Welcome to Term 2, we are almost halfway through the term and have some great stories to share with you.

Late last term we received a very important letter from the Minister for Education Dr Tony Buti. In this letter, the College was personally thanked for its efforts in providing a Certificate IV qualification in School-Based Education Support to our Year 11 students. Not only does this qualification provide direct employment opportunities in a much-needed industry, it also provides direct access to university. I would like to commend the students who have selected to complete this two-year course, it is not easy, however, the outcomes and opportunities it provides make it well worth the effort.

During Week 9 of Term One, we ran our student course tasters for 2025 across our specialist programs and our first round of AEP testing.  It was a full-on day as we also ran our Twilight School Tour, Parent Teacher Information Night and BBQ and Specialist Program Parent Seminar on the same night! All events were well attended and provided much-needed information and feedback to our community. Thank you to the staff for the planning and delivery of their sessions. I saw lots of smiling faces leaving at the end of the morning. Hopefully, we get to see them again as Belridge Secondary College students next year.

At the end of Term One, we held our PIP reward stalls. This term was the biggest so far, with twice the number of points being handed out to students for their efforts and behaviour than this time last year. This is fantastic to see, as a great deal of effort has gone into this initiative from our Student Service team and our staff, to reward students for displaying positive behaviours.

In Week 2 we held our annual ANZAC service. It was great to see the students involved in the service, sitting respectfully on our front lawn. We had contributions from students in our armed forces along with members of our Student Council. Students laid a beautiful wreath beneath the flag poles to mark the occasion. A warm thank you goes to Mrs Wright and Miss Edmonds, along with the Student Council for their efforts in arranging such an important event.

This term we have also taken part in our annual “Wear What You Wish Day” raising just over $1000 ($500 of which was donated from the charity snack box run by our front office ladies, Lorraine and Jody). The funds for this event were donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation (Australia). The foundation works to bring wishes to life for seriously sick kids across the country. I would like to thank all who donated for playing their part in making kids' wishes come true.

Course selections for 2025 for Year 9 to 12 students are not far away, please keep an eye out for important dates. Also enrolments for 2025 are now open. If you have a child starting at Belridge Secondary College next year, please complete your enrolment as soon as possible. As a school, it is really important for our planning that we know how many students we are expecting, as this allows us to allocate staffing and resources ahead of time leading to a higher-quality outcome.

At the time of publication of this newsletter our Year 8 students would just be returning from their camp at Ern Halliday. I know that they would have had a fantastic time and can't wait to share their adventures with you in our next newsletter.

Our 2023 Annual Report is now available on the College website. This report details our achievements against our Business Plan targets for the 2023 school year and showcases some of the amazing work we have undertaken with our students.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge the high number of sporting State  and National Representatives we have at the College. It was great to see of majority of them having their photos taken as a group by Miss Grieve. These students are fantastic ambassadors for their chosen sports and bring much pride to the college. Parents will be provided with a copy of the photograph along with a copy being framed and hung in the school gymnasium.

As always, I thank you for your ongoing support and hope to see you at an event soon.

Take Care.

Sharon Lyon
Principal