Principal's Report

Student Voice in Action! 

“Student voice is not simply about giving students the opportunity to communicate ideas and opinions; it is about students having the power to influence change. Authentic student voice provides opportunities for students to collaborate and make decisions with adults around what and how they learn and how their learning is assessed. This is known to lead to improved educational outcomes.” (Department of Education and Training, 2019) 

During the past few weeks, student voice has been a highlight in multiple forums across the College. Below are a few examples of how students are providing feedback on their experience as students at Brentwood so we can continue to give our students the best possible learning outcomes: 

 PIVOT Feedback Surveys:

Twice a year, all teachers seek feedback from students on their learning experiences in class by using a survey tool called PIVOT which is aligned to global teaching frameworks. During the beginning of term 2 teachers will be reflecting on the collated data from 8979 surveys and leading activities in their classrooms to get greater clarity from students about their learning experience. Here is a snapshot of the whole school data with the top three responses from students (on a scale of 1 – 6): 

• This teacher knows a lot about the topics in this class (5.24)
• I know how I am supposed to behave in class (5.21)
• This teacher respects me for who I am (5.15)

Some areas for further investigation include: 

• This teacher gives me choices about the work I do (4.63) 
• This teacher helps me to set goals for my learning (4.65) 
• This teacher asks questions that make me think deeply (4.69) 

These results are consistent from previous years with our students valuing the knowledge and expertise their teachers bring to the classroom. We are pleased to see that our students valuing the respect that their teachers give them too.  

Our updated Brentwood Teaching and Learning Model that we are gradually implementing this year will assist us in giving students even more choice and assist them in their goal setting within class. We are currently trialling a student ‘Learner Profile’ with Year 7 and VCE Vocational Major students which we are planning on developing further.

Student Forums:

From Monday March 27 – 29 students from each year level participated in student forums to provide feedback to staff and members of the leadership team about their learning experiences at Brentwood so far this year. Students were asked about the following areas: 

• Their experiences with the Brentwood Lesson Framework and Student Learner Model.  
• Any changes they had noticed in their learning experiences.  
• Areas of the school yard that students were concerned about. 
• Their experience with the new Merit system this year. 

Students were engaged and provided rich feedback to the Leadership Team. This feedback included: 

• Students are appreciating teachers posting daily or weekly lesson plans on their class ‘Teams Site’. These lesson plans clearly state to the student the goals of the lesson and how students will know if they are successful or not. They also inform the students about what phase of the Brentwood Lesson Framework students will be focused on at various stages of the lesson.  
• Students are engaging with their lesson plans differently depending on the subject, teacher and stage of the unit they are studying.
• A majority of students engage with lesson plans regularly and more prefer weekly plans rather than daily plans.
• Students have noticed changes in their lessons since the introduction of the 60-minute periods. This has resulted in some students noticing a faster pace and others requesting more time to practice or apply their learning in class.
• Some students reported concerns about a small number of students loitering, littering and vandalising toilets.
• Students reported an appreciation of the new merits this year, however, there appears to be some confusion about the new process with students. 

Staff will be using this information to inform future decision making. For example, this will include alterations to student toilets with the installation of vape detectors. Staff will revisit the new Merit System with students and continue posting lesson plans with a greater emphasis on students engaging in them more so that they can get the maximum benefit from the structure they provide.  

Learner Model Workshop:

On Monday approximately 40 students from all year levels worked with staff on articulating the expectations of students during the four phases of the Brentwood Lesson Framework. This work was based on 850 student survey responses.  

Four groups of students worked on each phase of the Brentwood Learner Model: ‘I Do It’, ‘We Do It’, ‘You Do It Together’ and ‘You Do It’. It was pleasing to see that students were able to get a consensus on what effective student learning behaviours ‘looks like’, ‘feels like’ and ‘sounds like’ at each stage.  

This feedback will now go back to staff to build a draft version of the Brentwood Learner Model that clearly states the learning expectations of all students at each of the phases of the Lesson Framework.  

Thank you to the following students who participated in the Student Forums and Learner Model Workshops: 

Student Forum Participants:

 Learner Model Workshop Participants:  

Staffing Changes

Earlier this term Aaron Palmer started in his new Assistant Principal – Director of Wellbeing Role. Aaron has been at Brentwood since the beginning of 2022 as the Head of Waratah House and whilst he has continued in this role as well as the Assistant Principal role this term, from the beginning of Term 2 he will be solely focused on his Director of Wellbeing role. This role was created at the beginning of the year as a result of Brian Clements being promoted to a new role at another school and will enable Aaron to lead our enhanced focus on wellbeing in the classroom to support student learning. 

As a consequence of Aaron’s new role, it gives me great pleasure to welcome Callum Mackay to Brentwood as the new Head of Waratah House beginning next term. Callum has previously worked in leadership roles at Keysborough College and Marnebek School and we look forward to him bringing his expertise to our school community next term. 

Happy Holidays

As we approach the end of Term 1 I would like to congratulate the students and staff for their efforts this term and wish everyone an enjoyable break over the Term 1 Holidays. Stay safe and I look forward to seeing the students back at school on Wednesday April 26.  

John Ballagh

Principal