Belridge Secondary College eNewsletter

Academic Life & Learning

BSC World Cup

With world cup fever gripping the world, we decided to see if there was enough student interest to run a five-a-side soccer ‘World Cup’ tournament during the lunch breaks. After making an announcement on the PA, and putting up some blank sheets of paper in the gym, interested students were asked to nominate a Captain, a team of five plus 2 reserves.

By the next day 8 teams had nominated, and the knockout quarter finals began on Monday 23 November. During the week, four quality games were held during the lunch break, with the winners progressing to the semi -finals.

In the first semi-finals, on Monday 5 December, Josh Loftus’ (Year 9s) team Brexit Ballers 3 defeated Josh Pronk’s (Year 10s) Brexit Means Brexit 0 in the battle of the Brexiteers, and becoming the first team to the final. Wednesday’s second semi-final again pitted a Year 9 team, Joshua Wilson’s Top G FC 0 were defeated by a Year 10 team, Charley Sullivan’s Immigrants 2.

After a few days build up, the finals were held on Monday 12 December, with the 3^rd v 4^th play off at recess, where in an intriguing and hard fought battle, Joshua Loftus’ Year 9 team, Brexit Ballers, came back from a goal down to defeat the Immigrants 4-2. Joel Reynolds was unstoppable, scoring a hat-trick and the MVP award for the tournament, which was noisily enjoyed by crowds of supporters during each game.

	TEAM 3 - THE IMMIGRANTS Charley Sullivan (Captain) Fraser Masterton Michael De Bruyn Cruz Beazley Justin Smith Camden Lambino Oran Kearney
	TEAM 4 - TOP G FC Joshua Wilson (Captain) Patrick Oulton Hayden Carter Mark Tobin Beau Sharpe Wycliff Odidi Lucas Morrison
	TEAM 5 - 8s MATES Oliver Walshaw (Captain) Jack Doran Joey Kearney Wez Edwards Tyler Neagle Ronan Jake Susak
	TEAM 6 - ROXON FC Krishna (Captain) Rowan JaxonB Jett Akom
	TEAM 7 - CENTIGGAS Lincoln Fieldhouse (Captain) Jayden Rotham Lucas Mannion Josh Hendry Billy Dunscombe Blake Wilson Kayne Candlett Brayden Hogan
	TEAM 8 - BREXIT MEANS BREXIT Josh Pronk (Captain) Finlay Cooper Mr Spinks Jakob Van der Plas Michael Lun Peter Znuderl

Carlos Notarpietro
Associate Principal

Year 11 Outdoor Education Camp

The final excursion before exams commenced saw the Year 11 Outdoor Education students head up to Yanchep, Lancelin and Guilderton for a two day camp. Two separate groups headed away for two days of fishing, canoeing, bodyboarding and fun in the dunes an hour and a half north of Perth in some trying weather conditions.

After arriving on the banks of Moore River, students were separated into fishing and canoeing groups to test their skills. Some were more successful than others but all had fun and spirits were high before we headed to our campsite at the Guilderton caravan park. Once the prime spots were found, students began setting up their tents and settling in. Unfortunately some completely forgot how to set up a tent, which definitely tested the resolve and resilience of their groups. When tempers finally calmed down, meals were prepared and groups worked well together to wind down after a busy day 1. We ended the day with a few games of spotlight and sardines to test students' hide and seek abilities. The perfect ending to any long day.

Day 2 started with an early wake up call followed by some questionable breakfast meals. Weather conditions definitely took their toll on students' sleep patterns with a downpour and strong winds buffeting the tents all night. We prepared for the drive up to Lancelin for a morning of bodyboarding at Back Beach. Conditions weren't ideal but students made the most of it and got in to catch a few waves before beginning the long drive back to Perth.

All in all, our students prepared well and managed to organise themselves effectively. They got involved and made the most of their opportunities. What did we learn? The best can be made of any situation. Remembering how to put up a tent is a rarely used, but vitally important skill. And to always, ALWAYS... double check that everything has been packed onto the bus before leaving.

Jarrad Timu
Health & Physical Education Teacher

Western Australian Junior Mathematics Olympiad (WAJO)

The annual event, the Maths Olympiad, provided Belridge Secondary College’s students with an amazing opportunity to advance their mathematical skills.

On Tuesday 18th October, students completed an Individual Problem Set of 16 increasingly difficult problems. Some of these have still challenged their teachers – and they have the solutions!

