Dear community,

Congratulations to our students, staff, parents/carers and broader school community – we have had an unbelievable first term as we have begun this journey together of creating a new school for our local community and it is no small part due to the considered effort of all of our stakeholders within our school community.

Thank you to our students for their engagement in learning and creating a positive school culture, giving us a real sense of excitement for what the future holds here at Brinbeal Secondary College. Our students have engaged with our programs across the areas of learning, wellbeing and extra-curricula events. Thank you to our staff team for their flexibility, responsiveness and, most of all, their outstanding capacity to put students at the center of decision-making.

As parents and carers, you have supported us along the journey, provided constructive feedback where it is needed and also sung our praises when it is warranted. Most of all, you have supported your children and our students to be positive contributors to our college and culture, thank you. Our broader community must be thanked for their ongoing support and extremely high interest in our school and its success.

I would like to thank all the foundation Brinbeal Secondary College staff for their tremendous efforts this term. To be part of a new school requires dedication, resilience and a high level of positivity. Both the Education Support and Teaching staff have worked tirelessly this term to build a safe and orderly work environment. Our work is never finished but I thank them for a great start.

NAPLAN

Congratulations to all students for their effort and focus during the recent NAPLAN testing. Students are to be commended on their application and ensuring they tried their best.

All parents of students will receive a NAPLAN report on their child’s results later in the year. The report is only one aspect of the school’s assessment and reporting process and does not replace the more extensive and informed judgements made about your child by teachers. Thanks to our dedicated Assistant Principals & ICT team who are working tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure the College meets all technical requirements.

Drills

You may have heard from your child (and seen from our Compass post) about a emergency drill that was conducted at the College last week. All DET schools are required by the DET to conduct emergency response exercises (also known as drills) at least once each term.

The benefits of conducting a drill are:

staff get to know and practice their emergency response responsibilities
students become familiar with different response procedures
the College learns from the drill by reviewing and improving response procedures.

Conducting drills for different types of emergency situations keeps our students and staff safe as it helps us to be better prepared in case we need to respond to a real emergency. We fully recognise the importance of rehearsing our response procedures to emergency incidents.

Following each drill, we hold a staff debrief to ensure we address any issues so that we can make continual improvements. This drill was conducted successfully so please pass on our thanks to your child.

As we end Term 1, I would like to wish all members of our school community a healthy, happy and safe school holiday break. We look forward to seeing you all students return for the first day of term 2 on Monday 15th April.

Kind Regards,

Mr. Simon Haber

College Principal

As a staff team we are committed to providing a diverse and inclusive school with our students and your children. We encourage you to partner with us as we build our high expectations for our school community as a whole. Your feedback is always welcome and I can be contacted on 03 8001 3333 or via email at Brinbeal.SC@education.vic.gov.au

Attendance:

Your child’s attendance at school is critical.

“Missing school can have a big impact on students academically and socially. It can affect their test results, just as importantly, it can affect their relationships with other students, and lead to social isolation.

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

Recognising the fundamental importance of attendance to academic success, we emphasise the significance of regular school attendance. It is imperative for students to maintain an attendance rate of at least 90% to maximise their learning opportunities. Any student falling below this benchmark will receive support to address their attendance issues, ensuring they remain on track with their studies.

For students with attendance below 80%, we will collaborate closely with families and our Wellbeing Team to provide tailored support and interventions to improve attendance.

Important Dates

Term 2 Key Dates