Year 10 Dinner Dance

On Thursday, 29 June the Year 10 Students from Belridge Secondary College were invited to attend the annual Dinner Dance at The Aquarium of Western Australia (AQWA). Students started arriving just before 6pm. They walked along the red carpet on entry and through the tunnel, before moving into the function room. Students scrubbed up beautifully and were all certainly dressed for the occasion.

The room was set up beautifully with a dancefloor, table decorations and a beautiful view of the water. Once students were seated and we had run through house-keeping for the evening, it was time to start eating! The food was set up in a buffet style where students were all able to go back and eat as much as they wanted. No one walked away hungry that’s for sure!

After everyone had finished eating, the tables were cleared, and the dancing began! Whilst some were busy dancing, others were eagerly awaiting the donut wall and lollies to come out! These were a huge hit. As well as the dancing and donuts, we had a balloon arch and photo area set up with props for students to use to take photos with.

As the night went on, students continued to dance and socialise. We played a game on the dance floor in pairs called knights, cavaliers and horses which saw everyone’s competitive spirit come out! Winners of this game were Zak Carreras-Simonite and Blair Boardman.

Following on from all of this, we had some awards to present for the night. Award winners were as follows:

Best Dressed: David Gallagher
Best Dressed: Charlotte Cove
Best Dancer: Wycliffe Odidi
Best Dancer: Kacey Worton
Social Butterfly: Brayden Hogan
Door Prize: Link Dillon

After the awards were presented, there was about half an hour of dancing before the night came to an end. I want to say a huge thank you to all the staff who attended the event and showed their support throughout the night. The student’s behaviour was exemplary, and I was really proud to be their Year Coordinator. Students were so polite and seemed to be having an absolute ball, representing Belridge perfectly within the community.

Miss Hunt
Year 10 Coordinator

PECAN+ Cyber Security Challenge

Several students from Belridge Secondary College attended the PECAN+ Cyber Security Challenge over the weekend of 5 and 6 August. The challenge features high school students from several states and territories in Australia competing in a series of cyber security challenges.  Western Australian students were hosted by Edith Cowan University, in partnership with other Australian universities and with the support of partners including the Australian Signals Directorate. 

Students from Belridge Secondary College were formed into an Intermediate team and a Beginner team. The teams spent Saturday learning and practicing a range of cyber security skills. Sunday was competition day with teams earning points for completing challenges. Both the Belridge teams achieved commendable scores and left the challenge with a bag of goodies provided by sponsors.

Steve O'Neil
Information Technology Teacher

Year 12 Building & Construction

As part of the Year 12 Building and Construction course students must look at how building supports, trusses and beams work in the building industry.  A simple way to test this is to use pop sticks to build a bridge structure - using only pop sticks and glue.  Bridges are built to specifications and is judged on how much material is used. This is then put to the test with how many standard bricks the bridge can hold before breaking.

This years winning bridge, constructed by Neville Rundle, managed to hold 10 bricks! 

Lazo Njegich
Building Construction Teacher

A Day in the Life of a Marine Biologist

Term 3 - The Integrated Science General Year 11 students visited the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) for an excursion where they participated in a variety of problem solving tasks and investigations aimed at exploring the purposes and efficacy of sustainable fishing practices and recreational fishing laws in WA. They then were led through a fish dissection of local species to greater understand the biological adaptations and reproductive structures of fish.

Students then explored Hillary’s boat harbour for a lunch break before visiting AQWA to conduct field surveys on coral species unique to Western Australia and estimate population sample sizes of marine life in a school-linked practical assessment tasks. When returning to school, students were excited to discuss their experiences as Marine Biologists in the field after a successful day of immersive learning. Attended by staff Liberty Warren, Isabella Batka and prac teacher Mariah Lumley.

Liberty Warren
Science Teacher

Academic Enrichment Program

Year 8 AEP HASS

We love incorporating STEM into our Humanities classroom and during Term 2 we had the opportunity to play with info graphs using Australian migration data. The best thing was we all produced something different and were able to share our information with others in the class. Info graphs were then printed and a display was created for other classes to enjoy.

Mrs Jade Wright
HASS Teacher

Year 7 AEP English

Students in our Year 7 AEP English class entered the Premier's Reading Challenge for 2023. Just one of the daily routines in our AEP English class is beginning each lesson with a ten-minute read and another is our Fortnightly Reading Program, whereby students read and write journal entries on what they have read every alternate fortnight.

