoroughly addressed, through clear action planning and detailed risk assessment. A key focus has consistently been the safety and welfare of our school community during this challenging period.

By now you would have had an opportunity to work through the communicated plans regarding Weeks 3 and 4 and it was good to get an opportunity to talk to a range of parents through the recent Secondary School webinars. If you have any further feedback or points you would like clarified please do not hesitate to send these through feedback@redlands.nsw.edu.au.

One query that was raised was regarding the COVIDSafe app. The School’s position is that we will be strongly encouraging all students (with parental consent) and staff to download the app to assist in any potential contact tracing.

Whilst the current situation is very different than it was earlier in the year, in the unfortunate event of any confirmed case of COVID-19 for a member of the school community, we will liaise closely with and take the direct advice of NSW Health regarding communication and any actions taken. As has been our position, we will provide what information we can to assist the community and keep you informed, whilst meeting our privacy obligations. 

Thank you to all parents and carers for your ongoing support and feedback throughout this period, and in particular I thank all members of the RPFA who have provided exceptional support to the community. I have greatly appreciated the leadership provided by RPFA President Michelle Tea, and the two-way flow of information and feedback that has been so beneficial.

It has been most rewarding to note several of our staff being asked to present on panels in a series of professional development webinars, provided by AIS NSW. Preparatory School teacher Vanessa Finlayson presented in a K-2 webinar that reviewed steps schools were taking to provide Remote Learning for younger students. Dean of Students (P-6) Samantha Kourakis and Deputy Principal Sarah McGarry were invited to be on a panel that discussed wellbeing strategies that schools were utilising during Remote Learning.

The virtual initiatives in education continue to occur and it is fantastic to see that we are celebrating National Careers Week, from 18-24 May. Events include presentations by Janine Garner, “It’s Who You Know: Why your network is key to your success and how to find the right people that will help YOU”, and Matt Church “Lead the future. How to thrive in the decade of disruption”, as well as a speed networking event that will enable students to connect with Redlands Alumni and a Great Debate. I thank our dedicated University and Careers Advisor Simone Salier and Alumni Manager Caroline Jane for making this possible.

On the Service Learning front, we are delighted that our community is supporting Taldumande Youth Services with a Secondary School Camp-In tomorrow night and breast cancer research with families right across the School participating in the Virtual Mother’s Day Classic this weekend.

Mr Stephen Webber

Photo caption: We look forward to welcoming students back to On-Campus Learning next week. 

RPFA

Mother’s Day Classic

Our next event is the Mother’s Day Classic fun run and walk raising funds and awareness for breast cancer research. Join the Redlands MDC20 team in the virtual race or donate to this great cause here.

The aim of the Mother’s Day Classic is to deliver a fun, healthy and inspirational community event that brings the community together on Mother’s Day to support and remember those touched by breast cancer. Have fun, get active and help us raise funds online for vital breast cancer research.

The Redlands community has taken part in the Mother’s Day Classic for many years and we don’t want this year to be any different. We’re calling on students and family members, staff and alumni to sign up and support this wonderful event as it goes virtual.

We challenge participants to walk or run 4km or 8km – anytime, anywhere, in your living room, at the local park or even in your backyard – on or before Mother’s Day (Sunday 10 May) and be a part of something big. 

Join the Redlands MDC20 Team and show your support for our community!

How to take part:

• Register yourself or your family here: https://mdc.mothersdayclassic.com.au/register-app.php
• When prompted, Search for and join theREDLANDS MDC20 team
• Get fundraising!
• Log your training by linking your fundraising page to your favourite fitness app (Fitbit or Strava), or add manual workouts. Why not join the Redlands running club on Strava to share your activities with the wider community?

Redlands pink t-shirts ($20) and a limited number of pink caps ($15) are available from the Uniform Shop. Phone 9968 9850 for more details. 

Book Club

Our next reads for Term 2 are The Single Ladies of Jacaranda Retirement Home by Joanna Neil, followed by Bad Blood by John Carreyrou, an expose on the medical start up, Theranos.

Please email Lerida Grant on lerida@bigpond.net.au for more information.

Upcoming Events

All events are cancelled or postponed until further notice. 

2020 RPFA Committee

rpfa@redlands.nsw.edu.au

President: Michelle Tea
Vice President: JP Forrest
Secretary: Jo Lloyd 
Treasurer: Christine Walsh
Committee: Anna Maria Stillone, Annette Swann, Jean Martin, Kate Kesby, Malcolm Pascoe, Maria Kinsela, Peter Coleman, Tina Shacklock

Head of Secondary School

Return to Campus Arrangements Weeks 3 and 4

It was great to see many of you (remotely) in the Parent Webinars on Monday and Tuesday earlier this week. In these webinars, we further discussed the information outlined in the letter I sent home to parents and students last week which outlined our return to school arrangements in Weeks 3 and 4. If you still have any further questions from this letter, please send them through to feedback@redlands.nsw.edu.au so that we can follow up appropriately. The schedule for On-Campus Learning in Weeks 3 and 4 is below.

Updated Student Arrival Time Weeks 3 and 4

Please note that we have amended the time which the campus will be open for students in Weeks 3 and 4. Students may arrive now from 7.30am in Weeks 3 and 4. This earlier time will facilitate an earlier arrival for Yr 12 students who have before school classes, as well as those students who might arrive to school before 8.00am because of school buses or other transportation arrangements. In addition, this earlier time will also help to alleviate possible congestion between 8.00am-8.15am as students are arriving at school and having their medical checks. Temperature checking will now be open from 7.30am for students arriving on campus. Please note that the Library and outdoor courts will not be available for student use before school.    

Uniform Week 3

While students are expected to wear formal Winter uniform, we appreciate that families may not have had the opportunity to visit the Uniform Shop over the past few weeks. Therefore for Week 3, students are permitted to wear their PE uniform to school only if they have been unable to purchase Winter uniforms from the Uniform Shop.  

