Belridge Secondary College eNewsletter

Academic Life & Learning

The Arts

Belridge Secondary College Dance Company celebrated First Place in the ‘All Ages’ Troupe Category for their Jazz performance at the annual Dancelife Unite Competition held on Saturday, 18 May 2024 at Newman College, Churchlands.

Students were accompanied by their Dance teacher, Ms Heberley and supported by our guest choreographer Sophie Sutton, performing to a remix of Michael Jacksons’ iconic track Bad. The sharp synchronicity of the girls’ dance moves, along with their individual flare, ensured they were a standout performance amongst a strong field.

We look forward to sharing the winning performance along with more choreographed numbers in our Dance Showcase production to be held in Term 4.

Congratulations Dance Company! We are all immensely proud of you all and the many hours you have put in to achieve a deserving accomplishment.

Annemarie Verschoor
HOLA - The Arts

Year 10 - Dinner Dance 2024

On Wednesday, 19 June the annual Dinner Dance took place at AQWA for the Year 10 cohort. We had the biggest group of students attending this event and the atmosphere was awesome.

Students arrived in their finest and walked the red carpet to the exhibits. Paparazzi (Kristie Wintle) captured their looks and everyone looked amazing. After the buffet of delights, everyone was itching to get on the dance floor before dancing the night away. Congratulations to the following award winners of the night:

Nelly Wallrodt	Miss Social
Laku Song	Mr Social
Marama Whitehead	Best Dancer
Jay Goeree	Best Dancer

The behaviour of all students was exemplary and a true testament to our College.

Thank you also to the staff who attended the night; Sharon Lyon, Louis Cheeseman, Carlos Notarpietro, Heather Currie, Kristie Wintle, Bruce McInnes, Wayne Anderson, Tarryn Hunt and Conor Moldrich. Without their support, these events wouldn’t be able to go ahead.

Brent Jarvis-Spinks
2IC Student Services - Years 9 & 10

Year 7 Academic Enrichment Program - HASS

On Thursday, 23 May 2024, our Year 7 HASS students travelled with Mrs Green and Mr Stevens to Parliament House in West Perth. The excursion included an introduction to the history, functions and features of the WA Parliament; an overview of the relationship between the two Houses and information on significant women of the Parliament and Premiers of the State, such as Edith Cowan. Students viewed artwork in the Aboriginal People’s Gallery (the largest collection outside of Canberra) and viewed the chambers of the Upper and Lower Houses, whilst parliament was in session. The excursion enabled students to extend their understanding of the civics program of learning.

Claire Green
Teacher - AEP Coordinator and HASS

Biodiversity in the Bush Excursion
Year 9 AEP Science

On Wednesday, 12 June 2024, the Year 9 AEP Science students travelled to Perth Hills Discovery Centre, Mundaring with Mrs Orr and Mr MacDonald. Mr C gave a talk on the importance of ecosystems and biodiversity, highlighting important ties to the knowledge of the Wadjuk people of the Noongar Nation and how they have cared for the land.

Students completed a transect belt, analysing the variety of plant species, ground and canopy cover, before investigating the importance of animal relationships - mutual, commensal, parasitic predator prey and competition. Students had to ‘sell’ their native animal presenting a talk. Some of these animals included Quendas, Woylies, Chuditch and Quokka’s.

Claire Green
Teacher - AEP Coordinator and HASS

Pathways to Protection

On Wednesday, 19 June 2024, Mrs Green's 10.1 HASS class had an incursion from the Red Cross on Pathways to Protection. This interactive incursion built awareness and understanding of people impacted by migration, with particular focus on asylum seekers and refugees.

Students discussed the difference between asylum seekers and refugee's, studied data and maps of where people are moving from and to due to persecution. We completed an activity, through a number of scenario's, deciding whether we would leave our home or stay, seek refuge in a camp or travel to the coast to seek a refugee boat to another country.

The students were staggered to learn that people can live upwards of six years in refugee camps and some camps house three generations from the same family. Only 1% of asylum seekers are granted refugee status globally and of those, Australia accepts 20,000 refugees per year.

Claire Green
Teacher - HASS

Celebrating National Reconciliation Week
'Now More Than Ever'

National Reconciliation Week was celebrated across the College from Monday, 27 May to Monday, 3 June 2024. Activities included a number of students creating a sand mural on the lawn area outside of the canteen. This mural illustrates the College’s ongoing commitment to build a strong, united community for all our members.

Whole school activities during Form included students completing NRW colouring posters and brainstorming ‘We Commit to…’ which opened up conversations and highlighted Aboriginal culture and history.

Noongar Seasons Project

Our Year 7 Follow the Dream students have started work on artwork for all six of the Noongar seasons. The aim is to display the artwork and accompanying information throughout the year to inform the College community of the changes in our local environment and the reason six seasons are used in the South-West of WA. Small pieces of Noongar history and knowledge are shared each season, improving everyone's understanding of our boodja (Country).

Benjamin Dawkins
Head of Student Services - Years 11 & 12
ATSI Coordinator

Lego Club

Currently in Lego Club, our latest project is a volcano that has erupted on one side and snowing on the other, along with a village scattered around the bottom. This project will be entered into this year’s Bricktober competition to be held at Curtin University in October.

Lego Club is run during recess on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday in M6 - all welcome.

Audra Keeble
Education Assistant

Did you know that students have access to the following FREE Library resources?

As well as access to computers, books and subscription magazines, please see our Librarian - Ms Lang - for assistance in accessing these platforms, all of which support students' education. All are accessible via our website > under OUR COLLEGE > Useful Links

Oliver	Our school library platform. Search for your next read by title or author. Can't think of something to read? Try looking at our recently returned books. Need help with an assessment? Links are also provided to World Book Online and Clickview. TIP! See New Books, What's Popular, Recently Returned.
World Book Online	Your online encyclopedia designed for all ages and abilities with articles, videos, educator tools, eBooks, research guides and more.
Clickview	ClickView provides short, curriculum-aligned, relevant videos that help teachers deliver engaging lessons. Struggling to understand a topic? We bet Clickview has a video for that!
Comics Plus	Your free access to digital graphic novels, comics and manga. Helps to complement our library catalogue with additional titles we might not physically stock. Available to access 24/7, 365 (brilliant for the school holidays). See library staff for help with logging on.
Book Requests	If you are after a certain book, your library takes book requests. See Ms Lang.

BiG Day In - IT Careers Conference

Year 11 and 12 students from the Certificate III Information Technology classes attended the 'BiG Day In' Careers in IT conference at Edith Cowan University’s Joondalup Campus on Wednesday, 20 June 2024. The annual 'BiG Day In' event is run by the Australian Computer Society Foundation and is intended to help students to make better informed decisions about their future. Students learn about courses, degrees, work experience, internships, apprenticeships and engage with hands-on demonstrations of awesome technology.

The conference features presenters and exhibitors from leading employers in IT including, Microsoft, BHP, Bankwest and the Australian Defence Force. Students gained a lot of valuable information about career paths as they listened to the presentations and spoke to exhibitors during breaks.

Stephen O’Neil
Teacher - Digital Technologies

Ministerial Visit

The College welcomed the Minister of Education - Dr Tony Buti and our local member Caitlin Collins MLA on Monday, 17 June 2024. See Principal's article for full details.