Around The College  

Year 7-11 Art Exhibition

The Arts/Tech team and student volunteers have been working hard over the past week to curate the J Block Gallery. Student volunteers learnt exhibition design and curation skills and made choices about where and how to display artworks. 

The exhibition features graphic design, media, printmaking, sculpture, painting and drawing artworks from years 7-11 students. The works are inspired by artists such as KAWS, Yayoi Kusama and Rona Green. 

The exhibition will be displayed in J Block Gallery during Term 3. Students and the school community are encouraged to attend during office hours. We are so proud of the work our students have created and presented!

Dayna Williams. 

Year 8 & 9 Japanese Students Connect with Friends in Japan 

Last week some of our Year 8 and Year 9 Japanese students had the exciting opportunity to participate in a live Zoom language exchange with students from Saeki Junior High School in Okayama, Japan. 

The 40-minute session was divided equally between English and Japanese, giving students from both schools the chance to practise their language skills in an authentic and meaningful way. 

During the English session, the Saeki Junior High students confidently presented topics such as Places to Visit in Okayama and My Favourite Photo. Our Brentwood students listened attentively, asked questions, and learned more about everyday life and culture in Japan. 

The Japanese session then gave our students the opportunity to introduce themselves in Japanese and present information about their hobbies or Australia food. Students from both schools enthusiastically asked each other questions, discovered shared interests, and even gave each other a glimpse outside their classroom windows—comparing the mountains and trees surrounding Saeki Junior High with the school grounds at Brentwood. 

The exchange was a wonderful reminder that language learning is about much more than vocabulary and grammar—it is about building friendships and understanding different cultures. Following the exchange, the Saeki Junior High teacher shared that their students were amazed by how well the Brentwood students spoke Japanese. Their confidence and effort have inspired the Japanese students to study English even harder. 

Our Brentwood students thoroughly enjoyed the experience, describing it as "so much fun" and saying they had made many new friends. It was a fantastic opportunity to use their Japanese in a real-world setting and experience the rewards of communicating across cultures. 

We look forward to continuing our partnership with Saeki Junior High School and hope to meet with our new friends again very soon! 

Angela Pollock  

Head of Languages

The Entrepreneur Program - PROGRAM UPDATE · 2026 

Building the next generation of business creators 

The Entrepreneur Program selects students based on their interest, passion, and motivation to develop their own business ideas  supported every step of the way by the Impact Boss Program. Here's what our cohort has been up to. 

 What We've Explored 

Empathy, Community & Business Ideas 

Students have dived into the role of empathy and community in building meaningful businesses — generating a rich range of innovative ideas along the way. They investigated three distinct business approaches: 

💰 Profit Model   ·   💛 Profit & Charity Model   ·   🤝 Charity Model 

Skills & Knowledge 

From Prototypes to Brand Identities 

Over recent weeks, students have built real entrepreneurial knowledge across a wide range of topics: 

Business Structures — Sole trader, company, and trust 

Business Name Research — Investigating and checking name availability, then understanding the registration process 

Prototype Development — Designing hands-on solutions for their own business ideas 

Brand Identity — Creating and strengthening a compelling brand concept 

Beyond Business 

Collaboration & Teamwork 

Perhaps the most exciting growth has been in how students work together. They've learned to support team members, create space for every voice, and drive toward shared goals — skills that go far beyond any business plan. 

Student Spotlight 

BrightPath: Learning, Coding & Creating Impact 

One of our standout teams has been developing BrightPath — a gamified learning app designed to help very young students practise Maths and English in a fun, simple, and motivating way. The team is turning their idea into a genuine social enterprise, making early learning more engaging and accessible while encouraging positive study habits from the very start.  

App Features in Development —  

⭐ XP rewards & learning streaks 

🏆 Levels & daily missions 

📝 Quizzes & homework tracking 

📚 Subject-based learning paths 

Through the Impact Boss program, the BrightPath team has worked through design thinking, business modelling, prototyping, customer feedback and pitching  learning to think like entrepreneurs, not just app developers. They've explored how to solve a real problem, design for a target audience, and continuously improve their prototype week by week. 

🎮 Gamified Learning   ·   💡 Design Thinking   ·   🚀 Social Enterprise   ·   

🤝 Teamwork   ·   💬 Pitching 

In Their Own Words 

What the BrightPath Team Says 

“ Working on BrightPath has helped me understand how coding can be used to solve real problems. I enjoyed designing features like XP, streaks and quizzes because they make learning feel more like a game. "

— Ken 

“ The Entrepreneur program has taught me that a good business idea should also help people. BrightPath is exciting because it supports younger students while also letting us learn about entrepreneurship. "

— Arnav 

"I liked working on the prototype because we had to think about what young learners would enjoy using. The program helped us improve our ideas each week and make the app more useful. "

— Aarav 

What's Next 

Coming Up in the Program 

Students will continue building their entrepreneurial capabilities with a focus on three key areas: 

From the Principal 

This week I had the pleasure of visiting our student entrepreneurs and seeing their prototypes in action. I was inspired by the creativity, innovation, and purpose demonstrated by every team. Our students are not only developing ideas and business concepts they are thinking critically about real-world challenges and creating solutions that can make a difference. 

