Attendance

It is evident that attendance at school is directly linked with student achievement. If a student is absent, they miss out on vital information delivered in the five classes they have that day. This puts them a whole day behind their classmates who are in attendance. We urge you to consider whether your child’s absence is necessary and, if so, please let the school know at your earliest convenience via phone call, text message, e-mail or letter/doctor’s certificate. Every two weeks, a letter is posted home with any absences that are still unexplained. This is your opportunity to give us feedback as to the reason your child could not attend school. If we do not receive a response from this, it becomes an unauthorised absence and further procedures will follow.

Remember, any more than 5 days absence in an average term directly impacts on a student’s Good Standing and will affect their ability to attend any activities that are not a compulsory requirement of their courses.  Students are reminded that if they come late or leave early, regardless of the reason, they must sign out in Student Services.

The Education Department sets a benchmark that every student should attend school 90% or more of the time. Belridge Secondary College wants to promote these choices for our young people and is working hard with families for this to occur. The last three years has seen us slowly increase the percentage of students attending 90% or more of the time from 63.5% of the school population in 2017 to 66.3% in 2019. A young person’s success in later life has a direct correlation with school attendance and your support with this is greatly appreciated.

Mobile Phones/Electronic Devices

This serves as a reminder that at Belridge Secondary College, we have a zero tolerance approach to using mobile phones or electronic devices during class time. This includes walking between classes or when a student leaves to get a drink or go to the toilet.  In every instance, a student will be asked to surrender their phone to a staff member if it is visible or ringing during class time. The Electronic Device Policy will then dictate at what stage of the process the student is at and will go from there.

Students needing to contact home or vice-versa during the day, are to come to Student Services where a call can be facilitated, rather than doing it directly through a mobile phone. If you are not sure of what the policy is, please see your child’s planner or our school website.

Uniform

Belridge Secondary College has seen a great start to the year and it was wonderful to see so many students wearing the new uniform. Please be aware that with the impending inclement weather fast approaching, wet weather clothing may need to be utilised. There are two options to help keep your child warm/dry that are available through Uniform Concepts, our uniform supplier located in Joondalup. We urge you to prepare early for this, as a student wearing any items of clothing not complying with the school’s dress code will be directed to change/remove that item immediately.

Road Safety

It has come to my attention, through several calls from concerned members of the public and our school community, that there are still unsafe behaviours taking place in students getting themselves to and from school. Can I please remind everyone:

• When crossing a road, look both ways.
• Do not run in front of cars, no matter how much of a rush you are in.
• When alighting from a bus, walk to the rear of the bus before crossing the road rather than in front where you can’t see traffic.
• Ride bikes safely and wear a helmet.
• Students are not permitted to ride their bikes on school grounds and must be aware of staff cars in the respective car parks. There have been several narrow misses of late ...
• Students to ride in appropriate areas and not through neighbouring house’s garden beds, gravel verges and the like.
• In all of these situations, when it is you vs a car, you will come off second best.
• Finally, please remember that when you wear our school uniform, you are an ambassador for the school. The great community notices your behaviours and choices and this is a direct reflection on us all.

Hal Spedding
Head of Student Services