Connections Brighton Secondary School
Connecting with the past, building the future
2014 will be long remembered in Brighton Secondary School’s illustrious history.
Principal Comments
This year, we officially opened the magnificent Bright Centre, a state-of-theart learning facility and the Concert Hall with its award-winning acoustics. We completed the redevelopment of the old canteen into Physical Education spaces and a Spin Room; refurbished Science laboratories and Reception; relocated offices; external painting of buildings and the reinvigoration of the Spence Hall into a Senior Student Centre. Throughout the year, students and staff worked around dust and demolition noise, patiently awaiting the transformation to creative learning spaces. No one was disappointed with the outcome, especially the Year 8 students who were privileged to learn in the Bright Centre. All students have had many opportunities to show initiative and demonstrate their creative and critical thinking skills. For example, the Think Bright class in its inaugural year, has proved to be a most successful model to develop teacher teams and student-led learning. The students and staff in the Think Bright program have developed approaches to challenge-based learning to share with all Year 8 stakeholders. The team successfully produced an iBook which was uploaded onto iTunes. Students have been involved in challengebased learning in many different subjects. With the Technologies and Art teachers, the students designed and built creative furniture and sculptures to scatter throughout the lanes between buildings. These laneways are called Learning Laneways where an environment is created to provide for innovative short lessons during lunch time. Students in Years 9 to 12 have been fortunate to learn with a laptop since 2010 and in 2014 I am delighted that finally Year 8 students have been brought on board with their own mobile device. I thank the parents for agreeing to purchase an iPad for their child. At school, students learn how to engage with Asia in all their subjects as required in the Australian Curriculum. Students from the Student Leadership Council organised and publicised the successful Moon Lantern Festival with our Holdfast Partnership Schools and Kindergartens. The festival brought
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the wider Holdfast Council community together in a joyful celebration of intercultural understanding. Many students raised money through a variety of activities connected to understanding Asia to build a kindergarten for deserving children in Cambodia. Year 10 and 11 students personally built sections of the kindergarten when they travelled to Cambodia with the World Challenge Organisation. Students designed questions and composed the music for the inaugural Brighton Q & A (Question & Answer) event in the Brighton Theatre. A panel of experts discussed the premise that, ‘The Age of Entitlement is Over’. As parents and staff remain concerned about student safety on the Net and their capacity to make safe decisions, the Q & A event combined associated contemporary issues like privacy, work prospects, health and tertiary options. The community responded so positively to the Q & A it will become a bi-ennial event at Brighton Secondary School. Year 8 student, Charlotte Rayner, organised the highly acclaimed Biggest Morning Tea to raise money for cancer research. His Excellency the Governor, Kevin Scarce, accepted her invitation to attend as the special guest. Charlotte also secured Channel 9 to promote the event then broadcast it on the news. The delicious and abundant food provided to 550 Year 8 and 9 students was donated through her strategic planning. continued on page 2