Details of the Uniform Shop opening hours next week for purchase of Winter uniforms and more can be found in the following link.

Uniform Shop article

Updated Sport and Cocurricular Arrangements Weeks 3 and 4

All activities currently being offered will continue to be offered remotely and students should not specifically arrive on campus just to take part in Sport or Arts activities.

Sport: A full list of remote activities can be found in the Sports section of Note Day or the Secondary School Sport iLearn page. Students can take part on campus in the available sport fitness sessions on Tuesday or Thursday afternoon in either the Lang Gym or Undercroft if they will already be on campus for a learning day. Alternatively, they can connect through Zoom at home or at another suitable time. Students in each winter representative sport have been emailed about how and where to complete these requirements as part of the representative sport commitments.

Arts (Dance, Drama, Music, Visual Arts): Unfortunately, we are not able to offer supervision before or after school for arts activities in Weeks 3 and 4. A student who is on campus for their learning day may not be able to participate in a scheduled remote activity, for instance, because they are travelling to or from school. In this situation, all sessions are recorded and will be made available for students to download and watch at a convenient time. They should let their tutor know if this is the case and they will be sent a link to the recorded session. Further details can be found on the COVID-19 page on Redlands Pulse.

Online Canteen Ordering

When students return to campus next week they will have the option of online Canteen ordering through Flexischools, enabling them to preorder their recess and lunch and pick it up from the canteen. Parents can create a Flexischools account for their family via this link https://www.flexischools.com.au/ and link a credit card and student number. More details regarding online Canteen ordering are available on Redlands Pulse.   

While online Canteen ordering will minimise student movement through the Canteen, it will still be open for real time purchases. However there will be a limited number of students allowed at the Canteen at any one time.

Cybersafety Parent Webinar: Tuesday 12 May 6pm

We are excited to welcome Brett Lee back to Redlands to present a parent webinar on the complex area of keeping young people safe online. Due to the current situation, we are all spending more time online and in front of screens. Therefore, we thought it would be helpful to move forward this previously scheduled Parent Cybersafety workshop from Semester 2 to next week. This webinar is designed to empower parents with the knowledge and strategies to support their sons and daughter to be as safe as possible when online. Brett Lee will outline the reasons why it is so important that we take an active role in supporting young people accessing online platforms and will discuss issues such as: how to control technology in the home; the importance of setting age appropriate rules and boundaries in the home; and the value of schools and families working together to educate and empower young people. 

The parent webinar will run for approximately 1 hour from 6.00–7.00pm. Those who register for this event will also be available to view a replay for 48 hours after the webinar. To register for the event, please click on the link here. The attendee clicks on the link which will take them to registration page; first name and email address are entered and then the Register button is selected. The attendee is now registered for the webinar and will receive a confirmation email that includes a link to the webinar. At the scheduled time the attendee clicks the link and will be taken to the webinar room where the webinar will commence at the listed time.

For further information on Brett Lee, please click here https://www.internetsafeeducation.com/about/.

Service Learning Opportunities

We are hoping many members of our school community will participate in the following two remote Service Learning opportunities this weekend. As of Thursday, we had the second highest school registration for the Mother’s Day Classic on Sunday – great to see! More information for both of the following events can be found on the Service and Social Engagement article in this week’s Note Day. 

Taldumande Camp-In for Kids

Taldumande Youth Services is an organisation based in North Sydney and the Northern Beaches which supports vulnerable and homeless children and their families from across the Sydney region. We are encouraging students to participate in a “Camp-In” on Friday 8 May to raise awareness and funds for young people and their families who are less fortunate.

Mother’s Day Classic

The Mother’s Day Classic is an annual fun run and/or walk which raises funds and awareness for breast cancer research. Every year many members of the Redlands community participate in this event. However, this year, we are asking members of the Redlands community to participate in the Mother’s Day Classic virtually through the Redlands MDC20 Team. 

National Careers Week (Term 2 Week 4)

We have looked to build on the success of the inaugural Redlands National Careers Week in 2019 in the 2020 version. Pleasingly, despite the various restrictions currently in place, we have been able to move all of the scheduled events to a remote environment in Week 4. We are excited to offer an array of activities and events aimed at getting students to think about post-school possibilities aligning with our vision of further developing their “life-readiness”. Some of the highlights are:

• A remote Careers focused assembly on Tuesday
• Guest speakers on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon from 4.30–5.30pm
• A Speed Networking session for students with over 20 Redlanders from around Australia and the world
• Another instalment of the Great Debate between teachers and students during lunch on Friday.

More information can be found on the Careers article of this Note Day. We encourage students to sign up for as many activities as possible.

On Campus Recycling

We are pleased to have installed 10 new recycling bins around the Senior Campus from the beginning of this term. These bins will be for paper or co-mingled recycling and we encourage all members of our community to use them appropriately when onsite. We believe these new recycling bins will further help to reduce our environmental footprint as a School.

Message from School Nurse

All students returning to campus with Medical Alerts (Anaphylaxis, Asthma, Diabetes, etc.) should bring their necessary emergency medications with them and check in with the School Nurse as necessary. Some medical kits were taken home in March and some EpiPens and/or medications left at school have expired in the interim.

Yrs 7 and 10 Vaccinations

Please note that the Yr 7 vaccinations which were scheduled for Wednesday 1 April have been postponed until Thursday 11 June. Accordingly, the Yr 10 vaccinations scheduled for Thursday 11 June have been rescheduled for Tuesday 1 September. More information about these vaccinations will be sent home to families in due course.

NAPLAN

Just a reminder that NAPLAN (which was scheduled for next week) has been cancelled for students in Yrs 7 and 9 in 2020. More information will be sent home about future testing arrangements once it has been made available.

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

Careers

Sydney University Virtual Visit to Redlands

This will be held on Monday 11 May at 10.30am for interested students. Register here to receive your link to the presentation an hour before it begins.

