Principal News

Dear Brookside Students, Staff and Parents,

Thank you for all of your hard work this term in adapting to Remote Online Home Learning. We hope that you are enjoying the newly introduced Zoom Class Meetings, but we also hope that you are excited about the eventual return to school!

As previously notified, the Victorian Government has advised that schools can begin a phased return to on-site schooling:

In the first stage, students in Prep, Grade 1 and Grade 2, will return to school from Tuesday 26th May.
In the second stage of our return to on-site schooling, all other year levels will return to school from Tuesday 9th June.

To support all school staff to prepare for this transition, Monday 25th May will be a pupil-free day with no classes online or onsite. This means that there will be no work allocated to students to complete online during this day, and students are not expected to attend onsite. Camp Australia will be available on the 25th May to provide free care (upon registration) for any families who need this service.

Celebrating Our Amazing Education Support (ES) Staff

Education Support staff around the world are recognised and celebrated for their contributions each year on May 16th. Here at Brookside we acknowledged our wonderful ES staff on Friday May 15th with some treats and messages from both students and staff. Thank you to the students and families who provided special messages to share with our ES, and thank you to all of our ES staff for your continual hard work and dedication – the school would not be the same without you!

Virtual Assembly

Well done to our student captains Taha, Jerusalem, Jayden and Selamwiet, who worked diligently with Ms. Gretel Van Wyngaarden to put together our first “virtual assembly”. It was a delight to watch and we can’t wait to see the next one!

Year 6-7 transition 2021 Reminder

A reminder that families who intend for their children to attend a different school in Year 7 2021 must submit the “Applications for Year 7 Placement 2021” forms to our college by Friday 29th May. These can be returned to the college via mail, email or by visiting the college. If you intend for your child to continue their learning at Brookside in Year 7 2021 you do not have to complete the application form - all current enrolments will be continued without the need for additional documentation.Due to current restrictions Brookside P-9 College is unable to conduct tours for prospective Year 7 families. However, if you would like to find out more about what the college can provide to students in Year 7 2021 please see the PowerPoint (narrated) we have provided on our website, under ‘Prospective Families’. If you have any follow up questions please feel free to contact Keda Meagher at the College.

Semester One Reporting

In line with advice provided from the DET, Brookside College will be making changes to our reporting practices this semester. Parents will continue to receive comments regarding the work that students have completed, however staff will report on the Progress that students are making, rather than reporting on Achievement against the Victorian Curriculum. When making this decision we took into consideration the disruption to learning at the end of Term 1, the equity issues faced by families who may not have had sufficient access to devices and online learning for the full length of time, the fact that teachers may not have enough evidence to make a reliable judgement, as well as the possibility that tasks completed at home may have been significantly supported by parents/siblings.

Remote Online Home Learning Progress Reports will be available to parents this week, and Semester One Reports will become available on June 25th.

Cook with Me

A new show called “Cook with Me” has taken Brookside by storm! Each Friday at lunchtime our fabulous Wellbeing Team (Raj Kandasamy, Sandra Pham and Kristienne Martin), produce a show during which beautiful recipes are cooked live online and shared with staff via Zoom. Raj does a wonderful job hosting the show, which so far has included special guest Sharmilee Lele (Food Technology teacher). We have include the recipes from the first two shows, for families who would like to try out some amazing cuisine!

“COOK with ME” - Chicken Curry with Yoghurt

Ingredients

500g chicken thigh fillets cut into bite size pieces

1 or 2 sliced red onions

2 potatoes quartered (can be pre fried if desired)

2 carrots quartered

1 tablespoon minced/chopped garlic

1 tablespoon minced/chopped ginger

1 cup plain yoghurt

1 cinnamon stick

3/4 table spoon BABA Meat Curry powder (can be purchased from COLES/WOOLWORTHS)

1 tablespoon turmeric powder

Salt to taste

1 cup of chopped tomatoes - optional

4 cloves – optional

3 cardamom - optional

1 tablespoon Chicken Stock granules - optional

Coriander leaves chopped for garnish – optional

Method

Marinade the chicken pieces with turmeric and a little salt and leave aside.
Heat ½ cup oil in a large pot.
When hot, add cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and onions. Fry till the onions turn light brown.
Add the ginger and garlic, and then add the curry powder. Fry in the oil for couple of minutes.
Add chicken, carrots and potatoes and mix well.
Add 1 cup of chopped tomatoes or 1 cup of water, and cook the chicken and vegetables until tender.
Taste and adjust to suit your preference – you can add more salt or even chicken stock granules here for taste as well.
Once the meat and vegetable are tender (to your liking), stir in the yoghurt. Lower the heat and simmer for 5/10 minutes until the sauce thickens.
Take off heat and place on plate, garnishing with chopped coriander leaves.
Serve hot with rice, roti or slices of French loaf.

“COOK with ME” -Chickpea Curry & Puri

Chickpea Curry:

Ingredients

400g Canned Chickpea, water drained

1Tbs Canola oil

1 large onion, finely diced

2 tsp ginger & garlic paste

½ cup chopped tomatoes (canned)

2 Tbs Chole/channa masala (available at Indian grocers or any major grocery store)

2 cups Water

Salt to taste

1Tbs chopped Coriander

Method

Drain chickpeas from the can. If using raw chickpeas, soak overnight (at least 10-12 hours) and pressure cook with sufficient water. Chickpeas should be soft and break easily.
Heat oil in a large pan and sauté onions until golden brown and translucent.
Add ginger garlic paste and continue to fry for another minute or two. Add a little water if the mixture starts to stick to the bottom of the pan.
Add chopped tomatoes and fry for 4-5 minutes until you start seeing the oil separating on the side of the pan.
Add Chole/channa masala and continue frying until you see the oil separating.
Add chickpeas and stir well to combine. Adjust salt.
Pour water and simmer for 10-15 mins. Add coriander and serve.

Puri (Fried roti):

Ingredients

2 cups Wholemeal flour or Atta

Pinch of salt and sugar

¼ cup water

1Tbs oil for dough

2 cups oil for deep-frying

Method

Make dough using the flour, salt, sugar, 1Tbs oil and water. Add water gradually so you can adjust the consistency of the dough. The dough should be firm and not sticky.
Make balls of approximately 50 cent pieces in size, and roll out using a rolling pin. You will need tiny drops of oil on the bench to roll the dough out.
Heat oil in a wok to about 250 degrees centigrade (really hot) and slide the puri into the oil. It should sizzle and start to fluff up. Turn it over once to cook both sides. Drain on an absorbent paper and serve.

What Have Our Brookside Students Been Up To?

Students, along with their families are continuing to work hard and have enjoyed sharing their learning with their teacher/s via Zoom during class meetings and conferences.

It has been a pleasure for teachers to see the learning occur during remote learning through the tasks submitted and the level of creativity students have gone to with their presentation.