Principal's Report

ANZAC Day Assembly 

On Thursday April 24, our School Captains brilliantly led our ANZAC Commemoration Assembly. This involved the captains reflecting on the significance of ANZAC Day, leading the school through specific readings, the Last Post and a minute’s silence. 

We are very grateful for Flying Officer Lee from the Royal Australian Air Force who gave the official Commemorative Address once again this year. Our outstanding school choir were also involved, performing the New Zealand and Australian National Anthem. Finally, the assembly concluded with a performance of ‘I was only 19’ by Lucas, lulu, Royce and Satvik.  

The assembly not only gave or community an opportunity to deeply reflect on the ANZAC spirit and pay our respects to all of the women and men who have, or are currently serving in the armed forces, it also gave our students the opportunity to show their leadership and model our school values. 

Thank you to all of the students and staff involved.  

School Improvement Works: 

We are very pleased to announce that our new ‘K Block’ Courtyard works were completed in the school holidays. This space will provide improved recreational areas for students to gather during breaks, provide a breakout learning space for the adjacent classrooms and 160 lockers for Year 11 students. The extra lockers will allow the removal of lockers in the corridors either side of the library therefore reducing congestion for staff and students between classes.  

Parent Survey Overview: 

In preparation for our school review in Term 3 parents were given the opportunity to complete a brief survey to help inform the leadership team of areas of strength and areas for further improvement. 

Parents were asked to consider the learning and wellbeing of their children and the aspects of Brentwood that most support their child/children’s growth as a learner and a person.  

Thank you to all of the parents who responded to the survey. 

Here is a brief summary of the themes gathered from 77 parent responses: 

This information will be one of several data sources that the Principal and Leadership Team use to inform school improvement initiatives over the coming months and next year. I thank all the parents who took the time to provide feedback. 

It is greatly appreciated.  

Student Voice – PIVOT Surveys 

Towards the end of Term 1 all students were given the opportunity to ‘have a voice’ and provide teachers with feedback on their learning experience in the classroom by completing a short survey. The feedback from the students to the teachers is used at various levels of the school. Most importantly classroom teachers use this information to engage students in a discussion about a identified aspect of the feedback to further inform adjustments they make in their practice to better meet the learning needs of students in their classes. Each faculty also discuss student voice feedback to help inform curriculum design and the implementation of our Lesson Framework.  

At the whole school level, the students highlighted the following areas of relative strengths:  

• I know how I am supposed to behave in class. 
• This teacher knows a lot about the topics in class. 
• This teacher respects me for who I am.  

These areas are consistently high each semester over the last few years. The areas that we continue to develop further are linked to our ongoing work enhancing student agency and include the following questions:  

• This teacher gives me choices about the work I do.  
• This teacher helps me set goals for my learning.  
• This teacher connects their teaching to my life.  

From a school perspective these surveys help our teachers become even better, but it also demonstrates to our students that learning is a life-long endeavour with our teachers always looking to get a better understanding of their students so that they can then learn how to better improve their knowledge and skills. 

Class of 2024 – Where are they now? 

During Term 1 our Pathways team have worked hard at finding out where our 2024 graduates are in 2025. We are very proud of all our alumni and the pathways they have chosen beyond Brentwood. Here is a snapshot of the various pathways the class of 2024 have taken:  

We look forward to hearing from our Alumni and where their pathway takes them.  

Key Staffing Changes for Term 2: 

At the end of Term 1 we farewelled Callum Mackay who was our Acting Director of VCE and Pathways and substantive Head of Waratah House. 

Peter Vlahos will be replacing Callum Mackay as the Acting Director of VCE and Pathways until Nicole Green returns later this term. Karla Scipione will also continue as the Head of Waratah House.  

We also farewelled some staff who were on a term contract. 

Thank you to Jessie McIntosh (Psychology & Science), Jacqueline Mueller (Woodwork & Art) and James Gerrad (Media & Drama) for your support of our students last term.  

We have welcomed back Laura Seymour (Mental Health Practitioner) who has returned from Family Leave and Brian Hurley from Long Service Leave. 

In addition, we are excited to welcome the following staff who have started at Brentwood this term replacing departing staff, staff on leave, or filling consequential vacancies from other staffing changes.  

• Jack Hughes (Psychology and Science) 
• Colin Bergin (Woodwork and Art) 
• Mamta Puri (Maths) 
• Annie Chan (Aide) 
• Yuka Jinta (Japanese Language Assistant) 

We wish all our students, staff and families a wonderful Term 2.  

John Ballagh  

Principal