From Mr Cavanna:

"On Friday night, I attended the Catholic Schools Debating Association Public Speaking Grand Final in North Sydney to see our own Isaac Busch (Year 8) compete. This competition pitted the last twelve students in Isaac’s age division from across NSW against each other. As expected, the standard of public speaking was extremely high. Isaac did himself, his family and the College proud. Finishing fifth was a magnificent result considering that, several weeks ago, there were approximately 800 students to begin with. He was the last of the twelve finalists to present. It was a sign of his character that, regardless of having to sit through all the presentations (which would be quite nerve-wracking), his performance was polished and professional. He has a fine future ahead of him."

Congratulations Isaac from the whole Redfield College community!

The Redfield Cross Country Carnival was held on Friday, 22 March. The recent rain cleared in time for the first race and made for overcast but humid running conditions. There were some fantastic efforts across all age groups and excellent individual battles for placings. 

Congratulations to our Age Champions and place getters! 

House points are calculated by awarding one point to the first place getter, two points to the second, 50 points to the 50th etc. Therefore, the champion House is decided not by who wins each age group but by having as many boys from your House group finishing near the front. The House with the lowest points is declared the winner. 

At the end of the carnival the scores were:

 - 4th CASTOR 981 points
 - 3rd SIRIUS 975 points 

 - 2nd ALTAIR 961 points 

 - 1st HYDRUS 808 points 

Good luck to the top eight place getters in each age division who will compete at the ISA Carnival at Sydney International Equestrian Centre on 29 May! 

- Glenn Dawson, Director of Sport

When it comes to public speaking, many of us might think, "Oh, no! I can't do that!" Mrs Perera from Yellow Lantern understands this common fear perfectly and presented us with the analogy of feeling somewhere between excited and nervous. Although these are different feelings, our students were able to acknowledge through a brainstorming process that we experience the same bodily sensations such as a racing heart, freezing mentally, goosebumps and cold hands. It was a good exercise to understand that we all feel a certain degree of nervousness. To overcome and manage these feeling, the students learnt about some particular skills. Although the workshop consisted of only two half-day sessions, many students have visibly grown in confidence in speaking in front of others as well as improved in listening actively as good audience members. 

• "I wanted to learn how to kill the nervousness and I learnt how to recover when I am nervous." - Tobin Kroeger (Year 6)

• "I learnt how to make mistakes masterful. I can be funny." - Raphael Cheung (Year 6) 

• "I wanted to feel more confident in public speaking. I learnt that I have a light." - Mark D’Mello (Year 5) 

• "I learnt to use the lantern light to get my confidence up." - Joseph Dalla (Year 5) 

• "I learnt that I should not be afraid of public speaking. I can manage it by deep breathing and not worrying as much and panicking about what people think about me." - Seth Wiemer (Year 5) 

• "I learnt that I should look at people in their eyes when I speak." - Xavier Asalemo (Year 5) 

- Eunice Woo, Primary Extension Program