We are nearly there, what a year!

In what has been an ever-changing landscape, Belridge SC has gone from strength to strength over the last 12 months. With the festive season around the corner, I would like to take this time to reflect on some of our major successes this year.

Working through another year of COVID uncertainty has been a difficult task. But at Belridge SC we have continued to make some big strides forward. The Global pandemic has tested our ability to adapt and evolve to a new online world. As a school we have developed our skill set and worked hard to put together our Connected Learning Plan. Hopefully we will not need it, but if the situation arises, we are prepared.

2021 has saw some massive events at the College, at the start of the year we opened our new Performing Arts Centre. Our Arts students did us proud performing some beautiful dance and musicial pieces.  Later in the year we held the official opening of the Bindi Bindi Garden.  In the presence of Noongar Radio and our local member Caitlin Collins, Elder Josh McGuire opened the proceeding with his welcome to country and smoking ceremony. It was a beautiful sunny spring day and the garden looked amazing. A big thank you to Mr Werner and the team for their work with the garden.

2021 also saw the celebration of our 30^th birthday here at Belridge. The birthday event was celebrated on Friday 5th November with staff and students from across the decades in attendance. Guests were then treated to a wonderful gallery display, detailing the memories from each year for the last 30 years. We were then treated to some heart-warming vignettes from our long standing staff members Anna Dyer, Lyn Girvin and Lazo Njegich as they spoke about “What Belridge means to me”.

Our staff have engaged in a variety of professional learning activities across the year. As part of our commitment to build the capacity of our staff and develop future leaders, our second cohort has been selected as part of the JLC Future Leaders Framework forming a group of 17 staff from BSC in total. Our Senior Management Team has also been involved in a suite of training to develop their skills as leaders, further building capacity at the College.

Our work with our educational partners and local businesses has continued with some amazing opportunities being provided for our students. The support from ECU, ABCN and from the Rotary Club has been outstanding.

Our new STEM and Humanities Academic Enrichment Program has completed its first year, with a new cohort ready to join in 2022. Our inaugural AEP showcase took place earlier this term with students presenting a project that they have been working on across the year to the community. The event was well attended and received a great amount of positive feedback. Well done to Ms Bartle and all involved on such a fantastic event.

Our sporting achievements have been coming thick and fast, with the most notable being our back-to-back wins in the Kim Hughes Shield. Our Cricket and Netball programs are amongst the best, if not the best in the state. The presentation evening at the WACA this term was evidence of the success of these programs. A big thank you to the staff involved in the delivery of these programs, in particular Mr Ogilvie and Miss Markovic for their efforts throughout the year and Mr Bennett for his support.

Our Fashion and Design students have also seen success this year, in particular Belridge winning the special award in the Mandurah Wearable Art and the Society and Environment Formal wear categories at the APEX fashion awards. A big thank you to Anna Dyer for her support of these students.

Our Year 10 Business students have been involved in an Entrepreneurship exercise that has seen a massive profit of $409.60 being raised for our Christmas Hamper Appeal. A big thank you to the students and Mrs Gendle for all of their work with this. It really will make a difference to our community over the festive period.

Our Year 6 Transition Program is complete with over 180 students in attendance at the last event. The program has been a great success, with lots of happy faces seen around the school as they prepare for their big move to the College.  The college staff are looking forward to building strong relationship with our new families next year.

We also held the Joondalup Learning Community (JLC) Year 5 Student Leadership day here at the College this term. It was great to see a room full of future leaders here at the College, a big thank you to Emma Smith from Edgewater Primary School, for planning and delivery of the event.

Our Student Services team have been busy with our positive incentives. With a new focus on Attendance and Kindness, we have seen a number of students rewarded for their efforts. Our end of Semester reward days was also a huge success, with students lucky enough to attend Adventure World or take part in a special onsite rewards day.

Some key updates for 2022, a new Deputy Principal will be joining the team for the start of the year. Once process has been completed I will let you know of the outcome. We also have Ben Dawkins joining us as the new Head of Student Services Year 11-12.  Extra resourcing has been placed into the structure of Student Services to add further support for our young people.

Over the holidays some key refurbishments will also take place at the College. The resurfacing of the Netball courts will occur, ensuring a top quality surface for our students and the community to use. Also an update of the Student Services building will provide a more effective service for our students and staff.

We have a number of staff leaving us at the end of the year, including some retirements. 

I would like to wish them all the very best in whatever the future holds and thank them for their contributions to Belridge SC over the years.  A special mention to the lovely Janis, the front office will not be the same without you.

I would like to finish with the biggest thank you to each and every person who donated items, food or money to our Belridge Christmas Hamper Appeal. Our hampers go directly to our local families. Thank you so much for helping make their Christmas a little brighter. Your generosity means so much to those struggling at this time.

Looking forward to seeing what exciting endeavours 2022 will hold - take care over the festive season.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Sharon Lyon
Principal