Principal's Report

Our New Canteen!

Earlier this year when the school learnt that both of our canteen staff were retiring the school began a process of tendering out the school canteen. The purpose of this was to provide our students with a better service in terms of quality, healthy wholesome food which the school was not able to provide had it kept running the canteen. We are very lucky to welcome Chalkboard Catering into our school community who are looking forward to working with developing our canteen further.

Since the new canteen opened on day one of this term there has been a hive of activity outside the canteen every recess and lunchtime as students begin to get used to the increased variety of food and drinks on offer. This has resulted in serving times increasing and unfortunately for some students, they are missing some ‘old favourites’ that were previously available. Over time students will develop some new favourites as we encourage them to take advantage of the increased variety on offer. We are also looking forward to investing in some modification to the internal and external areas of the canteen so that the students have an even greater experience by:

1. Improving the internal space so that an even greater variety of food can be sold.
2. Improving the serving window so that students are served more efficiently.
3. Improving the outside area surrounding the canteen to provide a nicer environment for students to enjoy.

We are planning on starting these works in 2018 in preparation for next year.

School Improvement Initiatives

On Monday, July 23 the Principal Team hosted a parent forum to further inform interested parents on the exciting improvement initiatives planned for the coming years ahead. This was a great opportunity for parents to ask questions and seek a better understanding of how these initiatives will help improve student learning at Brentwood. It was also an opportunity for parents to provide feedback to the school that will help with the implementation of each of them.

In addition, I have met with Year 11 Captains, Year 12 Captains and the Student Executive to further inform students about these improvements and how they will impact on them. I have been very impressed with the level of interest of our students and thankful for their thoughts, contributions and feedback so far. Student voice and engagement in these improvements is very important and therefore a 'Student Voice Team' is being established to work with Mr Cohen and the Principal Team in helping shape the implementation of these changes. All students are welcome to nominate to be involved.

For an overview of the improvements please read the letter to the community here. In addition to this letter the information below summarises some of the key conversations with students and parents so far:

Timetable Structure Changing to a 4 x 75 minute period over a two week period:

There has been discussion around the duration of the period and whether some students may find this overwhelming. Currently, students have 96-minute lessons and other schools with this period length don't report this as an issue. 75 minutes was deemed appropriate for Brentwood as it will allow teachers to plan greater variety in their lessons, time for students to practice and consolidate their learning and practical activities (i.e. Science Labs or Pracs) will be able to occur any lesson. It will also significantly reduce lost learning time due to transitions.

There have been a number of questions regarding the structure of the school day (i.e. 2 periods before recess or 1 period before recess) and whether or not the bell times will change. This is something that we will be consulting with students on over this term. Having said this, the bell times will have to change to accommodate the 75 minute period length and a 5-minute mini break between the two periods that would occur in a row. However, these changes will be relatively minor.

The inclusion of Houses into the School Structure:

Some concerns were raised that there were some members of the community who thought that students would only ever be in their houses and not mixing with other students. This will not be the case. Students will still be in year levels with mixed classes. However, the school will be using a House Model to provide students with a more consistent model of support throughout their schooling. This will involve 4 Heads of House and 20 House Leaders.

Students, particularly in the Senior Years, have expressed concern about what might happen to their Home Groups. How this is managed will be determined once further consultation has occurred with the students around a variety of options. Senior students were also concerned that some of the long-standing Brentwood traditions might be lost. For example the final Year 12 assembly. There are no plans to stop these long-standing traditions at our school.

A number of discussions have also centred around how will students be placed in houses and what colours they might be etc. This will be determined in consultation with students and staff over this term.

VET and VCAL Pathways:

The feedback around these has been very positive and has reinforced that parents and students want to know more about these pathways. The school will continue to provide opportunities for parents and students to gain a better understanding of these pathways options over the coming weeks (i.e. course counselling) and months ahead.

Staffing Changes

I would like to congratulate Mr Daniel Webber who has been appointed to the role of Acting Assistant Principal at Heathmont College until the end of the year. He will be a great asset for the Heathmont Community during this time. As a consequence, Ms Catherine Hunter being appointed as the Acting Head of Faculty for Science and Ms Sharon Duong has also been appointed as a classroom teacher in the Science Team.

Secondly, I would like to recognise the contribution of Mr Chris Pantlin who left Brentwood on Friday July 20. He has taken on a new role outside of teaching. Mr Pantlin has been a wonderful teacher and leader at Brentwood over the past 5 years and we are very grateful for the impact he has made. Obviously, we wish him every success in his new role and hope that he keeps in touch with our community as he will be missed. The school is currently going through a process to replace Chris until the end of the year.

Central Australia Camp

Thank you to the team of staff who safely led our Year 11 students to the ‘top end’ and back again. From all reports, the students had a wonderful time and have made lifelong memories. These experiences bring so much to the growth and development of our students and I am very grateful to the staff going above and beyond to provide these rich opportunities to our students.

John Ballagh, Principal