From the Principal
We are so fortunate to have a wonderful School community with parents who support our School in so many ways. Last Friday, all of our teachers were delighted with the three delicious morning teas prepared by parents at the Preparatory, Junior and Secondary Schools to celebrate World Teachers’ Day. I sincerely thank all those parents who went to great effort to express a thank you to our teachers in this very thoughtful way and I also thank the Prefects who assisted with the Senior Campus morning tea.
I wish to congratulate Mr Nigel Coutts, Dean of Teaching & Learning P-6, whom the Teachers’ Guild of New South Wales have recognised and presented with a certificate of achievement in recognition of his work leading educators across the State in building a culture of thinking in NSW schools.
My time overseas during the two weeks of the recent school vacation and the first week of term were both enjoyable and fruitful. I attended the first overseas reunion of past Redlands students in more than a decade, which was held in London. Despite it being a very wet day, the spirits of the more than thirty Redlanders who attended was in no way dampened, when we met in an elegant room of the Oriental Club. There was at least one past student from every decade from the 1960s to the present decade. Most are presently studying or working in the UK, but we did have several who were able to join the group from the USA and Europe. The event was organised by our Alumni Manager, Caroline Jane, herself a Redlander (1991) and she was assisted by two Redlanders, Ms Pauline Lyle-Smith (1964) and Mr Michael Compton (2006). It was wonderful to see all the Redlanders of different ages chatting together about the School, their time there and what has been happening in their lives since they left Redlands. Michael Compton, who was one of the two School Captains in his final year reflected on what his time at Redlands has meant to him, and I was able to tell the diverse group of past students a little about what has been happening in the current Redlands. Another happy element of the evening for me was the chance to catch up with a number of Redlanders from my own time as Principal, who are either studying or now working in the UK. The event went longer than expected as there were many who wished to continue their conversations, and there was talk among themselves about holding another gathering next year.
Following that I met with the CEO of a British company regarding a potential new School Information System for Redlands. We visited St Albans School north of London and had a productive meeting with the Head of IT as St Albans changed their SIS several years ago. It was very helpful to discuss with the Head of IT and several other senior staff of St Albans about the strengths of this system, which is being used in other schools in the UK and in international schools around the world, and the challenges which come with the major change programme required in implementing a system like this. I was heartened by what I heard and learned during the afternoon which I spent there, as the St Albans key staff who deal with the various applications for which the SIS provides that one source of truth all spoke positively about the system.
I stayed in St Albans for a couple more days and included a visit to the ancient Roman remains and museum of Verulamium, a very early township during the Roman period occupation of Britain. There is a rich horde of Roman remains, despite it being one of three towns that were burnt to the ground by the forces of Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni tribe. Our Latin students will know about Roman Britain as part of their course centres upon that far-flung part of the Roman Empire and which is contrasted with Roman Egypt, one of the very oldest provinces of the Roman Empire. I took a large number of photographs in the museum and at the excavated site of the nearby Roman theatre in order to pass them on to our Latin teachers and students. I am looking forward to discussing with them how some of these photos might be used for teaching Latin and the history of the Romans, using some of the Harvard-based thinking routines.
This last takes me to the third major part of my travels. Upon advice and thanks to an introduction from Mark Church who works with us as an advisor in growing our culture of thinking, I was warmly welcomed to the American International School in Budapest. I spent two full days at the school in a combination of meetings with the two Heads of Teaching and Learning and the Heads of their three schools (Elementary, Middle and High schools). AISB has been travelling their own journey in creating a culture of thinking. They have been on this journey for a couple of years longer than Redlands. The remainder of my days was spent visiting classes across the school. Teachers were informed that I was visiting and I managed to spend time in about 25 different classrooms while the teachers and students were engaged in their learning. The ‘pay-back’ which was sought from me was a debriefing session they asked me to provide their Executive staff and their Director (Principal) at the end of the second day. There were many similarities between our two schools, even though the schooling structure is a little different from the three sections into which our school is structured. One difference is that all AISB students in Years 11 and 12 study the IB Diploma programme and a similarity is that neither of our schools follows the IB programmes in younger years, although the Harvard model which we are both now using has many connections with the IB programme. There is some excellent teaching and use of the model occurring in the Elementary School and good progress happening within the Middle School, but from what I saw, Redlands is already more advanced in its use of the Harvard approach in the two final years. I have agreed to send them some wall displays of students’ work in our two senior years in return for the many photographs which I took of the classroom walls in the younger years at AISB, which I shall be sharing with our staff. We also had a conversation about more sharing between our two schools going forward, which we both felt would be very helpful.
Dr Peter Lennox
Urgent Call for Special Provisions Volunteers
Mr Corcoran mentioned at the end of Term 3 that the Learning Plus department is looking for new members to add to our friendly team of volunteers. This team assists Redlands students in Years 7-12 with special provisions for exams and assessments throughout the year. We welcome Prep, Junior and Secondary School parents, grandparents, friends and Redlanders. We are still looking for helpers to assist with examinations occurring next week. If you are able to help, please contact Saralie Pincini at spincini@redlands.nsw.edu.au or on 9968 9854.
Our volunteers respect confidentiality, are reliable, punctual, patient and friendly. Legible handwriting is a bonus. If this describes you, please come and join our team. You can choose the exams and assessments for the subjects and years in which you are interested to suit your schedule. No subject specific knowledge is required; you are simply there to read and/or write what the student dictates, and to regulate the time. Bad spelling? No problem – spelling is ignored when there’s a writer. Illegible handwriting? You could be a reader (no writing required) or supervise time for a student or a small group. With your help a student can achieve his or her potential, and you will gain an additional perspective of Redlands. Our students are very appreciative of the support they are given.
Photo Caption: An exciting day of experiential learning through interactive, STEAM-related workshops during BiG Day In for Years 5 and 6.