On Saturday 22^nd October, students were challenged with complex puzzles, designed to encourage participants how to think in a manner “outside of the box.” The event was situated at the University of Western Australia where students from multiple schools were challenged with 3 sophisticated problems and were given 50 minutes to complete them. Once again, the teachers found the problems difficult.

Through this competition, students improved their mathematical skills, and had an opportunity to compete against students from other schools in a fun atmosphere. Results will be shared with the students as soon as they are available.

Stuart Rutter
Mathematics Teacher

Half Day Transitions

Our 2023 Year 7 cohort have just completed their half day transitions here at the College. Year 6 students came from various primary schools and participated in our Floor Is Lava and Amazing Race team building games and other high school activities. Although some were nervous when they arrived, the majority didn't want to leave when it was time to go! I would like to thank our Peer Support students who helped me and these students on the day and guided them around the College. The 2023 Year 7 cohort are a keen, friendly and polite bunch of students and they are very excited to be starting high school at the college next year.

Mrs Alison Zarrop
Year 7, 2023 Year Coordinator

Year Book Cover Design

Congratulations to Jesslyn Taavale's (Year 11) Yearbook cover design on being selected as the winning design for the 2021 Year Book by staff. The Yearbook is in the final stages of being completed and sent to print.

Home Economics

The Year 9 Food for Others classes have finished a very successful 2022 by completing a unit on High Teas. Students investigated the origins of High Teas and researched what made dishes suitable to be served at High Tea events, before finishing their task by sharing what they had made with the rest of the class to truly encapsulate the meaning of “Food for Others”

Working with partners they investigated, devised and produced dishes suitable for serving at a High Tea. These dishes were then shared with the rest of the class. Each group then got to enjoy their own High Tea platter filled with a mixture of sweet and savoury dishes prepared by themselves and their classmates.

Micael Corless
Home Economics Teacher

Lab Rats Excursion to ECU:
23 November 2022

31 of our brightest Year 9 students recently attended Edith Cowan University’s (ECU) annual Lab Rats events, held at the Joondalup campus. The excursion involved students in the top Year 9 set attending ECU for the day and being exposed to what life would be like completing an undergraduate Science degree at university. During the day students got the opportunity to complete experiments in ECU’s ‘Super Lab’, solve several cyber security problems, tour the enormous campus, and receive information regarding pathways and course options for university study at ECU in 2026 and beyond. The College’s Career Practitioner, Ashley Mouritz and Year 9 Coordinator, Jodie Grieve, were involved in planning and supervising the excursion.

At the beginning of the day students travelled by bus to ECU Joondalup, where they were warmly met by current lecturers, tutors and PHD students from the School of Science. Students were guided to a large lecture theatre where they were ‘welcomed to country’ and had the itinerary for the day explained to them. Some students had been in a university lecture theatre, with a seating capacity of 100s, but many students were in awe at the unique learning environment that exists at a university campus.

After a short introduction and induction, students participated in the ‘Great Race’, a 30-minute trek across the campus that required groups of students locating and noting various physical landmarks from across the campus. Each group admirably completed this task independently, with the assistance of a campus map. All students made it back to the checkpoint in time for their scheduled workshops for the day. The winning team was awarded a bag of ECU goodies, which went down well!

After the tour of the campus, students were split in to two groups with the purpose of simulating the smaller workshops that take place at university, compared to high school. The groups then completed three separate workshops in rotation; a DNA workshop, a Chemistry workshop, and a cybersecurity workshop. Highlights of the day included students being exposed to working in state-of-the-art facilities and getting to demonstrate their information technology prowess by solving several simulated cybersecurity-based problems.

At the conclusion of the day, students were informed of the many different student options available to them at ECU, on completion of their secondary studies. ECU staff commented on the impressive level of engagement and respect demonstrated by Belridge students. Hopefully involvement in the event assisted students to become more aware of the many study and career options they have available to them once they are ready to transit to tertiary education.

Mr Ashley Mouritz and Ms Jodie Grieve
Career Practitioner and Year 9 Coordinator

Career Education Focus in Humanities and Social Sciences (HaSS) classes during Weeks 9 and 10

Over the last two weeks of the school year all lower school students in Year 7, 8 and 9 and Year 10 senior school students have been completing a structured career education program. Students have been spending time identifying and exploring their skills, abilities, interests, strengths, and experiences so they can match them to preferred industries and careers of interest. Students have also been spending time discussing the significance of their beliefs, values and attitudes, and recognising how each person’s goals differ from others. Importantly, students are guided to investigate the significance of their individual networks and recognise how they can utilise their school, community, family, sporting, and other relationships to help them to develop goals and create an action plan for success. Under classroom teacher guidance and support, students have been completing the Department of Education’s Individual Pathway Planning (IPP) booklet, which is a PDF editable. The resources are readily available under the Content section of the students’ virtual Connect class, ‘Career Information and Resources’. Each booklet involves students exploring their career pathway options, setting goals and creating an action plan for success.