Students used this, and time spent reading for enjoyment at home, to enter the Premier's Reading Challenge. The challenge was to log 12 or more book titles you have read between the 8 May and 8 September. Students were reading books they have brought from home, borrowed from the library or from our ever-evolving Student Choice Classroom Library. The titles read ranged from Jack Heath's popular 300 Minutes of Danger series to classics like books from R.L Stine's Goosebumps collection. Our AEP students are keen readers and were excited to be part of this competition that has various weekly prizes to be won.

Mrs Alison Zarrop
English Teacher

Year 8 AEP English

Throughout Term 2, Mr. Bertoli’s Year 8 English class has been challenged with developing and running a self-directed research task. In preparation for the class’s upcoming test, students were expected to form their own groups and research an advanced and specific language feature. This was then developed into an engaging presentation and Q & A session that was presented for the class. Students used their peers’ research as a revision tool to construct their notes for the upcoming test.

The activity provided students with an opportunity to take control of their own learning and share their key findings with their peers. The experience was designed to further develop students’ interpersonal, ICT and research skills and it was pleasing to see such engaged, unique and valuable presentations.

Mr Daniel Bertoli 
English Teacher

Year 8 AEP Science

During Term 2, Year 8s learnt how to use microscopes and created wet mount slides using onion skins and euglena.

Mr Alexander Gibbs
Science Teacher

Careers 

On Thursday, 10 August, a group of students from Years 10-12 participated in the Australian Business Community Network (ABCN)’s My Career Rocks workshop, where three senior employees at American Express shared their career journeys and insights via Microsoft Teams. As part of the My Career Rules program, students completed an evaluation at the final session. A summary of these results and some of their comments are included below.

My Career Rules Program:
Student Evaluation Summary 

The following are summarised student response results, which demonstrate improvement from the start of the program to the end. (Note: the rating scale is a 1 to 7 measure with 1 being the lowest through to 7 being the highest rating. i.e. 5 to 7 is ‘agree’ to ‘strongly agree’) These results demonstrate that overall, the students gained a lot from the program.

Student Comments:

Mentor Comments:

Carlos Notarpietro
Associate Principal 

Ancient History – HASS department

Year 11 and 12 Ancient and Modern History students were treated to a wonderful visit from Egyptologists Dr. Mohamed Megahed and Dr. Hana Vymazalová of Charles University, Prague, who gave us first-hand experience when uncovering the 4,000 year-old tomb of Khuwy; a high-ranked vizier of Pharaoh Djedkare. The processes of excavation, artefact storage and tomb restoration were key objectives presented by the team, who provided us with amazing photos and discoveries from the site.

Students learned about the real-life experiences of working as an Egyptologist. Of particular interest was the ways Dr Megahed and Dr Vymazalová used their problem-solving skills, STEM and working in teams to uncover secrets to the past. Dr Vymazalová shared with us that her favorite part of her work, is the ongoing surprises that come with a recent discovery. Once an artefact or ruin is found, the ongoing research of that item continues to give more insight into how Ancient Egyptians lived. Students were able to see how their learning in the Ancient History course had real life applications.

Students were in awe at the presentation and had many insightful questions to ask the Egyptologists. Special thanks to our West Australian Egyptologist, Heather Tunmore, who liaising with Ms Linto, was able to organise this wonderful session as leaders in the History Teachers’ Association of WA.

Tauseef Mohammed
HASS Teacher

Australian Mathematics Competition 2023

Each year, the Mathematics Learning Area at Belridge Secondary College runs the Australian Mathematics Competition for the top classes in all year groups. The Australian Mathematics Competition is Australia’s longest running, which began in 1978. It is also the largest and most well-known maths competition for school students. It is also run internationally.

The competition contains unique problems designed each year by leading educators and academics to challenge and extend your students’ problem-solving skill. This is a fantastic opportunity to apply skills they have learnt to solve problems they may have never seen before.

On Wednesday, 2 August, 149 students come to the library during Periods 1 and 2 to participate in the competition. The day was a success and all students worked hard to solve some very difficult problems. It was really pleasing to see students working enthusiastically to solve the very challenging questions. Congratulations to all the students that took part.

Rebecca Millett
Mathematics Teacher