annual report | 2012 - Redeemer Lutheran College

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Principal’s Report 2012 has been a very busy and rewarding year for our college. Highlights included the completion of some long term projects resulting in quality programs being delivered to our students. For the past three years Redeemer has been working very hard across all three sub-schools on the implementation of Australian Curriculum with the aim of best placing our P - 10 students for the future. While students and some parents have been very cognisant of these changes gradually taking place on a daily and weekly basis, the implementation of new Reporting requirements of the Australian Curriculum has gained everybody’s attention and is likely to be central to many a dialogue, both between home and school, and also between teachers. The continuing roll-out of Australian Curriculum will progress for quite some years into the foreseeable future, Redeemer will not blindly follow the recommendations of the various National and State Educational Authorities but rather Redeemer will continue to reflect on its implementation of the National Curriculum with the goal of providing best practice to its students. Behind the scenes prior to 2012, there has been planning across the whole college to grow student leadership opportunities at Redeemer. Therefore, 2012 commenced with a range of initiatives in all three sub-schools. All Year 11 students commenced the year with a Leadership Camp at Luther Heights Camp at Coolum on the Sunshine Coast. Apart from socialisation and cohort bonding goals, the camp focused on setting personal goals, learning how to be more effective servants to each other and the whole Redeemer community, as well as being made aware of leadership opportunities in their senior years. Middle School introduced a leadership training program open to all students in Years 6, 7, 8, with opportunities to serve and lead within the Middle School built into the program. This Middle School student leadership initiative was also enhanced with expanded Pastoral Care activities such as Pavement Art. Likewise, the Junior School expanded House activities inclusive of Pavement Art (now a very popular P-12 House activity). Junior School House Captains were introduced, supported by staff mentoring and opportunities to provide leadership at specific Junior School events and ceremonies. Development of Redeemer’s Student Leadership Programs will continue next year as we seek to provide students with ever increasing genuine opportunities to lead, as well as learning about leadership. The whole of college aim over the next few years is to establish leadership programs and positions so that on the one hand individuals may pursue these in each sub-school if they wish, and on the other hand have programs that challenge most students to develop leadership awareness, if not leadership skills to enrich their personal lives. Sporting achievement across the whole college, both at the Junior TAS (JTAS) competition level and at the TAS Secondary level was solid with a number of teams winning premierships in each term in TAS and with many JTAS teams also performing at the top of the competition. However, it was not achievements that set 2012 apart as a significant sporting year at Redeemer, rather it was student participation. After a number of years of struggling to field teams for a broad range of reasons, 2012 saw Redeemer meeting all of its commitments on the back of renewed energy and optimism from students. Congratulations and thanks goes to staff, students and parents who, together, have worked very hard to achieve this outcome. This change in sporting culture now paves the way for many positive years of Redeemer sport. Another boost to sport this year was the extension of Fred Davey Oval providing a TAS competition sized Hockey and Soccer Oval, as well as an accredited size JTAS cricket field. An additional training area for field sports was also added to the College’s facilities via improvements to the southern portion of the vacant land fronting Priestdale Road, which will continue to be developed toward a playable sized surface in future years. 2 | REDEEMER ANNUAL REPORT | 2012
Performing and Visual Arts once again produced a memorable year. In Drama, public performances from the elective classes produced delight and awe in their audiences. The Music Department continued to flourish, stretching themselves beyond school performances to present concerts for the wider community. Chamber by Candlelight and the biennial Piano and Vocal Competition were once again highlights of the year providing students with opportunities to extend their musicianship and performance experiences. The showcasing of student work from the Technologies, Hospitality, Art and Textiles at Springboard was again spectacular. Those who visited the display on the opening night of Springboard or at Redeemer Fair will attest to the outstanding quality of the student work. For the Redeemer community as a whole, the opening and dedication of Junior School Block G (JG Block) dramatically changed the daily life of the Junior School and the physical attributes of the Junior Campus. We were delighted to welcome the Premier, Mr Campbell Newman, to officially open the building. We were also pleased that Redeemer’s two previous principals, Mr Robin Kleinschmidt (founding Principal) and Dr Richard Hauser (under whose leadership the Junior School was founded), were able to join us as special guests for this event. Aside from the nature of the opening ceremony, JG Block is historically significant to Redeemer as it was included in