Principal News

Welcome back to a New School Year!

It was wonderful to have students and staff back at the beginning of this term, and lovely to be able to have parents back onsite as well! The students had an incredibly settled start to the year, participating enthusiastically in our 2021 Start Up Program and creating a really positive school environment. Our new Preps have also eagerly joined us, establishing routines and learning some new and exciting things.

We look forward to working with our whole school community in what is sure to be an exciting 2021 year!

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 - students who do not wear a hat will not be able to play outdoors during the summer months.

Attendance

So as to ensure that student attendance is recorded accurately, children arriving to school after 9am must enter the school via the front office where they will be marked on Compass as a late arrival.

Parents of students who are absent are asked to enter absence details 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.

Collection of Children during the School Day

We understand that children may have to be collected from school to attend medical or dental appointments, etc. So as to ensure the least possible disruption to classes and to enable the smoothest transition of the child to the parent, please try to notify the teachers and school in advance and please ensure that they are not collected during recess or lunch times (11.00am – 11.45am and 1.45 – 2.15pm). It can be difficult to locate students at these times - children become so engrossed in their play that they are not focused on listening for their name to be called which often results in lengthy delays.

Meet and Greet

Thank you to all of the families who attended the Meet and Greet sessions which were run throughout this week - it was lovely for staff to be able to chat with each of the families in attendance.

Thank you also to the staff and parents who assisted in the Sausage Sizzle, and a big thank you to Sarah Jarman for all of her amazing work in organising these BBQ’s each night.

Acceptable User and Agreement Form/Photo & Media Consent Form

A friendly reminder to ensure that all parents & guardians have completed the Acceptable User and Agreement Form 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.

Notice of Election/Call for Parent and Guardian Nominations for School Council

A reminder to parents and guardians that we currently have 5 available positions in our parent/guardian member category on School Council. These positions are 2 years in length and will encompass both the 2021 and 2022 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.

Nomination forms may be obtained from the College Reception from Monday 8 Feb and must be lodged by 4pm Monday 15 February. The timeline for the nomination and election process can be found on Compass and is also available at the College Reception.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

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 remind yourself of the school’s collection statement, found on our website [add link to your school’s collection statement].

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents. This information is also available in nine community languages:

Amharic
Arabic
Dari
Mandarin
Somali
Sudanese
Turkish
Urdu
Vietnamese

We hope you have a wonderful weekend!

The Executive Team