With the festive season around the corner, I would like to take this time to reflect on a fantastic year at Belridge Secondary College.

Our Year 6 Transition Program was a huge success, with lots of happy faces seen around the school as they prepare for their big move to the College in 2024. Big thanks to Rebecca Edmonds, Chadd Richardson and Louise Hall for their organisation of the transition program of events throughout the year, their efforts help support our students and families to make the big move to the College and facilitate a seamless transition into high school life.

Earlier this term the College hosted the Joondalup Learning Community (JLC) Year 5 Student Leadership Day. It was great to see a room full of future leaders, all very eager to have their say and make positive change. I look forward to seeing them here at Belridge in the near future.

Our Year 10 Business students have been showing their entrepreneurship by taking part in this year’s Education Support Market Day.  A big thank you to the students and Mr Chen and Mrs Wright for their efforts with this.

The College held its second World Cup tournament this term with 8 Countries (Teams) battling it out. This year, the teams were based on countries from the Women's World Cup that made it to the finals. It was a hugely popular event, many thanks to Mr Notarpietro for organising the event and to the staff that came down to support.

In Week 9 we held our Specialist Cricket and Netball Presentation Night at the WACA - it was a wonderful evening. My thanks to Scott Ogilvie, Janneke Markovic and Tarryn Hunt for their organisation of the event and leadership of the programs. Also, to Paul Bennett, Brent Jarvis-Spinks, Josh Hollows and Conor Moldrich for their ongoing work with the specialist programs. Thank you also to our Board Chair and MC for the evening – Steve Hall.

Our Student Services team has had a massive year running our Positive Incentive Program (PIP). Our end-of-term reward day, The Belridge Festival was a huge success, with much positive feedback received from both students and staff. Thank you to Mr Richardson, Mrs Currie and Mr Dawkins for their leadership and commitment in supporting our students.

We have some major refurbishments ready to get underway in 2024. Our new $1.5M STEM build will be started early next year, consisting of a state-of-the-art mechatronics lab and dual-screen digital technology space, we cannot wait to see these new additions in action.

We have a number of staff leaving us at the end of the year, some retiring, some moving on to promotional positions and others to pastures new. I would like to take this opportunity to wish them all the very best in whatever the future holds and thank them for their contributions to Belridge Secondary College over the years.  A special mention to Meredith Fuhrmann, Alison Saare and Suzanne Manning on their retirements.

I would like to finish with the biggest thank you to each and every person who donated items to our Belridge Christmas Hamper Appeal. This year we were able to support over 20 families with hampers and gifts – making a difference to those that really need it. Thank you so much for helping make Christmas a little brighter for our community.

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

Take care over the festive season.

Sharon Lyon
Principal