Principal's Report

A great start to 2023! 

There has certainly been a hive of activity around Brentwood during the first week of school. Our new students in Year 7 have settled in very quickly and our Year 12’s have been focused and determined to do their best after their three day immersion program.  

On the second day of the term, we had a whole school assembly where we formally welcomed the Year 7 students into the Brentwood Community. Each class entered the Hall to a loud round of applause from their peers in other year levels. It was a very warm welcome and helped make our students feel connected and valued by their school. 

Staffing Update: 

As the year begins I would like to introduce our community to staff who hold key positions within the college. Please click on the link below for a list of staff. Through their roles, these staff will have responsibility for leading various aspects of our school that support students being their best learners and people. 

In particular, we welcome Dean Korlos, who has been appointed as the Acting Associate Principal replacing Evan Miller who is currently the Principal of Highvale Secondary College. Dean brings a wealth of experience and will be leading the Teaching and Learning in partnership with Sonja Ardley (Associate Principal). Peter Rhodes will continue as the Associate Principal leading a ‘positive climate for learning’ by overseeing the House Hub, Wellbeing and our Inclusion and Diversity programs with in the school. 

Our Values:  

As we begin 2023, it is timely that as a school community we take a moment to reflect on our values and behaviours that create a positive learning culture at Brentwood where we expect all students to achieve their best as a learner and a person. Central to what drives our culture is our values for learning and community. Please see below.  

For our students, we also have a clear set of expectations that provide students with clear behaviours that demonstrate our values on a daily basis. These include: 

During the first assembly of the year, students were reminded of our school values and expectations and challenged to think about what they want to achieve this year as a learner and a person. We would encourage parents and students to discuss these values and how they can be demonstrated at school and other area of their lives.  

The Brentwood Teaching and Learning Model: 

Over the past 12 months the staff at Brentwood Secondary College have been developing the Brentwood Teaching and Learning Model. Basically, this is the application of high impact, evidence based teaching and learning practices that are applied across all classrooms at Brentwood that meet the needs of our school community. Whilst this work is always ongoing because the needs of our students continue to evolve, I wanted to highlight the Lesson Framework and Student Learner model components in this edition of the newsletter. We will highlight other areas of the model throughout the school year.   

Lesson Framework: 

This has was trialled in various ways over the past few years and is a result of what worked well during both Remote Learning and last year when we returned to a normal school year. Basically, the lesson framework achieves the following: 

• It ensures there are consistent elements across all classes, but acknowledges that each class is different and therefore will be applied by teachers to best meet the needs of their students.  
• It provides a common language for teachers and students to use so that students will be able to have a greater agency over their learning.
• It also ensures that during learning new skills and knowledge there is a gradual shift of responsibility for learning from the teacher to the student. This is critical for students to be independent and lifelong learners. 

Below is a diagram that outlines our Lesson Framework for 2023: 

As we implement this lesson framework, all teachers will be posting their daily or weekly lesson plans on their classes Teams channel. These are a brief outline of the lesson that serves the following purposes:  

• It clearly states to the students what the goals of the lesson are and how students will know if they are successful or not. 
• They articulate which phase of the lesson framework students will be focused on at various stages of the lesson. Depending on the learning goals and where students are at in their learning this could be either more teacher or student focused.  

To ensure that this lesson framework has a positive impact on students, teachers will be expecting them to engage in the lesson plans posted on Teams before the lesson begins. Over time, we expect all students to have read these brief plans on Teams and be aware of what will be happening in their lessons before the class begins. This will help foster a culture of student agency in their learning and focus students in class. For our parents, we encourage you to discuss this new habit with your children and remind them to check their lesson plans as part of their daily/weekly habits for their subjects. 

Student Learner Model: 

We know as educators that what matters most is what students are doing when learning both in or out of class. In other words, learning can’t happen without the student engaging in task a that will help develop their skills and knowledge. Therefore, our model recognises that learning is a 50/50 partnership between the teacher and the student. Over the coming months, we will be working with students to document what effective learning habits are required by students to ensure they are able to get the most out of the learning opportunities at Brentwood. This will be known as the Brentwood Learner Model and will help students to have greater agency over their learning and ultimately enabling them to live our vision for learning.  

Presentation Evening: 

Last night, the College held the 2022 Presentation Evening where we celebrated students who achieved outstanding growth and/or achievement in their learning or as a person in 2022. The evening was attended by approximately 800 parents and students, along with special community guests who helped present various awards. 

I would like to congratulate all of the award recipients for their achievement and I hope that this recognition further motivates them to continue being and doing their best in 2023. Please find attached booklet of the night's proceedings.  

On behalf of the College community I would like to thank Joel Batalha who led the Presentation Night. It is an enormous task and we are very grateful for his leadership of the event and for the efforts of the many staff who supported him making the night a great success. 

John Ballagh 

Principal