Monash University Virtual Information Sessions

These are designed for students to find out all that Monash has to offer. There are a number of sessions available in May and August. Register here. 

UTS Engineering Webinars

UTS is hosting a series of webinars on Engineering in general and specific Engineering fields for interested students. These commence next week, so register here.

UTS Computing Science Webinars

UTS is also holding webinars in Computer Science and related fields such as Game Development and Software Engineering for interested students. Register here.

University of Newcastle Parent Webinar Session

This information session covering admissions and pathway programs will be held on Wednesday 13 May at 6.00pm. Register now and a zoom link will be sent to you via email: https://bit.ly/3dxhLkD

National Careers Week

Please click this image for information on the exciting virtual events Redlands will be holding during National Careers Week. 

Ms Simone Salier
Tertiary Education and Careers Advisor
ssalier@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9968 9867

Chaplain

Our current world is full of change, changes that were far from expected and require a good deal of flexibility to navigate. However the changes in the rhythm of life, our social settings, work and school obscure the unchanging. For there are things that do not change that are dependable, reliable, an anchor in the turbulent waters.

I deeply appreciate the truth of God’s unchanging character. The writer of Hebrews put it this way: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever.” (Hebrews 13:8)

Jesus’ compassion, grace, concern for truth, his power and sovereignty will never change. We can firmly stand on His truth to help navigate the other changes in our lives. This is reassuring especially when our own emotions are up and down but his steadfast mercy and love continues despite my perception of life.

The less hectic pace of the lockdown has given us space and time to reflect on the greater issues of life. There is the  opportunity to re-examine our assumptions and priorities and perhaps even dream of a different tomorrow. Even as our leaders talk about returning to a new normal, we dare to think how life might be different and even better. This is a great time to re-examine the Gospels and the words of Jesus. He offers us healing of our hearts broken by our past. He holds out hope for a better future on earth and after death. He provides strength for today giving power to love deeply, care extravagantly and serve passionately. Jesus has not changed, his nature is always to extend a welcoming hand of forgiveness and acceptance, if only we would see it and reach out to grasp it.

The ability to see the truth of Jesus is often obscured by many things around us. There are competing voices, the frantic pace that stops us thinking, the messages of media and social media that lead us in paths unexpected and often unhelpful.

There have been some interesting news articles from around the world of people beginning to see things that have previously been obscured by pollution. Notably in India many have begun to see the Himalayas for the first time. They are amazed as they realised they could see these famous mountains but that pollution had previously made this impossible. I wonder how many other things have come into focus during this time. Certainly I have heard people speaking this way about their family relationships. Parents are rediscovering their children and even children have new appreciation for their families. I wonder if a relationship with Jesus may be one of those things that, as we clear the clutter, we see in a fresh way, finding the part of ourselves that yearns for God. God, like the Himalayas, has always been there unchanging, but now is the time that we can begin to glimpse him and life with him.

Support for our School Community 

The secondary students all have access to the Chapel iLearn course. Parents may like to explore the resources, information and assistance on the pages of that course. Both the Chaplains are happy to assist families in any way we can, so please do not hesitate to contact us.

Ms Bronwyn Lihou
Senior Campus Chaplain
blihou@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9968 9830

Ms Fiona McKenzie
Junior Campus Chaplain
fmckenzie@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9953 6022

Debating

I hope that everyone had a restful term break despite the circumstances and that we are all back in the swing of online learning.

At the end of last term both ISDA and FED competitions made the decision to cancel the competitions for 2020.

Redlands Debating (and debaters) were very keen to keep debating and we successfully ran a trial online debate against Pymble Ladies College in Week 10 last term.

I have been in negotiations with Debating Coordinators from different schools and have arranged for our teams to be able to debate virtually this term. An outline of scheduled debates are below. Each Friday may have different timings and rules. We will try to have all students debate at least once this term.

Below is information received from Knox and applies to this Friday’s debates only.

Protocol

• All prep times for this competition are 45 minutes.
• All participants are reminded not to use Google in order to come up with arguments. Adjudicators have been asked to look for arguments that seem plagiarised or lack in logical analysis and examples, and teams will learn more by rising to the challenge without cheating.
• As above, all students are asked to join the Zoom call (check in) 15 minutes prior to the scheduled topic release.
• When students log on, they must rename themselves using the following convention: School Name, Division, Year Group (First name), eg. Redlands ISDA 7 (Leah). How to rename yourself on Zoom can be found here.
• Students are highly encouraged to rename themselves in this manner, but if they are unable to on the night we will still place them in the correct room (this may need to be confirmed verbally during the Zoom call)
• The topic will be released three minutes before the breakout rooms are opened and each team will have a private breakout room to prep in.
• Coaches and teachers are welcome to spectate. Coaches in particular should rename themselves in the following convention throughout the evening (ie. change after each debate): School Name, TEACHER, Division, Year Group (First Name), eg. Redlands TEACHER ISDA 7 (Leah)
• The Zoom code will be received by us and released on Friday

1. 1. Can debaters use a Google doc to communicate for rebuttal? Yes absolutely! It is important that they maintain integrity and do not share the document with teachers, coaches or people outside the team.
   2. Can other students from the team not debating on the day and parents watch the debates? Yes, but only if I send Knox their names and details prior to the Zoom meeting. This way they can have a list of names and email addresses who they expect to see in the meeting and can immediately remove anyone who is not on this list. Please send me your details prior to Friday if you want to watch a debate.
   3. Are there any speech length time limits? The same as ISDA.

Term 2 Debating Schedule

Ms Simone Bryant
Debating Coordinator
sbryant@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9968 9875

Service and Social Engagement

Taldumande Youth Services: Camp in for Kids

The number of homeless children and young people is skyrocketing as a result of Covid-19. Taldumande Youth Services is being inundated with new applications as families and vulnerable young people become victims of the Coronavirus, not by infection, but by circumstance. Children experiencing homelessness are an especially vulnerable population of Australians and on census night 2016 there were 19,400 children aged 1-14 without a home. Right now, indications are that there has never been more demand for homeless services. A time when most of us are safely isolating in our own homes. Job losses, school closures, financial hardship and the impact on mental health is seeing an influx of homeless numbers at an alarming rate.

