Brentwood Newsletter

Around The College 

NAPLAN – Coordinated Practice Tests

As part of the transition to NAPLAN being completed online, all schools in Victoria are participating in compulsory Coordinated Practice Tests (CPT) to assess and prepare administration structures, ICT infrastructures and student familiarity of an online test platform. Student results and performance data will not be provided, as this is purely a system readiness test. 

 

This testing will occur on Wednesday 23rd of March, during Period 2 and 3, all students in Year 7 and Year 9 will participate in 2 practice tests: 

  • Period 2: Writing Test
  • Period 3: Omnibus Test – comprising of a combination of Language Conventions, Reading and Numeracy questions

Device Requirements: 

Students will be completing the School Readiness Test on their laptop using a special ‘Locked down Browser’. Over the past weeks our IT Technicians have visited all Year 7 and 9 classes to install the Locked down Brower on each student’s device. If your child was absent for this, please ask them to visit the technicians helpdesk, located within the Library at lunch or recess on Monday or Tuesday to ensure they are ready to participate in the testing on Wednesday.

 

Preparing for the Tests:

We ask for your support with the following to ensure that your child is prepared and ready to complete the testing: 

  • Students has all of the required equipment for the testing: 
    • Laptop is fully charged and ready to go for the testing on Wednesday.  
    • A set of wired earphones that can be plugged into their device. Air pods etc. are not suitable – this is absolutely essential for them to complete the Omnibus test. 
  • If a student forgets to bring their device to school on the day, please ask them to go to the library before school on Wednesday to loan a device for the day.
  • Have a discussion with your child about the importance of being familiar with the online testing portal and highlight the importance of them giving this testing their best effort. 

Should you have any questions regarding the NAPLAN Coordinated Practice Tests, please send me an email – Ben.Franklin@education.vic.gov.au 

 

Kind regards,

Ben Franklin – Director of Teaching & Learning 

Term 1 House and Community Day

Theme: Celebrating Diversity

We are excited to inform you of our first upcoming House Day and Community Day for 2022. 

Date: House Day Tuesday 29th MarchCommunity Day Thursday 31st March

When: Lunchtime

Where: House Day Indoor gym and outside gym areaCommunity Day Western Courtyard and surrounding classrooms

 

House Day

House Day runs once a Term. It is a day that focuses on bringing students together in their Houses to build connectedness, a sense of belonging and to foster house spirit. House day has three components:House assembly, House Aspire activities and House lunchtime activities. This term, our House day Aspire activities are based on the theme of Celebrating diversity. Students will partake in a range activities within their Aspire groups that highlight this.  During Aspire, the House and assistant house captains will be running a House assembly. We are really excited to present to you the new format of House assembly that focuses on student achievement, success and showcase. This Term due to COVID restrictions, the assembly will be online. In addition, on House Day, students can join us at lunchtime to participate in a range of activities with a focus on mixing with your friends, having fun, whilst experiencing a sense of belonging. Look out for the signup sheets on Teams for the Year 12 versus the school dodgeball competition, come down to the outside the gym area to listen to some tunes and join in the multiple outdoor activities.

 

Community Day

Each term the SRC team together with the student leadership team, plan, organize and run a Community day. The aim of Community day is to bring students together as a whole school community to recognize, acknowledge and celebrate important social events and issues and participate in associated activities. Our theme for this Term’s Community Day is Celebrating diversity: Celebrating our differences, as well as our common interests, helps unite and educate us. This includes our ability to understand other's perspectives, to broaden our own, and to fully experience and educate ourselves. Promoting diversity is the first step to not just “tolerance” but true inclusion and acceptance. Through growing contact with, exposure to, and communication between people who are not like us, we can learn how to relate to difference in a way, where difference doesn’t have to be a problem, a barrier, or a threat.

 

Our Community Day is on Thursday 31st March. During this day, for a gold coin donation, students will be able to wear casual dress. The money raised from casual dress day, will be going towards supporting families in flood striction Queensland and NSW. On the day, the gold coin will be collected during Period one. Please make note of the following casual dress guidelines:

During Lunchtime, the SRC, together with our student leadership team will be hosting a range of activities in the Western Courtyard. These activities include a photo booth, face painting, culture games, music and dancing, a change my mind debate, to just to name a few. 

 

We look forward to everyone participating in the upcoming two days.

 

Tracey Cain and the Student leadership team.

Director of Student Leadership

 

Excursion to the Royal Botanical Gardens Cranbourne

On the 14th of February the Year 12 Environmental Science class took a trip to the Royal Botanical Gardens in Cranbourne to learn about the wildlife and environmental impacts that have affected the Southern Brown Bandicoot. Cranbourne is home to the Royal Botanic Gardens. More than 200 hectares of residual vegetation in Cranbourne sustain a range of habitats. The land was purchased from the Commonwealth in 1970. Previously, the koolin people, the Australian army, farmers, and sand miners have used it. Because of the many soil types, it is a perfect location for the growth of numerous natural plants, which in turn supports a diversified fauna.

A bus driven by Mr. Mclaughlan was taken to the site. Upon arrival, an expert guided the class to a seminar room to educate the year 12s on the Southern Brown Bandicoot followed by a tour of the habitat and field study. Transect study, scats identification, sand pad analysis were undertaken to investigate the habitat and presence of Bandicoots. We were able to identify that the Southern bandicoot is not a threat to suburban neighbourhoods yet are killed as they are mistaken for mice and other small pests. The decline in the species could lead to their extinction and the Australian Garden aims to preserve the lives of the Southern Brown Bandicoot by providing a natural habitat protected from predators. Overall, the Year 12s excursion to the Royal Botanical Gardens was a very informative and one which educated the class on how the Southern Brown Bandicoot came to be endangered and the importance of keeping them from extinction. 

 

Erica Chung, Harshad Chandler – Year 12 Environmental Science 

 

 

 

VCAL Stall at Athletics Carnival

The VCAL Intermediate students are going to be involved in a range of activities at the Athletics Carnival on 24th March, including running the BBQ, raffle, games etc. Please visit the VCAL stall at the carnival to participate.