Year 10 students have also recently been signed up for the ‘Careers Department’ online career education platform. The interactive platform allows students to identify and develop their key interests and goals, research and navigate careers of interest, complete virtual work experience and even develop an interactive electronic portfolio. Year 10 students will be supported to continue using this resource to strengthen their individual pathway planning during their flexible Wednesday, period 5 next year.

Please do not hessite to contact me if you would like to discuss how your child’s career development can be supported.

Mr Ashley Mouritz
Career Practitioner

E: Ashley.mouritz@education.wa.edu.au
P: 08 9408 8015

We now have approached the Noongar season of Birak. The warm weather is eventually here to stay for a while. The garden life slows down and the flower beds look slightly drab. The plants, however, are just taking a rest and will come back in Autumn. Most of our natives actually need the heat and the dry conditions in order to thrive.

Some plants, like Melaleuca pentagona, start flowering in early summer. We have one specimen in the garden that really likes its spot and produced a plethora of little pompom-like purple flowers. M. pentagona grows naturally in the southern parts of Western Australia (Albany to Esperance) where it endures the harsh coastal conditions. It’s such a little survivor that it became an introduced pest in other parts of WA.

At the end of the year I would like to thank Jenna, Tierney, Sophie and Kiara, Year 9, for lending a hand with the garden work as well as any other student who joined in every now and then.

Special thanks to Michael Lun (Year 10) who again took the amazing photographs for this article.

I wish everyone a great holiday season and a good start for 2023.

Dr Michael Werner
Science Teacher

Melaleuca pentagona, Bindi Bindi Garden 2022
Photographs credit - Michael Lun (Year 10)

Fundraiser Project

Belridge Education Support and their feeder schools invited our Year 10 Business class to join them for ESC Market Day this year and we had an absolute blast! Mrs Wright's Year 10 Business class were so successful, they sold out early! We also had a great time looking at all of the other stalls and the hard work the Education Support students had all put in too. All profits will go the groups chosen charities. Our two schools, one community motto worked it's wonders today, and we can't wait to do it again.

Jade Wright
Humanities and Social Sciences
Student Council Coordinator

New One Day/Week
External Training Course Places For 2023/2024

Many Year 10 students took advantage of the opportunity offered during Term 3 to apply for a position in one of the free vocational courses a number of Training Providers have made available for 2023 and 2024.

20 students accepted places offered to them in a variety of industry areas, from training providers such as North Metropolitan TAFE, South Metropolitan TAFE and College of Electrical Training. We also have one student who has been awarded a School Based Traineeship with the Department of Premier & Cabinet, which is a great achievement!

Most of these students will attend their course one day a week throughout Years 11 and 12 while still attending school. WACE credit is gained upon completion of the course.

Workplace Learning - ADWPL

Year 11 non-ATAR students recently had the opportunity to participate in another two week block of Workplace Learning. Twenty students followed up on their Term 2 experience in the workplace and completed another very successful placement. Most of these students worked within the same industry area as their previous placement and a few selecting different workplaces for this block.

There is significant value in completing blocks of Workplace Learning. In addition to receiving WACE credit, students have the opportunity to explore future career paths, develop employability skills and establish industry contacts. Sometimes students are offered casual employment following placements. We have also seen a positive number of apprenticeships offered.

Meredith Fuhrmann
VET/WPL Coordinator

Fashion and Design Program

On the 19^th November we participated in the Kaicon Cosplay competition. We made these cosplay costumes from scratch with the awesome help of Mrs Dyer. Mrs Dyer gave up her free time after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays for four weeks to help us create these outfits. The experience was a good one, we all had lots of fun and hope to do it again in the future. We competed against adults who have many years experience making these types of costumes. We were so excited when Tiara won 3^rd place!

Kiara Willing, Tiara Udy and Tierney Trotter
Year 9

What is Cosplay?

Cosplay is a performance art in which the participants dress in costumes and make-up, representing characters from anime, video games, television and film. In addition to creating authentic costumes, the cosplayers also act in character and are usually subject matter experts on the characters they are replicating.