What can we do to help?

While at home all you need to do is sleep a little ‘rough’ while still in the comfort of your own home, be sponsored by others and raise funds for those less fortunate. You could build a fort in the lounge room, go ‘old school’ and set up blankets over furniture with sleeping bags underneath, sleep on your veranda or set up a tent in your backyard for older children or the whole family.

When?

Redlands will hold our Camp-In on Friday 8 May. Donate and ask friends and family to make a donation to your group in support of Taldumande.

How to donate?

Go to and share this link and follow these these simple steps: 
Click on Select a Team on the left hand menu
Search for your team “Redlands” and click on your team link
Add the amount you want to donate
Click on donate now and follow the steps to complete the donation.

Don’t forget to share images of your amazing camp-in set ups and promote your event on social media as well as ours and please add the www.taldycampin.com link then tag us. 

Virtual Mother’s Day Classic 2020

The Mother’s Day Classic is an annual fun run and walk raising funds and awareness for breast cancer research. The aim of the Mother’s Day Classic is to deliver a fun, healthy and inspirational community event that brings the community together on Mother’s Day to support and remember those touched by breast cancer. Have fun, get active and help us raise funds online for vital breast cancer research.

The Redlands community has taken part in the Mother’s Day Classic for many years and we don’t want this year to be any different. We’re calling on students and family members, staff and alumni to sign up and support this wonderful event as it goes virtual.

We challenge participants to walk or run 4km or 8km – anytime, anywhere, in your living room, at the local park or even in your backyard – on or before Mother’s Day (Sunday 10 May) and be a part of something big. 

Join the Redlands MDC20 Team and show your support for our community!

How to take part:

• Register yourself or your family here: https://mdc.mothersdayclassic.com.au/register-app.php
• When prompted, Search for and join the REDLANDS MDC20 team
• Get fundraising!
• Log your training by linking your fundraising page to your favourite fitness app (Fitbit or Strava), or add manual workouts. Why not join the Redlands running club on Strava to share your activities with the wider community?

Redlands pink t-shirts ($20) and a limited number of pink caps ($15) are available from the Uniform Shop. Phone 9968 9850 for more details. 

Ms Rachael Riley
Service Coordinator
rriley@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9909 3133

Uniform Shop

The Uniform Shop is open on  Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 8.00am-4.00pm. There will be no late night opening on Thursdays until sport resumes.

To satisfy our social distancing requirements and protect our families and staff, we will only allow one customer into the Shop at any time.  As this is a particularly busy time of the year with students needing winter uniform, we strongly encourage parents to continue placing orders at www.flexischools.com.au or by emailing us at uniformorders@redlands.nsw.edu.au to avoid having to wait outside the Shop.  Preference will be given to customers collecting online orders.

If you have any enquiries regarding uniform, please give us a call on 9968 9850 and we will help you decide on the correct size for your children. 

Mrs Kathy Brown
Uniform Shop Manager
uniformorders@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9968 9850

Year 12

Returning to School

Ms Wilson and I are both really excited to have Yr 12 back on campus next week. It is important for our students to abide by the return to school policies that Mr Corcoran has sent out via email and during the Parent Webinar. We have a responsibility as senior students in the school to set a positive example for the younger Year Groups.  

Below are a few reminders for our Yr 12 students when returning to school.

Entry to School

The Campus will be open for students from 7.30am in Weeks 3 and 4. For additional Year Groups on campus, the Library will be open from 8.00am-4.00pm. The Library will not be available for students to use before or after school and the Study Centre will not run during this time. The Library will also not be open at recess or lunch for student use. Yr 12 students can still use the Library for their Study Periods during the day. However, senior students may also use other outdoor spaces or study spaces in the New Learning Hub once it opens during their Study Periods. They will not need to sign in or out at of the Library during these periods.

Uniform

Students are expected to wear their Winter School uniform for On-Campus Learning days. However we appreciate that families may not have had the opportunity to visit the Uniform Shop over the past few weeks. Therefore for Week 3, students are permitted to wear their PE uniform to school only if they have been uable to purchase Winter uniforms from the Uniform Shop.  The Uniform Shop is now open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 8.00am-4.00pm for Winter uniform purchases.

On Thursdays, all students can wear their PE uniform for On-Campus Learning, as per normal practice. 

Yr 12 Privileges

Yr 12 students will not be able to access lunch time privileges when at school and must remain on campus during their lunch period. Yr 12 students can still access their privilege of late arrival (by 10.10am) or early departure as per previously communicated expectations and should sign in and out of the Secondary School Office for late arrivals or early departures. (Please note: Yr 12 students will not need to sign out after Period 5 on Thursdays if they do not have a Winter Sport activity on campus on Thursday afternoons.) 

Timetable (A) – Yr 12

Legacy – Tea Towel Initiative

Due to COVID-19, the tea towel company have adjusted their requirements. Students can do the following at home:

• Draw yourself on a ¼ A4 piece of paper
• Draw FACE ONLY
• Print name clearly in LARGE LETTERING close to the drawing but NOT overlapping.

Simple drawings will reproduce better at this size.

BLACK PEN ONLY – NO pencil, ballpoint or colour pen. The following drawing pens are preferred, this will ensure pictures are clear and names legible.

1. Sharpie Fine point
2. Artline 0.6
3. Pentel Sign Pen
4. Child’s BLACK Texta

• Once artwork is completed, it can be scanned (or take a photo on phone) and emailed directly to the Redlands Alumni office –alumni@redlands.nsw.edu.au. We will collect and save all images. Once all are submitted, we will send to the tea towel company for production.

Please also take a photo of yourself with your photo and email it to raswilson@redlands.nsw.edu.au so we have some fun images to share.

