Principal's Report
Year 12 Exams:
Congratulations to our Year 12 students who completed their final exams last week.
We are proud of their efforts and the way in which they approached their exams. The cohort of students engaged positively with their practice exams, revision seminars/classes and used the support of their teachers and peers.
We wish students all the best as they wait for their results later in the year.
Our Principal Team in 2024:
I am excited to announce that Dean Korlos has been appointed to the substantive Associate Principal position at Brentwood starting in 2024.
Dean will be replacing Evan Miller who has recently been appointed to the substantive Principal position at Highvale Secondary College.
Dean started at Brentwood this year as Associate Principal replacing Evan Miller initially for 12 months and will continue working closely with Sonja Ardley (Associate Principal) in leading Teaching and Learning at Brentwood for many years to come.
I would like to congratulate Dean on his appointment and am looking forward to working with him in the Principal Team.
The Principal Team in 2024 is:
John Ballagh (Principal)
Sonja Ardley (Associate Principal – Teaching and Learning)
Dean Korlos (Associate Principal – Teaching and Learning)
Peter Rhodes (Associate Principal – Positive Climate for Learning)
Aaron Palmer (Assistant Principal – Director of Wellbeing)
Robyn Geshev (Business Manager)
As a Principal Team our focus is to lead strategically in partnership with the wider school community to improve the learning and wellbeing outcomes of all our students.
We are privileged to have the responsibility for leading our school community and are committed to achieving the best possible outcomes for our students in 2024 and beyond.
Head Start:
Today is the final day of the 2023 academic year. Over the next two days staff will be finalizing assessments and preparing for the 2024 academic year starting on Monday November 27 when ‘Head Start’ begins. During Head Start all students are promoted to the next year level and begin the 2024 timetable (i.e. Year 7 students start their Year 8 timetable).
Head Start gives students the opportunity to get an introduction to their 2024 subjects, set some challenging learning goals and for their teachers to get to know them as learners and people. This information is then used by teachers to make appropriate adjustments so that student engagement is maximized.
Year 7’s in 2024
During the past week our future Year 7 students have continued their transition program into Brentwood by visiting the school to undertake literacy and numeracy assessments, tour the school and meet some key staff. It was a pleasure to see our excited new students who are all looking forward to beginning their Brentwood journey next year.
We are looking forward to seeing them again on our information evening on December 11 and Orientation Day on Tuesday December 12.
Planning for 2024
Earlier this month the Brentwood Leadership Team, consisting of 21 staff, participated in a two-day conference to further support their leadership development and to plan school improvement initiatives for 2024. This involved the team using the Clifton Strengths assessment tool to provide each member with a report on their unique strengths and how they can be used within their teams at Brentwood. This was followed by a workshop led by Glen Pearsall focusing on developing others. Glen is a well-known educational expert who has worked with schools in Australia and overseas and were very grateful to spend a half day with him.
The second day saw the Leadership Team break into smaller groups to plan the implementation of key improvement strategies in 2024. These are all focused on maximising the learning growth of all students, optimisting student wellbeing and maximising student agency of every student at Brentwood.
John Ballagh
Principal