Belridge Secondary College eNewsletter

Academic Life & Learning

Year 10 have been exploring operating an SLR camera in the manual mode, learning about the exposure triangle and creating long exposure light photographs and studio portrait work to capture creative images.

Photography by Indi Carter - Long exposure capturing the movement of light and Studio portrait

Photography by Michael Lunn - Exploring the technique of Macro Photography

Jodie Grieve
Design Photography Teacher

Fashion Design Success

A MASSIVE congratulations to our Fashion Design specialist teacher, Mrs Dyer, who came away from the Mandurah Wearable Art awards night as the WINNER of the TAFTAINC AWARD! This award acknowledges the garment in ANY category that shows the most innovative use of traditional fibres and textiles. Her prize includes free entry to the 2023 Geelong Fibre Forum, inclusive of meals, accommodation and tutors fees – a total prize worth $1,400! Mrs Dyer will travel to Geelong next year to work with a tutor for four days and she can’t wait!

Unfortunately Norah Flaherty’s entry did not win a top prize, but Belridge SC is extremely proud of her achievement in making it through to the Awards Night showcase and we can’t wait to see what Norah and Fashion Design students come up for next year’s event.

https://wearableartmandurah.com/.../categories-and-prizes/

FIRST Lego League Competition

Throughout Term 3 and 4, a group of Year 7 and 8 students have been hard at work, preparing for the Lego League Competition. Attending the sessions after school each week, they have worked hard on coding a robot to complete tasks on the game mat. The robot attachments and game mission models are made from Lego and the aim is to successfully complete as many missions as possible. This year’s theme of ‘Super Powered’ involved missions such as powering a wind turbine, loading fuel units into a truck and recharging a hybrid car.

The students also had to come up with an idea relating to the use of energy, research and develop a solution to a problem. This year, the ‘Belridge Buoys’ focused on ocean energy; identifying this as a good source of energy for Western Australia. They researched information about the different types of turbines that can be used under water, the pros and cons of using this over other sources of energy and located a suitable place in WA for one to be placed.

Competition day was held at St Stephen’s School, Carramar on Saturday 12th November. Throughout the day groups had to present their project to judges and had three opportunities to compete with their robot to gain as many points as possible. The group presented their information to the judges, explaining their ideas and demonstrating that they enjoyed every part of this journey. When it came time to compete, each times saw the group be more successful. The final results for the robot challenge saw the ‘Belridge Buoys’ in 10^th place, out of 24 teams.

Congratulations to the students for their dedication and efforts. You should all be very proud of what you achieved. A big thank you to Mr Chen for all your assistance along the way, and to the parents for all the support on the day.

Rebecca Edmonds
HASS Teacher

AEP Showcase Evening

Throughout the year, the AEP students have been working hard within the Humanities and STEM strands. They were given the opportunity to showcase an aspect of this recently, at the annual AEP Showcase evening, held on Monday 7th November.

In the lead up to the day, AEP students from Years 7 to 9 worked in small groups on a project based on one of the subject areas; Math, English, Science, HaSS and IT/STEM. They planned, created and organised equipment to be able to share with family a portion of what they have learnt in class this year.

There was a buzz of excitement coming from the auditorium, as students were demonstrating, explaining and sharing information with parents, family and staff. A massive thank you to all staff, students and parents for helping to make the evening a success.

Rebecca Edmonds
AEP Coordinator

Fundraiser for 2023 Year 8 Camp

To help raise funds for the Year 8 Camp, a sausage sizzle at Bunnings Joondalup was held on Saturday 22 October. An early start to the day, we were cooking and serving from 7am. With a couple of trips to get restock more sausages and buns, volunteers did not stop until just after 4pm. A massive thanks to all parent and staff assistance on the day, and to those who came to support us. We raised over $3200 to go towards the cost of the camp. The C8 camp will run in Term 2 next year, and is a wonderful opportunity to develop belonging and connection within the cohort.

Our sincere thanks also to Coles Currambine, Woolworths Currambine, Coles Beldon and Spudshed Joondalup for the gift cards and donations of consumables.