Service

Exciting Service initiatives including a Camp In tomorrow night, can be found on the Service and Social Engagement article in this week’s Note Day. 

Mr Edward Atkins
Yr 12 Advisor 
eatkins@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9909 3133

Year 11

We are all so looking forward to seeing our Yr 11 students back on campus on Monday 11 May. Only four more sleeps! Sending my best wishes to our Yr 11 IB students as they start their two week Assessment Block on Monday. A gentle reminder that the expectation for uniform remains and that boys are clean shaven and girls make up and jewellery free. Please do not hesitate to be in touch with me by email should you have any queries at this time.

Service

Exciting Service initiatives including a Camp In tomorrow night, can be found on the Service and Social Engagement article in this week’s Note Day. 

Ms Sarah Matthews
Yr 11 Advisor
smatthews@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9908 6494

Year 10

We are looking forward to welcoming Yr 10 back on the Senior Campus on Tuesday for the next two weeks. I am excited to see all of them after so many weeks away. Yr 10 will have a relatively normal school day on this day, but there may be changes to their timetables in terms of classrooms and timing of classes. In addition, they are not to arrive on Campus before 7.30am, where there will be temperature testing for all students and staff prior to entry. Please have a conversation with your child prior to Tuesday as to expected sensible behaviour regarding social distancing and hygiene while at school. Meanwhile, for all other Remote Learning days, please continue to email if your child is unable to attend Zoom classes or Tutor Time at any point during the day.

Half Yearly Examinations

Students will be sitting their Half Yearly exams on Friday 15 and Monday 18 May. The exam timetable has been sent to them and can also be found on the Pastoral page under Important Information. The students have been told that it is a reduced number of exams, being Maths, Languages, Science and Dance only. During these two days, students will not have normal Zoom classes, with the exception of still being required to attend Tutor sessions. Students have been told to ask their class teachers prior to the start of the exams on Friday if they have any questions as to the processes involved.

Careers Information

Students will shortly begin the process of deciding their choices of HSC or IB subjects for 2021-22. Ms Salier, our Careers Advisor, is regularly in touch with the students and is working closely with our Yr 10 Pastoral Care team to ensure the students will be making informed choices. Next week this process will begin with a video about subject selection. More information will be given throughout the course of this term.

Service

Exciting Service initiatives including a Camp In tomorrow night, can be found on the Service and Social Engagement article in this week’s Note Day. 

Ms Rebecca Mountain
Yr 10 Advisor
rmountain@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9908 6462

Year 9

Key Dates

Virtual Study Skills Seminar – Prue Salter

If you were lucky enough to attend the Study Skills evening back when students were in Yr 7, you would appreciate the wealth of valuable insights, tips and hints presenter and study skills expert Dr Prue Satler has to offer. Redlands has arranged parent access to a virtual Study Skills Seminar until 1 June. 

Given the increase in student autonomy with their learning management, this is the perfect time to revisit and refine developed skills.

Ideally it is best that you watch these videos together with your child, just like you did when you attended the evening in person. The Study Skills Seminar has been broken down into bite sized chunks so if you do not have time to watch it all in one go, you can work through the session at your own pace. You can also go back and watch any of the videos prior to 1 June. The video page will prompt you to download the workbooks for the session and will show you at the end where you can then access all the slides from the session that are shown in the video. The link to access the evening is here (Username: redlands | Password: 68results).

Service

Exciting Service initiatives including a Camp In tomorrow night, can be found on the Service and Social Engagement article in this week’s Note Day. 

Ms Marita Jansons 
Yr 9 Advisor
mjansons@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9968 9819

Year 8

This Week

Thank you to all parents who joined the second Parent Zoom session earlier this week.  These sessions have been a valuable time to connect “face-to-face”, hearing details regarding recent school updates and to clarify any lingering questions. Please continue to send through any queries specific to Yr 8 students to the Year Advisors by email and we will get back to you as soon as possible. 

We look forward to welcoming all Year 8 students back to campus on Thursday 14 May in their Sport uniform. 

Upcoming Events

Friday 8 May – Join other Redlanders in the sleep-out for youth homelessness.  See details below and in the iLearn Service Page.

Sunday 10 May – Participate virtually in the Mother’s Day Classic.  Details for this event were shared in last week’s Note Day and in the iLearn Service Page.

Tuesday 12 May – Join presenter Brett Lee in a Cybersafety Parent Webinar for all parents of students in Yrs 7-9.  More information will be coming out to parents shortly. 

School photographs have arrived and will be distributed starting Week 3 when students begin returning to campus.  If you missed the chance to order school photos, there is still a chance to place an order.  More information to come Wk 3. 

Wednesday 5 August for Yr 8 Parent Teacher Evening.  This is a fantastic opportunity to meet all of your child’s teachers and to hear how your child is going in each subject. 

Service

Exciting Service initiatives including a Camp In tomorrow night, can be found on the Service and Social Engagement article in this week’s Note Day. 

Study Skills

By now we are all starting to get a bit more used to different modes of learning. If you are still finding it challenging to stay focused in online lessons, here are some tips to help you:

www.studyskillshandbook.com.au, Username: redlands, password: 68results

Ms Alissa Ynson
Yr 8 Advisor
9968 9863
aynson@redlands.nsw.edu.au

Year 7

Return to School

We are incredibly excited about seeing Yr 7 next week. However, it would be remiss to acknowledge that every student will face some level of challenge when returning to school. The physical school environment demands students to again sit still within the classroom, remain on task and adapt to a new and highly structured daily schedule again. It also requires students to separate from their parents and interact in person with their peers once more.

Guidelines have been further developed that provide school staff, students and parents with a clear reference point of how Redlands is ensuring a safe, clean and secure environment. Redlands will continue to implement appropriate social distancing measures proportionate to health advice.