the initial design work for the Junior School. Over the past six years, a variety of hurdles and redirections resulted in a significantly modified master plan for the Junior School as a whole and ultimately led to a delay in the building of JG Block. Visitors to JG Block will notice a wall of tiles, each tile having been created by a founding student of the Junior School in 2007. The oldest founding students are now in Year 10, with the founding Prep students making up the Year 5 classes of 2012. JG Block was not the only capital development of 2012. The Senior School saw the establishment and progressive development of a modular building (SE20), annex to Hospitality. This facility will provide dedicated and specialised ‘Front of House’ resources including beverage services, which previously did not have a dedicated learning and teaching space. As Redeemer looks ahead to the next five years, the focus of planning and development of facilities will increasingly be on the Senior and Middle Schools. Accordingly, through the Christmas break, a range of minor capital projects will be undertaken in these sub-schools. A concerted effort will be made in 2013 to improve the Toilet and Change Room facilities in the Middle and Senior Schools. Learning Enhancement across the College will benefit from more space and slightly increased staffing. Sport will have a centralised office with the Head of Sport and Head of Junior Sport being co-located in the centre of the College. Fred Davey Oval and the vacant land on the western boundary of the College will continue to be improved. Improvements are also planned for Film and TV, and Drama, and a range of staff will be shifting offices in order to provide a more effective service to meet student needs. In many respects this year has been a challenging year for our P & F as they came to terms with operating in a completely different manner with the passing of the Tuckshop and Uniform Shop to the College’s management. While all things have continued to operate fairly smoothly the nature of P & F meetings was significantly different this year without the business reports for the two enterprises. Despite this change it was most pleasing to see Parent Support Groups slightly stronger than in previous years as well as parents continuing to volunteer in the Tuckshop. Despite the late rain on the day, Redeemer Fair was again a great success, both in terms of the monies made and the attendance. The P & F can be rightfully proud of their work and achievements this year. Their donations to the college for 2012 have exceeded $60,000, directly benefitting students and staff across the whole college. The evolution of computer technology continues to challenge all of society. This term, a new IT management structure has been introduced to Redeemer to more rapidly and decisively plan for and make decisions involving computer technologies. At the end of August this year, we said farewell to Carol Appleton who retired from her position of Book Shop Coordinator after a record 32½ years of faithful service to Redeemer’s book shop operations. Carol commenced at Redeemer as a volunteer in the college’s first year of operations when books were sold by a group of volunteers led by Carol. We sincerely thank Carol for the many years of service she has given to Redeemer and wish her well in her retirement. At the end of this year, we farewell two more long serving Redeemer staff members who are entering retirement. Steve Hollister (Curriculum Leader Business Years 9-12) is retiring after 17 years of faithful service to Redeemer. Steve’s commitment to his subject area and dedication to the co-curricular program of the college will be missed. Judy Powell (Head of Middle School) is also retiring after 23 years of service to Redeemer and more than 10 years as an Executive member. These staff will be greatly missed and we wish them all health and happiness in the next phase of their lives. We also farewell Amy Homann who has been teaching in the Junior School for the last three years, and Anne- Marie Stallard who completed a contract in the Senior School this year teaching Maths and Science. We wish all departing staff the very best for the future. The teachers in all sub-schools are to be thanked for their excellent work, witnessed most obviously through student outcomes, but also too through their genuine care and support of students. Looking across the College I see overwhelming evidence of hard working, committed and loyal staff in the non-teaching areas as well. The beautiful grounds of the College always impress community members and visitors alike and are evidence of a dedicated and creative grounds and maintenance staff; and the cleanliness of our facilities equally reflects a cleaning crew who are professional and proud of what they do. Elsewhere, the support staff of the College in their many and varied roles directly serve the needs of students, parents and visitors. In all cases, the compliments that flow from the community to the College about the work of our staff are always appreciated. The College Council’s membership is also well supported by parents, and all are volunteers. At the governance level of the College, it has been a challenging year at times, and I thank College Council for their dedication, guidance and support of the College Executive and of me personally. Mr David Radke Principal 2012 | REDEEMER ANNUAL REPORT | 3
Page 1: annual report | 2012
Page 5 and 6: 2012 Closing Service - Academic Awa
Page 7 and 8: Parents and Friends Association 201

annual report | 2012 - Redeemer Lutheran College

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?