Welcome to a New School Year!

A warm welcome back to all of our returning students and families, and a huge welcome to the Brookside community to all of our new students and families!

It has been a fantastic start to the school year, and it has been wonderful to see our students settle into another year of learning. During the first two weeks of school our staff and students worked through our ‘Start Up’ program, during which students participated in wellbeing and ‘getting to know you’ activities. Staff also focused on school and classroom expectations throughout this time.

Students and staff are filled with excitement about the year ahead, and we look forward to working with everyone in what we hope we are sure will be an amazing 2024 school year!

First Day of Prep!

Our Prep students were very excited to begin their education and get into the classroom for their first official day on Tuesday 6th February. There were lots of smiles and not too many tears from students… or their families!

Thank you to Sarah Jarmen and Sonia Martinovic for putting on refreshments for our Prep parents to gather and enjoy this milestone in their child’s education journey.

P-6 Monday Morning Assemblies

Our Monday morning assemblies are back! Our first one was held on Monday 12th February, and it was very exciting to see all of our P-6 students and many parents in attendance. Our Monday morning assemblies are a great way to keep up to date with what is happening at the school, and is also a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the successes of our students each week. We encourage all P-6 parents to attend whenever you can!

Notice of Election/Call for Nominations for School Council

A reminder that we currently have 5 available positions in our parent/guardian member category on School Council, and 1 position in our student member category. These positions are 2 years in length and will encompass both the 2024 and 2025 school years.

This is a fantastic opportunity to become a member of School Council, which has the ability to set the key directions of a school within state-wide guidelines and directly influence the quality of education that the school provides.

NAPLAN 2024

Students in Years 3, 5, 7 & 9 will be participating in NAPLAN in 2024.

The NAPLAN testing period is scheduled to take place early in the year to give teachers and parents important information about a student's skills and capability sooner, so that more targeted support can be delivered to improve literacy and numeracy skills throughout the year. It will be held during Term 1 from Wednesday 13 March to Friday 22nd March and will encompass the same areas of Reading, Writing, Conventions of Language and Numeracy.

A timetable will be communicated to families in the coming weeks, detailing when students at Brookside College will be participating in the tests. We ask parents of students in Years 3, 5, 7 & 9 to record these dates in home diaries/calendars.

To prepare our students prior to the official testing period, students in Years 3, 5, 7 & 9 will participate in a practice online Reading and Mathematics test on Tuesday 20th February.

A brochure detailing important NAPLAN information for parents has been posted for parents/guardians on Compass. Please take the time to read the information provided in the brochure, and please contact your child’s teacher or Brooke Gillis (Assistant Principal) if you have any questions.

Uniform

Please note that all students at Brookside College are expected to wear the correct school uniform, including wearing a visible school logo and black shoes. For further information about our school uniform, please view the following link on our website: https://brooksidecollege.vic.edu.au/families-community/#uniform

Students in Years Prep-6 MUST also wear a hat when playing outside during Term 1 - students who do not wear a hat will not be able to play outdoors during the summer months.

Consent Forms

A friendly reminder that all parents & guardians are asked to complete the Seesaw and Acceptable User Agreement Forms for each child. Your child needs your consent to be able to use digital technologies while at school and may miss out if you have not submitted your consent.

You would have also recently been sent a notification to complete Photo & Media consent for each child. Brookside College requires permission from parents and guardians in order to publish the participation and achievement of our students in the form of photographs or footage through school media platforms such as newsletters or the school’s website.

Please make sure that you read through all of the information and attachments carefully before submitting your response. If there are any concerns or clarifications needed feel free to contact your child's classroom/home group teacher, or you can contact Brookside's Digital Technologies Learning Specialist, Steven Bennett.

Nomination forms may be obtained from the College Reception from Monday 12th February and must be lodged by 4pm Monday 19th February. The timeline for the nomination and election process can be found on Compass and is also on display at the College. All completed nomination forms are to be delivered or sent to Karen Fernandez (Business Manager) via the College Reception or College email address brookside.p9@education.vic.gov.au

SWIMMING CARNIVALS

Last Thursday our Years 3-6 students and Friday 7-9 students had the opportunity to participate in the annual swimming carnival events.

Congratulations to all the students who attended and participated in the event.

Thank you to Jodie Roach and Hristijan Trajcevski for all their organisation for these events. Your time and commitment is appreciated by the entire school community.

LAUNCH OF HOUSES

Throughout 2022 and 2023 a significant amount of work went into relaunching our Houses here at Brookside. The house logos and names were designed and created by our students and were launched through rigorous consultation with student voice and staff.

We look forward to continuing to build our school pride and students having the opportunity to feel connected to their Houses in the coming years.

STUDENT LEADERSHIP – House Captain Elections

At Brookside P-9 College, leadership is considered to be a vital component for student learning. As such, leadership is not a responsibility confined to the ‘badge wearers’ and is shared by all students and staff.

To support this vision, students in Years 3 to 9 have the opportunity to apply for a range of leadership opportunities as part of the Whole School Student Leadership Program. This program enables students to see how they can use their skills to help others and allows them to have a strong voice within our community.

House Captains & Vice Captains

One House Captain for each house is elected in Years 7-9 and one House Vice Captain in Years 3-6. House Captains have the opportunity to develop a calendar and lead activities/projects within the school that build and promote a sense of belonging.

These Student Leaders work hard to promote their house and encourage students in their house to participate in activities and projects running throughout the school.

Students who have completed and submitted an application will be meeting their house group on Friday 16th February to deliver a speech followed up with students in each house group having a voice and voting on their preferred candidate. We wish all students all the very best during this process.

Positive School Attendance

At Brookside P-9 College, we are committed to providing your child with a high-quality education. Regular school attendance is vital and missing school days can have a big impact on a child’s future - missing one day per fortnight is equal to missing four full weeks by the end of the year… and by Year 10 these students will have missed more than a year of school!

There is no safe number of days for missing school – each day a student misses puts them behind, which can affect their educational outcomes.

As a College we closely monitor each individual students’ attendance and have a clear process in place to support with maintaining expected attendance rates.

If your child is absent from school please phone the College attendance line. Alternatively, you are able to log your child’s absence and the reason directly on Compass, as this will help to keep teachers informed. If you know your child will be absent in advance (holidays or medical appointments) please enter the dates on Compass prior to the date of absence.

Parents of students with unexplained absences will receive a follow up phone call or SMS to request a reason for the absence.

If for any reason your child must miss school, there are things we can do together to ensure they don’t fall behind:

speak with your classroom teacher and find out what work your child needs to do to keep up.
develop an absence learning plan with your teacher and ensure your child completes the plan.

Annual Privacy Reminder

Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy.

Please take time to read our school’s collection notice, found on our website. For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents. This information is also available in ten community languages:

* Amharic

* Arabic

* Dari

* Gujarati

* Mandarin

* Somali

* Sudanese

* Turkish

* Urdu

* Vietnamese

We hope you have a wonderful weekend and look forward to working in partnership with our parents and community through this year!

The Executive Team

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