Principal's Report

Staff PL day 

On Tuesday, during the student-free day, Brentwood staff had the pleasure of seeing Glen Pearsall present to our staff in an immersive professional learning day. Glen Pearsall is a leading secondary school teacher and an acclaimed presenter of professional development for classroom teachers across Australia. His expertise is in high quality instructional practice, and the development of classroom cultures based on sound pedagogy and educational research. 

The main aim of the day was to continue developing a collective understanding of how we can promote student engagement to achieve our College Vision for Learning, through the ongoing development and implementation of the Brentwood Teaching and Learning Model. The day also allowed our staff to collaborate and build a common understanding of what best practice looks like at Brentwood SC. The day was a great success and we thank Glen for his time in sharing his expertise and providing our staff with some very practical student engagement, collaborative and wellbeing strategies.  

Attitude to School Survey   

Over the next week, all students will be providing feedback on their experiences at school via the Department of Education and Training’s Attitude to School Survey in their Aspire classes. This survey is conducted annually across all government schools. At Brentwood we value student voice as a powerful means to improve student engagement, wellbeing and quality instruction. The data from this survey, the PIVOT survey run by each classroom teacher last term and the student forums that allow us to unpack this data, support us to gain an understanding of our students’ perceptions and experiences and is used to plan programs and activities to improve your child’s schooling experience. 

 Some examples of past improvements at the school that have been informed by student feedback are: 

• The continuation of lesson plans posted on Teams for students  
• Guest speakers in the ASPIRE program that focus on study skills, time management, relationship and bullying  
• Including scarves and beanies into the official school uniform  
• Continuing to allow students in years 7-10 to wear PE uniform on days when they have practical classes  

Learning Walks 

Over the past week, members of the Brentwood teaching staff have participated in Student Learning walks. Learning walks aim to reinforce a shared vision for high-quality teaching and provide support to enable collective responsibility for achieving school-wide priorities. In addition to this: 

• Learning Walks provide an opportunity for observers to see the Brentwood Instructional model in operation.
• Learning Walks help provide feedback on how students are learning in our classes and how school-wide priorities are being implemented in various settings throughout our school.
• De-identified whole school information will be reported back to staff and will be used to help shape our professional learning program and school improvement initiatives.

Acknowledgements & Upcoming Events 

Music Camp

May 1 to May 3

Earlier this month, around 100 of our instrumental music students together with a group of volunteering teachers, ventured out to Healesville for their annual Music camp. This was an opportunity for these students to immerse themselves in their instrumental music programs, in preparation for the Brentwood Music Gala (June) and further ongoing performances such as the Victorian School Music Festival which follow in the later months. Thank you to all that attended and helped to organise this event.

Year 11 Theatre Studies production - Redemption

May 16 to May 19

Our Year 11 Theatre studies students have been working this semester on their major assessment - a production of the play “Redemption” adapted by theatre studies teacher Joel Batalha, for their Outcome 1 and 2 work. All elements of the show have been developed and created by the students, with them working as both Actors and Designers in all aspects of the show. This marks their first play production and has been a great learning curve for the students. Over the four days they bring together months of work to an audience.  The production is a real achievement of student work and therefore the class is to be congratulated for their work! They have been supported by students from outside the class, especially Lucas Amerasekera and Oscar Flack who stepped in to support them and become cast members when we made changes to the cast. We also need to acknowledge the support of Brenton Van Vliet who volunteers his time to work with the class on technical elements. 

Dean Korlos

Associate Principal