Belridge Secondary ESC News

After the most unusual start to our school year Semester One, 2020, has come to an end and our students and staff are all looking forward to a much needed mid-year break. On reflection there have been many challenges that individual students, families and staff members all faced during the Coronavirus Pandemic however there has also been so many positive and special moments during this time and, without doubt we are so very lucky to live in Western Australia!

I need to acknowledge and thank all of the staff here at Belridge SESC for their work, commitment and dedication to our students. Whilst the COVID crisis impacted on everyone in different ways, the staff here went above and beyond to ensure that the online Connect Community, work packages and subsequent delivery of these to families were absolutely second to none. I have never been more proud of everyone here at Belridge during this time. Our students who understandably may have been extremely anxious were surprisingly resilient and dealt with changes to their routines and timetables extremely well. Thank you one and all!

The conclusion of Semester One is a great time to reflect on the many achievements that individual students have made in the first half of the school year and, with the regular attendance of many students being lower over the course of Semester One, the breadth and depth of the curriculum covered throughout this Semester may have been reduced. For this reason, our school has not included Achievement levels on this year’s Semester 1 student reports but does contain information relating to your child’s progress.

The winter months have well and truly arrived and this can impact on student attendance with a number of virus’s presenting themselves at different times. As you are aware the COVID Crisis has raised awareness about keeping well and how this impacts on the local and school community. As per the current Government Guidelines and requirements if your child is unwell to please seek medical attention and remain at home until the risk of infection has passed. If your child presents as being unwell at school, you will be asked to collect them and we appreciate your support in this matter. Staff who have any flu-like symptoms are also expected to stay at home. The Belridge SESC ‘Schoolstar’ app is being well utilised by parents notifying the school of their child’s absence. Thank you to our parents who diligently keep us informed in the event that their child is absent. Should your child also utilise School Bus Services, please inform your contracted bus driver in the event that your child will be absent from school.

We hope that you enjoy all of the celebrations in this newsletter edition which not only captures the success in each classroom but also provides updates relating to school priorities and programs. I will be taking some Long Service Leave for the first week of Term 3 and I look forward to seeing the students when I return and sincerely wish all families an enjoyable Term Two school holiday break.

Kind regards,

Jenine Wall

Principal

Last day of Term 2 - Friday 3rd July 2020

First day of Term 3 - Monday 20th July 2020

Year 12 School Ball - Friday 7th August 2020

Staff Development Day - Pupil Free - Friday 14th August 2020

Whole School Athletics Carnival - Friday 4th September 2020 (TBC)

Last Day of Term 3 - Friday 25th September 2020

Whole School: Teacher Professional Learning

SECCA

The teaching staff at Belridge Secondary ESC have been busy engaging in professional learning that focuses on The SECCA App which is an innovative resource to support access to relationships and sexuality based education for people of all ages and abilities. Teachers were able to sample some of the activities based on emotions, puberty, menstruation and public and private concepts. (SECCA) is a non-profit organization that supports people with disabilities in their efforts to learn about human relationships, sexuality, and health across the lifespan. Teachers are able to modify, adjust and create lessons to ensure we are meeting the needs of individual students and to ensure we have consistent practices and processes across the Education Support Centre.

Middle School: Positive Behaviour Support

Students have been working harder than ever to receive raffle tickets, positive praise, canteen vouchers and Deputy Principal awards this term. At the end of this term we will also be announcing our raffle ticket winners who will be receiving movie tickets that they can hopefully use soon. I have had many middle school students visit me this term to show me all the hard work they have been completing in class and it is always great to see the enthusiasm and smiles on their faces when staff recognise all their hard work. Some of our Deputy Principal award winners this term are; James King, Marcus Meyer, Liam Knights, Luke Green, Cohen Bowles and Joshua Brooke. I would like to recognise the efforts of all the students across the ESC this term. It has been an usual term but the students have demonstrated maturity and focused on tasks that needed to be completed and we are all very proud of their efforts.

Mrs Shayne Hutchings

Deputy Principal

Middle School

During the final weeks of this term we have had confirmation that WPL can re-commence much to the excitement of the students and staff. My thanks go to Amanda Brown for her relentless pursuance of the paperwork. We are aiming to have most students back at work by Week 2 Term 3 – it is a welcome return to routine.

We are also able to approve excursions that fall within the new guidelines put out by DOE. It is expected that Community Access and DFES excursions will be scheduled soon.

The student councillors ran a very successful colouring competition for NAIDOC week, I have included some photos below. Congratulations to the winners:

Middle School:

1st Luke Green

2nd Kopelyn Pomare-Maketoni

3rd Eliana Melgar

Senior School

1st Rachel Ford

2nd Maddison Sharpe

3rd Xander Bailey

We are all looking forward to a busy Semester 2 as life here at school returns to our regular events.