On return to school days, we will continue to emphasise to Yr 7 the need to implement good hygiene practices, including:

• wash hands frequently with soap and water before and after eating and after going to the toilet
• cover your nose and mouth when you cough or sneeze
• avoid touching your face
• limit physical contact when greeting people
• limit physical contact in the playground.
• staggered break times to avoid classes mixing

Effort Tracking

This week, students have continued to go through their Approaches to Learning reports from the end of Term 1. Students have met with their Tutors to reflect on the data, to target specific subjects and to set new goals as they begin Term 2. We have been incredibly proud of the effort grades Yr 7 students have achieved thus far. Their hard work, persistence and dedication to achieve course outcomes has been exceptional.

Yr 7 Vaccinations

The Yr 7 vaccinations have been postponed to Term 3. We will keep you informed once we have a new date.

Service

Exciting Service initiatives including a Camp In tomorrow night, can be found on the Service and Social Engagement article in this week’s Note Day. 

Resources – Parent and Carers Toolkit

To support parents and carers, the Department of Education has created an ‘essentials’ toolkit packed with self-care tips and handy lists in the areas of parenting books, apps, podcasts, websites and self-care tips. These resources aim to support you and your child’s mental and emotional wellbeing during this period of uncertainty and change.

Study Skills – Prue Salter

Our pastoral focus during remote learning has continued to focus on refining remote learning skills, self-care when working remotely, and most importantly the social connectedness and resilience through Tutor Group activities. We have been really pleased with the positive feedback we have received from students, staff and parents.

Given the challenges faced last term, it is now time to help students begin to re-focus, assess and adjust as needed, their approach to their learning with tips and techniques from the study skills expert, Dr Prue Salter. 

As we will not be able to run the Yr 7 Study Skills evening this year, we have arranged for you to be able to access a filmed version online until 1 June. 

Ideally it is best that you watch these videos together with your child, just like you would if you attended the evening in person. The study skills seminar has been broken down into bite sized chunks so if you do not have time to do it all in one go, you can work through the session at your own pace. You can also go back and watch any of the videos during the four week period. The video page will prompt you to download the workbooks for the session and will show you at the end where you can then access all the slides from the session that are shown in the video. The link to access the evening is here; Username: redlands
Password: 68results.

Ms Lisa Vale
Yr 7 Advisor
9968 9837
lvale@redlands.nsw.edu.au

Head of Junior School

Return to On-Campus Learning (Week 3)

We are very much looking forward to the phased return of On-Campus Learning next week as you will be aware from the letter sent last Friday which can be found on Redlands Pulse for your reference, which also details the Week 4 schedule.

Thank you to families who have confirmed that their child(ren) will not be returning in Weeks 3 and 4 and for other families who may opt for this choice, please be reminded to complete this link which was in the letter as we have a central point of recording this information.

From the letter, I have summarised some key points below. I did explain some of these to the students in our assembly this week but it would be helpful to go through these with your child too.

• All students and staff will have their temperature checked upon arrival. Please explain this to your child beforehand so that it is not a surprise for them when they arrive.
• Drop off is either by car drop off at Allister St or at Murdoch St for foot passengers or students arriving by bus.
• If you are arriving by car, please ensure your child is sitting on the passenger side of the car where their temperatiure will be taken through the car window. They should also have their bag beside them so that there is not a delay in getting out as we aim to make this as quick a process for everyone.
• Unless essential, parents will not be permitted on campus at this time.
• Students should go straight to their classroom as there will be no play before school.
• Physical distancing guidance and regular hygiene practice will be in place.
• An ongoing cleaning timetable will operate throughout the day in all areas.
• All students should bring a water bottle to refill as the bubblers will not be accessible but the bottle refilling stations will be.
• Recess and lunch orders can be ordered via Flexischools
• In the event of a child becoming unwell during the day, they will be isolated and parents asked to collect them.
• For car line pick up, all parents are asked to have an A4 size name in the front windscreen for car line duty staff to read out and communicate via walkie talkie rather than have to stop at every car.

While the plans are scheduled for Weeks 3 and 4, we will be regularly reviewing this rapidly changing landscape and will adapt these plans as necessary. We are also planning that there will be an increase in On-Campus Learning from Week 5 onwards, which will be communicated in advance again.

Uniform Week 3

While students are expected to wear formal Winter uniform, we appreciate that families may not have had the opportunity to visit the Uniform Shop over the past few weeks. Therefore for Week 3, students are permitted to wear their PE uniform to school if they have been uable to purchase Winter uniforms from the Uniform Shop.  

Here are the details of the Uniform Shop opening hours next week for purchase of Winter uniforms.

Uniform Shop

Student Wellbeing Return to School

Prior to our students returning to school on their allocated day, our teachers will prepare them for some of the changes to normal routines. The drop-off procedures and the temperature checking process, amongst other things, will be explained so that students will be aware and comfortable with what to expect when they arrive at school.

We recognise that there may be some excitement, as well as some anxiety amongst the children, and this will also be acknowledged and addressed. Returning to school may also trigger renewed questioning about COVID-19 at home. A parent resource can be found on Redlands Pulse containing lots of helpful tips to reassure children and support conversations about COVID-19 using child-friendly language, correcting any misunderstandings. In addition, our weekly wellbeing sessions across each Year Group have focused on developing personal and social capabilities, in particular supporting our children’s emotional awareness and resilience. If you have particular concerns about your child’s wellbeing, our Dean of Students, Mrs Kourakis, and our Chaplain, Ms McKenzie, continue to be available for you.

Connected to Student Wellbeing, our Deputy Principal, Ms McGarry and our Dean of Students, Mrs Kourakis, were invited to be panellists on a webinar this week hosted by the Association of Independent Schools in NSW, where they were able to share the School’s various approaches to student, staff and community wellbeing and engagement in this time of remote and online learning.

Mr Guha’s Challenges

In assembly this week, I presented the students with three optional challenges to consider, which I have also placed on their Google Classroom page for reference. It has been fantastic to receive many responses already and I wanted to share these with parents too as it might stimulate conversation at home and do encourage your children to consider this reflective opportunity; I was also excited to hear of some students and families who have created time capsules to remember this time in our lives.

