Brookside P-9 College Newsletter

Principal News

2022 Wrap Up 

As we come to the end of another incredible school year, we find ourselves reflecting (yet again!) on how extremely proud we are to be a part of the wonderful community here at Brookside College. There have been many fabulous events; our Community Festival, Colour Run, Book Week Parade, and multiple camps/excursions/incursions just to name a few. There have also been an abundance of opportunities provided to our students to grow and develop in various ways, whether they be academic, sporting, artistic, or musical. To that end, we would like to thank our students for doing their best in all they do, our staff for their remarkable commitment and tenacity, and you, our parents, for your support and assistance throughout the year. 

 

It is with great sadness that we say a heartfelt thank you and farewell to some incredible staff at the end of this year: 

  • After many years working at Brookside as a valued member of the Facilities team, Peter Morley will be retiring at the end of this year. We wish him all the best and hope that his retirement is full of adventure! 
  • Rachel Kent has been a valued member at Brookside College for a number of years, and has helped to shape student learning and wellbeing in various leadership roles during this time. Rachel will be leaving us to take on an Assistant Principal role at another school, and we wish her the very best in her new endeavour.
  • Demi Geary and Aaron Floyd have both played instrumental roles at Brookside over the last few years, leading students and staff in their capacity as Year Level Leaders. Both Demi and Aaron will be leaving us to take on Wellbeing Leading Teacher roles at other schools in 2023, and we hope that this next chapter of their careers is an exciting one.
  • Gab Devereaux and Morgana Russell have been important members of the Brookside community for a number of years, and have supported both students and staff throughout this time. We hope that they enjoy working at their new schools, and thank them both for the contributions they have made throughout their time at Brookside. 
  • Bishoy Hanna, Tiana Warner-Carlisle, Jade Abela and Anne Vercoe joined the Brookside team a few years ago, but leave us now to try some new experiences. We thank them all for their hard work and wish them all the best in their future ventures. 
  • Aleisha Stewart-Hattie and Nora El Tonsi have worked as part of the Brookside staff for the last six months, and we thank them for their involvement at the school during this time. We wish them all the best for 2023 and beyond. 
  • Nicholle Russell and Sam Salvadori will both be taking a year of leave from Brookside in 2023 to try new experiences. We hope they both enjoy this time and we look forward to seeing you back in 2024. 

We would also like to take this opportunity to say goodbye to the students (including our amazing Year 9 graduates!) who will be leaving us at the end of this year. We wish them everything they could hope for in the future and send them away with the knowledge that they have left their mark on Brookside - the school is a better place because they were here.

 

College Captains 2023

Congratulations to our 2023 Brookside College School Captains: Jessica R and Jackson P

 

We know that these students will represent Brookside College with pride, and we look forward to working with them in their new roles in the coming year!

 

A huge thank you to our tremendous 2022 Captains Jacob C and Sophia V for all of their hard work this year. Jacob and Sophia put in an amazing amount of effort throughout the year and we are incredibly proud of their leadership growth and achievements. They have been wonderful role models for all students across the College and have been dedicated to having a positive impact. We wish them both the best of luck in their future years. 

 

Community Festival

Our 2022 Community Festival was held on Tuesday 29 November. After cancelling it earlier this year due to bad weather, it ended up being the perfect day! Over 400 sausages, between 500-600 serves of fairy floss and popcorn, 80 litres of slushies, and countless balloon animals were made and provided on the day to a huge crowd

Thank you to everyone who assisted at or attended the festival - it was fabulous to see everyone together again and watch the students enjoy themselves! A special thank you to Sarah Jarman, who put in numerous hours to ensure the festival was a success. 

Brookside SWPBS Shop Grand Opening

Our first ever SWPBS Shop was opened to students on Thursday 1 December - it was an amazing success that saw many students use their 4R Superstar Rewards to “purchase” from a variety of prizes and experiences. 

We would like to extend our appreciation to everyone who helped with the shop, and in particular Chloe Karras, Dale Thompson and Abi Smith for all of their hard work. We are excited to continue our SWPBS journey in 2023, and making the shop even bigger and better! 

 

 

 

Meet the Teacher & Year 7 Orientation Day – Tuesday 13 December

On Tuesday 13 December students in Years 1-9 (2022) will participate in a ‘Meet the Teacher’ session. During this time students will meet their classroom/home group teachers and their class members for 2023. This is an exciting time for students and we are sure that they will come home full of information about the event. We kindly ask that parents are mindful that a lot of consideration has gone into the planning and development of class groupings, and we thank you for being understanding about where your child/ren are placed.

 

All 2023 Year 7 students will also be participating in the State-wide Orientation on this same day. Throughout the course of this day students will engage in various lessons, meet their classmates and their home group teacher. 

 

Brookside End of Year Concert – Monday 12 December

Our annual end of year concert is fast approaching, and we are excited to be able to invite all families to share the experience with us onsite once again! We thank all of the teachers and students for the effort they are putting into preparing for the event, and look forward to seeing everyone on the night (gates will open at 4.30pm, with performance starting at 4.45pm). A reminder that all food is BYO and we request that guests bring PICNIC RUGS ONLY to ensure that everyone in the audience can see without distraction.

 

Year 6 Graduation

A huge congratulations to all of our Year 6 students who will soon complete their ‘Primary School’ journey, and we hope they enjoy the Graduation celebration to be held at the college on Wednesday 7 December! We are honoured that most of these students will continue on with their Year 7-9 education at Brookside, and we look forward to supporting them as they transition to Year 7. 

 

Year 9 Graduation

It is a very exciting time of year, but a sad time as well as we farewell our Year 9 cohort of students who will celebrate their Graduation in a ceremony to be held at Luxor Reception on Thursday 15 December. We congratulate all graduating students and thank them for choosing Brookside College to be their foundation of learning. We would also like to thank them for all of the contributions they have made to our school community and we wish them every bit of success as they move onto the next stage of their education. 

 

Important Dates for the commencement of 2023

  • Staff commence Term 1 2023 on Friday 27 January.
  • Students in Years 1-9 are expected to return on Monday 30 January. 
  • Prep students will be participating in individual assessment conferences from Monday 30 January – Friday 3 February, and do not attend school during this time. The first official day of school for Prep students will be Monday 6 February. 

We wish all of our families and staff a safe and happy break and we look forward to seeing you all at the beginning of 2023!

 

Warmest regards, 

The Executive Team.