I am excited that the School Ball is going ahead on 7th August, better late than never!

Have a restful and enjoyable break – keep safe and take care.

Wendy Hughes

Deputy Principal

Senior School

We have had a fantastic term, full of interesting changes and engaging opportunities.

Our weekly Dance classes give us the chance to sing along and dance to our favourite tracks.

Dhruv has enjoyed delivering coffee for Cobra Cafe. I'll have a flat white thanks, Dhruv!

Michael is becoming a maths whizz with counting coins on the Smartboard.

Kynan just loves washing up in Home Ec, he never misses a spot!

Massimo and Cameron got into the Naidoc spirit and sequenced "How the kangaroo got its tail" watching the story on the Smartboard.

Eliana has been busy making beautiful Aboriginal art work to display in our classroom.

We have a well stocked sensory table for all of our creative needs! We love using it for creating beautiful works of art and having calming and creative playdoh time.

Jarrah has been making some delicious ice cream cones and burgers!

Ms Silvia Samarin

MAG Teacher

Our reflection of our favourite parts of the year so far:

• Euan: My favourite part of this year is playing soccer during sport lessons. I have enjoyed making friends with James and Malachi. I will miss everyone in the school holidays.
• Malachi: I love basketball games on Friday in sport lessons. I have enjoyed cooking including making fish and chips, apple crumble, muffins and pizza. I like playing basketball with other students at break times.
• Miami: I liked making friends with Dean and playing games with him. I like being organised and packing my bag. My favourite subjects are Science, riding bikes in Sport and Multilit.
• James: I like playing soccer at recess, lunch and sport. I liked going to Rotary Park for an excursion. My favourite subjects are Sport, Library, Science and Cooking.
• Ateequ: I like my teachers. I like seeing other students at recess and lunch. I enjoy going to breakfast club with Zac.
• Ashleigh: I like having nice teachers. My favourite subjects are Dance, Cooking and Technology. I loved going to Decadance for the excursion.
• Dean: I liked making my own wooden truck in D & T with Mr Silva. I enjoyed making fish and chips in cooking. I love coming to school and seeing my friends.
• Liam: I like bike riding, puzzles and colouring in. When I finish my work, I like doing word searches. I love going to the garden and seeing the garbage truck from our classroom.

Miss Daisy Llanwarne

7-1 Teacher

This term seems to have flown by! This semester we have been supported by our classroom teacher’s skills and interests to assist our learning.

Miss Jordan has continued to teach us more AUSLAN signs. We have learnt a new song this term, “We are the Champions” by Queen.

Miss “R” Romero has been supporting our reading and comprehension skills. Choosing interesting topics and non-fiction texts for us to read about.

Mr Davey continues to challenge our mathematical logic and assist us to solve large mathematics sums. He has also encouraged and supported our interest in all things technology, especially using programs on our ipads.

Mrs Oldfield’s passion for Lego building has taken over the classroom! Every student in class has chosen a set to build. We have spent time admiring each other’s builds, problem solving, reading instructions and sharing ideas.

Ms Chloe Jordan

7-2 Teacher

It has been wonderful to have our students back in the classroom and working so hard.

Our class jobs are very important as it helps us be responsible in the classroom. We complete the daily calendar and take turns greeting our friends and teachers.

We have become very good at washing our hands but to remind us why it is important we have completed experiments and activities to show how germs are spread and what we can do to prevent it. We continue to identify emotions and what zone they belong in as well as strategies to use when we feel these emotions

We have continued to enjoy our specialty subjects. In Home Ec we have cooked hamburgers, fish & chips, soup and a cake in a mug. In Design and Technology we have used many different tools and techniques such as saws, sanding, screwdrivers as well as some of the big machinery. In Art we are exploring warm and cool colours. We are using these different colours to create our pictures. We have also enjoyed riding the bikes with Miss Thompson for sport.

Ms Carlyon, Mrs Curran, Mrs Mathews and Miss Bagiatis

Ms Helen Carlyon

8-1 Teacher

It is hard to believe Term 2 is coming to an end. After an unusual start, things have progressed well with all students working hard in their core and elective subjects.

Students have been engaged in Science experiments, creating landforms in HASS, cooking up a storm in Home Economics and creating wonderful artworks in Visual Arts.

Whilst Mrs Egan has been away on sick leave, Mrs Read has stepped in and looked after the class wonderfully.