Junior School Sport (Wednesdays and Saturdays)

I enjoyed seeing and being part of our first Saturday Sport live training sessions last weekend which drew over 80 students for Fitness and Football sessions. Following that, over 200 students took part in Wednesday’s Sports session and further details of this weekend’s sessions, which will also include a Netball session, will be circulated by Mr Dunne.

Mother’s Day

Sadly, our annual Mother’s Day breakfast which was scheduled for next Monday will not take place this year but I extend warm wishes to all the mums in our community for Sunday.

Chaplain

Mr Ari Guha
Head of Junior School 
aguha@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9953 6022

Junior Sport

Saturday Zoom Fitness Sessions

Congratulations and thank you to all those students and families who participated in our Saturday morning Zoom Fitness sessions as well as some of you who backed up and completed the Football Skills session too. Our guest presenters included our Sport Captains Stella and Joel and there was a surprise appearance by the Redlands Rhino.

It was great to see so many Redlands students enjoying these sessions, even if it is remotely. This weekend we will again offer some fitness sessions for your child but we will also include sport specific sessions this week for Netball and Football. The Zoom codes of all three sessions will be emailed out to parents this week and also promoted through your class teacher’s Google Classroom. We would love to see more students participate in these sessions on the Saturday to get them back into the habit of waking up and preparing for our regular Saturday sport sessions that will hopefully recommence in the coming weeks in some capacity. Even if you cannot participate, try to find another time to build in activities that help everyone get some exercise.Take a daily family walk or bike ride or do yoga — great ways to let kids burn off energy and make sure everyone is staying active.

David Anderson, PhD, a clinical psychologist at the Child Mind Institute, recommends brainstorming ways to go “back to the 80s,” before the time of screen prevalence. “I’ve been asking parents to think about their favourite activities at summer or at home before screens,” he says. “They often then generate lists of sport games they used to play, arts and crafts activities, science projects, imaginary games, musical activities, board games, household projects, etc.”

HomeFit Exercise Log

Well done to the following Junior School students who have been logging in their exercises while at home. House points have been allocated for these. It has been great to read the various activities students have been doing in between their online learning. They have included long runs with mum and dad, home ninja classes, bike riding, tabata workouts, dance tutorials.

Junior School Trick Kick Challenge

Mr Gooding (Director of Rugby in the Secondary School) and I put together a video last week for our students to replicate but to do it for real! This is a challenge that will run for the first four weeks of Term 2 giving all of our students a chance to think outside the box and get creative.

We are asking students to create a Trick Shot using any type of ball they like and to send it through. The example that we made can be viewed here. Students from all sports are able to attend and feel free to involve parents and siblings.

Mr Trevor Dunne
Head of Junior Sport
tdunne@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9953 6022

Snowsports

Snowsports 2020 Update

Snow Australia is closely monitoring COVID-19 restrictions and as the season approaches, we will advise of any planned changes to the Interschool Snowsports events. We continue to be hopeful that the Australian snow season will proceed in one form or another and wait for confirmation from the Governments, Health Authorities and Resorts on whether Interschools events will run.

What we do know is that if there is a snow season it will be a very different one to what we are used to and we will need to modify event formats and adhere to social distancing measures, public gathering guidelines and travel restrictions. We are considering the opportunities this situation brings us to simplify and trial some alternative processes and rules intended to improve the event entry and participation experience for students, parents and school coordinators.

We are currently reviewing qualification rules for the late August Subaru NSW, ACT, QLD State Championships and the early September Subaru Australian Championships, and will announce these when finalised.

Redlands Snowsports 

As you can see from the latest communication from the Interschools everything is still on hold for Term 3. Resort operators are still awaiting Government Health directives and can give no clearer picture. Everyone would have been excited to see web cams of the recent snow falls in the resorts but at this time the National Park is still closed and sadly, all school holiday race events have been cancelled. As Australia seems to be doing a great job in controlling the spread of the virus, we can only hope more restrictions are lifted in line with the exciting return of students to school over the coming weeks.

If you could envisage at this time your child competing in State Championships then it’s very important from our planning (if you haven’t already) that they are registered on https://trybooking.com/BIDNY asap. It will be a very rushed effort from our part so we would appreciate your help. We are also still waiting on entry criteria for State but I will let you know.

Decisions around all July holiday programs at HCC will be advised as soon as possible. We need more information as the main consideration is Government Policies and the opening of the resorts.

If anyone requires a refund for financial reasons, please contact me and I’ll organise the transfer.

FOSS Events

The next FOSS meeting is on Monday 11 May at 6.00pm via Zoom. Link will be published next week. 

Dryland Training

This is a good opportunity to check out the new Snow Active Dryland Training exercise program on the Secondary Sports iLearn page under Snowsports and get fit and stay healthy whilst remote learning.  

More Snowsports details and dates are on Redlands Pulse. 

Mr Bruce Campbell
bcampbell@redlands.nsw.edu.au
Snowsports Administrator
0413764445

Ballet and Dance

Redlands Ballet and Dance Academy classes are now up and running online for Term 2. We welcomed some talented new students to online classes this week. It is wonderful to see everyone working so hard and finding time to stretch, warm-up and participate fully in Ballet and Dance class. We are indebted to all our Dance tutors who do a fantastic job, teaching wherever they are located in Sydney.

RAD Examinations

The Academy is currently accessing the possibility and feasibility of entering students into the Royal Academy of Dance examinations in 2020. We will keep students and parents informed as we receive updated information and as the RAD continues to develop new examination guidelines and conditions, based on the impact of Covid-19.

All Ballet and Dance Classes Will Remain Online

We continue to run all our Ballet and Dance classes online via Zoom until further notice. Parents and students will be notified in advance of any changes to this arrangement. Students who attend school on a day when they also attend an after school Ballet and Dance class must return home to attend online classes. If required, these students will be permitted to enter the online class late. Unfortunately, there will not be any face to face studio classes at this time. Students and parents can also choose to opt out of any online classes and to request a rebate, please email the Ballet and Dance office. We all very much look forward to returning to the studio at some point in the future.

