From the Acting Principal
A warm welcome back to Term 4. We trust that you have had a restful break over the school holiday period. We especially extend a Redlands welcome to the new families who have joined our community this term from the UK and from local schools. I trust that you will feel at home at Redlands very quickly.
Next week, we look forward to welcoming Dr Lennox back from his study leave, and to hearing about the International Reunion held in London in early October, and the learnings he brings back from his ‘Cultures of Thinking’ school visits in the UK and Europe.
We wish our Year 12 students all the very best for their final examinations. Our HSC students commenced their exams today and tomorrow will be the last day of school for our IB students, with their exams starting on 29 October. We reiterate the message emphasised to all our students – you are not defined as a person by a score, or a result. Put your best foot forward in these examinations, and try to maintain perspective and balance as you navigate the next few weeks.
I am very much looking forward to this evening’s Volunteer Thank You function where we have the opportunity to thank our parent volunteers for their generous and valuable work supporting our School in so many different ways.
The funeral service for Miss Belinda Oxley, Dean of Early Childhood and Year 2 teacher, will be held on Monday 22 October at 10.30am, at Macquarie Park Northern Cemetery, Delhi Road and Plassey Road, Macquarie Park. I reiterate Mrs Fellowes’ advice to families this week; all are welcome but there is no expectation that students, particularly those in younger years, attend. We would ask all families to consider the impact that attending a funeral service may have on your child, of any age, and to make your decision about attendance accordingly.
This week, Secondary School students have had a very serious reminder that breaches of the School’s policy on drugs and alcohol will place a student’s enrolment in jeopardy.
Our Head of Secondary School, Mr Corcoran, addressed the Term 4 Commencement Assembly on Monday morning to stress that the School takes such matters very seriously and that the rules exist to provide guidance about expectations for behaviour. There is clear research that illegal drugs are harmful, and that the risks of experimentation include potential health issues and reputational/legal consequences that adolescents forget or overlook until they are confronted by reality.
This speech was not in isolation. Our curriculum and pastoral programs educate students about the risks to their mental and physical health of various drugs, both legal and illegal. We also regularly invite expert speakers on this topic to speak to our students and our parent body, and share relevant resources through Note Day.
Despite our efforts over many years, you would be aware that at the end of last term we had an incident with Year 8 students. We immediately took disciplinary action and suspended those involved for the few days until the end of term, with further disciplinary measures, where relevant, and an ongoing program of accountability and education around judgement and individual choices this term.
Our primary goal is to develop our young people into honest and respectful members of society, consistent with our School Values. Young people make mistakes and it is our role as educators and carers to ensure they learn the lessons.
In the past fortnight, I have had many productive conversations within our School community about how we work in partnership with parents to support our young people to grow and thrive. We continue to provide the community with numerous opportunities to engage in discussions about decision-making and we encourage parents to continue these conversations with their children so they learn and move forward.
I draw your attention to the separate communication from the Chair sent this afternoon to all parents and carers about our Senior Campus Master Plan. Please do direct any feedback to masterplan@redlands.nsw.edu.au
We wish all students, parents and staff a successful and enjoyable term ahead – at only 7.5 weeks in length, it will be action-packed with exciting learning experiences followed by the culminating celebrations in the final weeks of the academic year.
Ms Sarah McGarry
Photo caption: Our Preparatory and Junior students loved welcoming 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medallist and Olympian Chloe Hosking to their assemblies this week to recognise their achievements as the highest fundraising school nationally for this year’s Jump Rope for Heart.
