HoL Programs 

With the challenges posed to our students during the ever-changing dynamic that is the pandemic, we can truly say that our students have risen to the challenges facing them and shown many of the school values, if not all.  The values of Brookside College are Rights, Resilience, Respect and Relationships and the resilience shown by the students adapting to the changes in on-site at school learning to remote learning and back again is commendable. 

Relationships that have developed within the cafe have continued to flourish during our remote learning program where the students come together via Zoom to bake together and share their creations. Each participant has been respectful to the fact that we are cooking in our own homes.  A lot of fun was had making pancakes last term followed by omelettes and French Toast in the following week.  The return of remote learning in term 3 saw the cafe students making chocolate chip cookies together followed the next day with our first ever group Zoom lunch with all the HOL teams, cafe, trade and landscaping.

The cafe program whilst on-site have busily been working on newly acquired skills in coffee making and refining culinary skills in the kitchen. Cafe has also been working closely with the Food Technology year 9 elective team and SAKG to assist in raising funds for the Biggest Morning Tea yearly cancer council fundraiser. The Whole School BBQ saw the cafe teams make hedgehog, rice bubble slice and honey joys over the course of a week to prepare for the event. On the day of the event all the HOL teams (cafe, trade, and landscape) came together with the Food Technology students to cook and serve sausages and sell baked goods to the school community. It was wonderful to see how well everyone worked together to work towards a common goal. 

The primary and secondary landscaping students have been working hard on the vegetable garden with bok choy, radish and silverbeet growing well. Winter crops have been planted and will be ready for cafe to use by the middle of term three. 

Wall planters using PVC pipe have been installed and planted out with vegetables making use of space not usually considered for vegetable gardens. Countries such as Singapore are widely using PVC pipe to cultivate food for their communities making it a very effective use of space in an otherwise concrete landscape. It is fantastic to see our Artisan Teachers bringing modern cultivation practices into Brookside College for our students to embrace.

Trade have been working on various projects whilst on-site, however completing them has been hampered by the recent lockdowns.  A much needed tool shed was completed before restrictions took place and will be greatly appreciated by the landscaping team when we return. 

Teachers and students alike are keen to return to school to finalise projects and reacquaint themselves in their respective teams and environments and we can’t wait to see how they will go going forward.