Supervision of Prep Students

Parents are responsible for the supervision of Prep students during online classes. It is always advised that there is a responsible adult present (in the vicinity of the computer) when a student is working online.

Suitability of Space

Please make sure that the Dance class is taking place in a suitable space. We do recommend 3m x 3m (or at least 2m x 2m) of clean floor space to allow for the students to actively take part in the class. Please also remove any items that could cause injury, including books, toys, pets etc.

Uniform

All students should wear their Dance uniform for class.

Opting Out of Online Ballet and Dance Classes

As advertised, our 2020 classes will all run online, via Zoom with very few exceptions, (performance groups) until further notice. Students who do not want to continue their Ballet and Dance classes online, must let the office know to allow for rebates to be put in place.

Marking the Roll

Class rolls will be marked as per normal practice. Please make all students aware. Students should join the class on time and remain in class throughout the online class.

Online Learning Platforms

Please note that the codes for Google Classroom and the Term 2 timetable is displayed under Ballet and Dance Term 2 Online.

• Secondary School teaching: via Zoom and iLearn  
• Junior School teaching: via Zoom and Google Classroom
• Prep School teaching: via Zoom and Seesaw

Any Questions?

Please contact us at evabishop@redlands.nsw.edu.au  We would love to hear from you.

Ms K Martin
Head of Ballet and Dance
evabishop@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9908 6461

Mrs Katharine Boase
Subject Coordinator of Dance
kboase@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9968 9889

Drama and Theatre

All Drama and Theatre classes and activities will continue to be offered remotely in Week 3 and 4. These creative classes provide our students with a great form of expression in Acting, Film, Music Theatre and Production in all areas of the school. Students and tutors have embraced this new learning platform in Week 1 & 2 with great enthusiasm and engagement producing some lovely work in a very different performance environment. It has been great to see our parents getting involved. It has been exciting to welcome new students to our program this term. Anyone interested in joining our classes in Drama and Theatre should email drama@redlands.nsw.edu.au. 

Online Learning Platforms

• Secondary School teaching: via Zoom, from inside iLearn  
• Junior School teaching: via Zoom and Google Classroom
• Prep School teaching: via Seesaw
• Preschool teaching : via Storypark 

Connections 2020

The Show must go ONLINE

Yr 10 students will be performing in a collection of dramatic and comedic Radio Plays from Theatre of the Absurd in Connections 2020. Links to these performances will be made available in Week 4 to families to enjoy as online performances.

National Theatre Live

The National Theatre is now screening National Theatre at Home. streaming plays for free on YouTube that were filmed live on stage by National Theatre Live which is the broadcast arm of the National Theatre. They have captured some of the best British plays and share them to homes around the world. Next week features Ralph Fiennes as Antony in Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra.

Mrs Joy Daley
Coordinator of Theatre and Drama
drama@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9968 9860

Music

Music Forms and Events can be found on Redlands Pulse

Music Festivals 2020

The Music Department is sad to inform our community that the Redlands Junior and Senior Music Festivals, and the annual HICES Music Festival have been cancelled for 2020. We understand that this decision will have an impact on our Redlands Music community, particularly our musicians, who enjoy sharing their musical talents with family and friends. However, the government directive to restrict public gatherings has mandated these cancellations. As a department, we remain committed to both enriching the life of students and the wider Music community by working towards some possible presentation opportunities in Term 3, in providing students with performance goals as they continue to work on their repertoire, build technical skills and continue exploring their love of music making. 

Remote Music Learning Term 2

Over the coming fortnight, Music teachers and tutors look forward to engaging with the students in both On-Campus Learning and Remote Learning Platforms. Over the past month, the department, has committed itself to ensuring that we continue to provide our students with instructional materials in all areas of Music. In focusing on delivering remote online platforms, we have been working in association with our exceptional Music specialists to develop and administer a range of innovative learning resources to support student learning and music making across the Academic, Cocurricular and Extra Subjects Music programs.

Music Program Offerings – Weeks 3 and 4

Academic Music

We look forward to welcoming students back into the classroom over the coming fortnight with the school’s gradual reintroduction to On-Campus Learning. In ensuring the safety and wellbeing of students and staff, access to Private Music Tuition rooms will be limited at this time. The only exception to this arrangement applies to the Yr 12 Higher School Certificate and International Baccalaureate courses of study, as we support these students in their final preparatory stages for all major practical works.

Cocurricular Music Ensembles

Junior School and Secondary Music Ensembles will continue to be delivered through online platforms in providing students with learning resources to work independently at home. This includes Google Classroom (Yrs 3-6) and iLearn (Yrs 7-12). Please note, Preparatory Choir and Preparatory Strings will not be running at this stage.

Extra-Subjects Music (Individual Tuition and Groups)

From the start of this term, the department reintroduced all Individual Music Tuition and Group classes across the School. While these sessions will continue to be delivered by Music tutors remotely via Zoom, at this stage we are unable to provide On-Campus tuition. Music tutors will be ensuring that students are provided with instruction on alternate days, in consideration of their Academic classes during scheduled On-Campus Learning days. Revised Music tuition schedules for Weeks 3 and 4 will be issued by Music tutors prior to the commencement of next week.

Thank You to Redlands ICT

The Music Department would like to acknowledge the Redlands ICT Department for collaboratively working with Music staff in preparing, facilitating and supporting virtual learning environments for our students. In particular we would like to thank Mrs Wendy Duckworth (e-Learning Coordinator 7-12), Shireen Winrow (e-Learning Coordinator P-6) and Argiro Anagnostu (e-Learning Facilitator P-6) and all other members of their teams.

Mr Darren Kuilenburg
Coordinator of Music
seniormusic@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9968 9820