What stood out most was their teamwork, collaboration, and determination throughout the Impact Boss program. Their ambition, resilience, and empathy give me great confidence in their future success with their projects, and I could not be more proud of what they have achieved.  

• John Ballagh 

“We are incredibly proud to see our students progressing with passion, commitment, creativity, and an entrepreneurial mindset.” 

Program Managers 

Heidi Cornelissen and Kanthi Kommidi 

Entrepreneur Program · Delivered with support from the Impact Boss Program 

VCE Information Evening - Thank you Brentwood Community

The Pathways team would like to extend our sincere thanks to everyone who attended our VCE Information Night on 11th June. It was wonderful to see such a strong turnout of students, families, and community members, all united in their commitment to supporting our students as they begin this important stage of their education. 

The evening provided an opportunity to share valuable information about the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) and Vocational Major (VM) including subject selections, study expectations, and pathways beyond school. We hope that the presentations helped to build clarity and confidence as students prepare to make informed decisions about their future. 

A special thank you goes to our Brentwood faculty staff and external providers, who generously shared their expertise and insights, and to the team who worked behind the scenes to organise the event. Their efforts ensured that the evening ran smoothly and provided meaningful guidance for all attendees. 

We are especially grateful for the thoughtful questions, active participation, and genuine enthusiasm shown throughout the evening. Your engagement plays a vital role in creating a supportive learning environment where students feel encouraged and empowered to succeed. 

At Brentwood Secondary College, we strongly value the partnership between families, students, and educators. Events like the VCE Information Night highlight the strength of our community and the shared commitment we have to student success and wellbeing. 

Nicole Green 

Director of VCE and Pathways.  

Camps at Brentwood 

Camps play a vital role in your child’s social and emotional development. At Brentwood, we highly value these experiences and offer a wide range of camps and events across multiple year levels, including: 

• Year 7 – Phillip Island 
• Year 8 – Creswick 
• Year 9 – Tasmania & City Experience 
• Year 11 – Central Australia Tour 
• Performing Arts Camps 
• Music Camps 
• Language Camps and Tours 
• Various Overseas Camps and Experiences 
• Leadership Camps 
• Duke of Edinburgh Camps 

Planning and Organisation 

Our dedicated teaching staff invest significant time and effort into planning camps, with some taking over a year to organise. To ensure these experiences are accessible and affordable, we need to confirm student numbers early in the process. 

Many camps begin with an Expression of Interest (EOI) event on Compass. It is important for parents and carers to register their child’s interest in the camp at this stage, as this provides us with an estimate of attendance and costs. 

For some camps there are limited places available. If the number of interested students exceeds capacity, attendees are selected through a random ballot. Students not selected are placed on a waiting list and may be offered a spot if others withdraw.  

Consent and payments for camps must be made before the due date specified on the event. The school cannot accept any late payments or consent for camps. If your child wishes to withdraw from the camp at any stage, the school must be notified as soon as possible.  

Students withdrawing from camps and excursions are not automatically entitled to a refund. Where NO COST is incurred by the school, a full refund will be payable to the student when: 

• The student's place is filled by another student 
• The Principal deems the student’s withdrawal was unavoidable eg. Illness. Proof of reason for withdrawal may be requested in such circumstances. 

Where some cost has been incurred by the school, a partial refund will be payable to the student withdrawing when: 

• The Principal deems the student’s withdrawal was unavoidable. In such cases the refund will be the full amount paid by the student, less expenses incurred by the school as a result of the withdrawal. 

Where FULL COST has been incurred by the school no refund will be payable to the student withdrawing when the Principal deems the withdrawal was avoidable.  Refer College Refund Policy. 

If you have any questions about camps, please contact the school or the camp organiser. 

Thank you for your support, we are extremely lucky to be able to offer so many camps at Brentwood. 

Student Lunches can now be ordered online via the Qkr app

Canteen Menu 

Electronic device use at Brentwood Canteen

We would like to thank you for your continued support with the Personal Mobile Devices Policy. We have noticed students trying to utilise their phones as a payment method at the canteen and ask that families look to make other arrangements. 

Mobile phones are not to be used at the canteen as they are not allowed to be in use between the school hours of 8.45am and 3.05pm. 

Students can make payment via an EFTPOS card or cash.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Robyn Geshev

Business Manager