Rebecca Edmonds
Year 7 Coordinator

Year 11 Modern History Excursion

Within the Year 11 ATAR Modern History course, students study Nazi Germany. This includes the rise of the Nazi Party, life in Germany and the Holocaust. To consolidate their learning, students had the opportunity to attend a workshop facilitated by the Holocaust Institute of WA. The workshop ‘Courage to Remember’ was presented in three sections; The rise of the Nazi party, Anatomy of the Holocaust and hearing a survivor’s testimony.

The use of propaganda, extent of discrimination and life in Nazi Germany for the Jewish population were discussed. Themes of resilience and resistance of the human spirit were explored, as well as discussion on our responsibilities today. Students participated in activities and heard from the son-in-law of survivor, Richard Farago, who read through his experiences of escaping from a labour camp and with the assistance of the Catholic church, hiding in a basement with hundreds of others until the end of the war.

Rebecca Edmonds
HASS Teacher

Lest We Forget

In the lead-up to Remembrance Day, students have been making poppies with Ms Wintle, which were displayed in our front entrance garden. During form on the 11th day of the 11th month, we also held our Remembrance Day service today to pay tribute to the day of armistice and all of the men and women who have served or are currently serving for Australia. Our school Captains led the school in a moving service that recognises not the glory of war, but the understanding and education of our past. A minute's silence was held in honour of the fallen and the peace their sacrifices have given us. Lest we forget.

Elite Music Concert 2022

On Thursday 15th September the Elite Music Program held it's annual concert. This was the second year the concert has been run in the School's new Auditorium and it has been wonderful seeing what our students can achieve with the new facilities on offer. The night was a tremendous success with a range of performances from students from all years. From the school band and guitar ensemble to individual items that included pieces the students had composed themselves, all performers did a great job showcasing their talents. Feedback from parents, teachers and the students themselves all agreed that this was the best concert yet and we are excited to start planning for next year's concert.

Zachary Offszanka
Elite Music Teacher

We are the Champions!

Belridge SC students represented the College at the SSWA’s Interschool Athletics Carnival on Wednesday 26th October. Belridge came away winning the carnival by an amazing 400 points, elevating us to the next division in 2023! Congratulations to all students who participated. A special mention goes to the following students who excelled and were recognised on the day as overall ‘Champions Boys or Girls’ in their year group:

Sophie Williams - Year 8

Olivia Williams - Year 9

Liam Carstairs - Year 9; and

Daniel Martin - Year 12

Thank you for all that you do!

Belridge SC celebrated World Teachers Day on the 28 October with a special morning tea laid on for our teachers. Students also took the time to send 'Thank You' cards to their teachers and as you can see, from a select few pictures here, they think teachers here at Belridge are great! Even our hard-working companion dog, Peanut, received a card!

Lego Victory!

Belridge SC Lego Club has been working hard over the last term to create a SKI RESORT, which was entered into this year's Briktober event (held 8-9 October) under the guidance of our EA, Audra Keeble.

The creation consisted of a block of apartments, chair lift, Ferris wheel, ski lodge and a ski slope. Students created a story throughout the resort with Lego mini people and cars. As a result of their tireless work they came up with an amazing display and took out the TOP PRIZE in the schools' category!

A special thank you to Audra Keeble for giving up her personal time to assist in the transportation, set up and display over the whole weekend. A special mention also to our student creators; Lachlan Barnard, Zac Greentree, Nate Allen and Ben Kay.

Bricktober is run every year at Curtin University by Ascot Rotary and volunteers. Ascot Rotary kindly donated 3 play tubs of Lego to Belridge SC.

Advanced Computing

Year 10 Advanced computing students recently began working with the Python programming language and working with Raspberry Pi computers. To commemorate, students got to enjoy eating Killer Python lollies and Raspberry Pies.

Of course it’s not all fun and games, though making a game is one of several things that they are doing as they demonstrate their proficiency with computer programming.

Steve O'Neil
ICT Teacher