Dear Parents and Carers

Firstly, I would very much like to congratulate Mr Murray and Ms Mackrill on the recent birth of baby Xavier and Mr Blundell, and his wife Olivia, on the safe arrival of Ned.  

This week Ms Bignell and I interviewed Year 9 students who are interested in a student leadership role at Brooks High next year.   This was part of a three-step process that includes a written application, interview and speech shared in a special assembly.   I was very impressed by the way these students exhibited all our school, and department values.  All were understandably nervous, and they showed significant aspiration, growth and courage in their commitment to the process.  Their respectful endeavour to support Brooks to be the best needs to be highly commended. 

I would also like to congratulate our Year 8 students who participated in a Business Challenge last week.   Each student had a stall promoting their ideas and merchandise, which they shared with staff and students from across our school. Much work went into these stalls and ideas were very innovative and cleverly designed.    The wide range of student enterprise initiatives included sports products, body building, animal portraits, culinary delights, glamour beauty products and henna tattoos.    Well done Year 8’s.

Congratulations to our Inter-High Athletics team who competed at St Leonards on Wednesday, 18 November, 2020 and took out all three shields on the day being Division 2 Junior Trophy, Division 2 Senior Trophy and the Division 2 Aggregate Perpetual Trophy.  A fantastic effort and we are very proud of this achievement.

Teachers are now in the middle of report writing and end of year planning.    This year, our end of year assemblies will look different from previous years due to the COVID restrictions we have to follow.   We are limited to approximately 200 adults in our gym, due to physical distancing requirements, and this includes teachers and other Brooks staff.   For our Final Assembly on Friday 11 December, there will be no special guests such as presenters or representatives from outside organisations.   Students who are receiving an award will be given two invitations for family members.  At our Year 10 Graduation Assembly on Wednesday 16 December, each Year 10 student will be given two invitations. Family members will then need to present the invitation to be able to enter the assembly.  

I am a strong believer in family-school-community partnerships because when families and community members are involved in student learning, students improve their academic performance and gain advocates that promote their success, helping them feel more confident at school and in taking on more rigorous classwork.   These assemblies are celebrations of student work and achievement and I am challenged by these restrictions, however, in 2020, sadly we have little choice in this.   I thank everyone in advance for their support in this unprecedented year.

Mrs Louise Fisher
Principal