Thank you to the Education Assistant’s, parents and also the students for all your support and hard work for Semester 1. Have a relaxing and safe holiday break and see you all back refreshed for the rest of the school year in Semester 2.

On behalf of Mrs Egan

8-2 Teacher

We are almost half way through the 2020 school year and the Students are well and truly ready for a couple of weeks break. Despite all the hiccups throughout the last few months the Students of 9-1 have achieved so much and have continued to mature and grow as young individuals. They have successfully achieved a lot of their Individual Education Plan goals and it is a credit to each of them and their consistent hard work and effort.

In English and Math’s, the students continue to develop their language and numeracy skills. They are engaged in a variety of activities including, Maths games for money, fractions, place value and telling the time. The games also allow the students to improve their social interaction skills with peers and have some fun. In English, some students have been planning and writing Narratives, while others have been building their phonic knowledge and sentences writing skills.

In Fire tech, the students have been having a great time creating their own movies, with story lines they have produced in their groups. They are having so much fun and the creativity and ability to work together through this process has been amazing. Work on this project will continue into Term Three and we are all looking forward to the final edited masterpieces.

In Sport, we have been playing soccer and once again the students have displayed excellent sportsmanship, encouraging each other and celebrating everyone’s success. In D&T they are making Book Ends with mini plants, to sell at market day in term three. In Health, the students have been reviewing the difference between public and private, clothing, behaviours and places and their understanding has been evident. We have also been learning how to give and receive appropriate complements and have been practicing how to do this in class.

It has been a very successful Semester for Year 9-1 and I look forward to further success for everyone in Semester 2. I wish you all a wonderful 2 week break!

Ms Aileen Finn

9-1 Teacher

Well it’s hard to believe that the second term is nearly over, we hope all our students have an amazing well deserved break.

This term in Firetech we have been busy creating our own movies, including planning, creating story boards, developing our movie characters and using a green screen in the filming process.

Whilst in D&T, we are continuing to learn new skills, using machinery and tools to make and finish our book ends, the final results are fantastic.

In Maths we have started a Half Million Dollar Challenge where students were challenged to spend the entire amount of money within the set rules of the challenge. We have been impressed by the way students have been engaged and focussed on this task, we can’t wait to see the final results.

Finally, in Health we have covered DRSABCD and our first aid responses. We have also dealt with conflict resolution with our focus on the art of compromising and being assertive.

As this term winds down the 9-2 Team would like to Thank you for your continued support. We would also like to say a huge thank you to our students for showing our school values, being responsible, safe and respectful as we worked together this term.

Mr Simon Malloy

9-2 Teacher

As we come to a close of Term 2, we reflect on what has been a great term of fun activities and learning here in 9-3. We have been working hard on our IEP goals across all curriculum areas this term while also ensuring we are having some fun along the way!

In Home Economics with Ms Wilkes, we have made a range of delicious food including tacos, chocolate chips muffins, fish and chips, bacon and egg rolls and baked potatoes.

In Design and Technology with Mr Orr, we have finished making our incense holders and are now making a range of ornamental designs with a smelting kiln.

In Art with Ms Wright, our students are finishing off their dragon clay sculptures and moving on to making clay pots.

In Fire Tech, we have begun our videography projects with students working in small groups to create a film of their own creation.

Our PE sessions have seen the development of some serious soccer players with all students working hard to improve their soccer skills and also improve on their sportsmanship and teamwork.

We have had so much fun learning about World War 1 in Humanities and Social Sciences this term. The picture below presents all the facts about World War 1 that the class has recalled on their own from our lessons this term!

Thank you to Mrs Devaney, Mrs Culshaw and Mrs Horley for their on-going support to our students’ learning and well-being.

Stay safe and have fun during your well-deserved break 9-3! We are looking forward to seeing you all rested and refreshed in Term 3.

Ms Katherine Vales

9-3 Teacher

This has been a busy term with a focus on friends and relationships, personal space, working as a group and safe, respectable, responsible behaviour.

We revisited the concept circles and that our teachers and friends at school are in the yellow circle for a ‘wave or high five’.

Physical Education with Ms Thompson involved regular bike riding sessions, safety and learning to manoeuvre around the cones.

In Chemical Science we are investigating change due to mixing of different elements and different conditions. Everyone enjoyed making ice cream in a bag and eating it!

We are all looking forward to next term hopefully getting back out into the community. From all of the team in 10-1; Have a wonderful holiday break.

Mrs Susan Osborne

10-1 Teacher

We’re quickly approaching the end of the semester, with the students working very hard across all areas of the curriculum!

In English, the students have just finished reading their class Novel, ‘Wheels’. The whole class was captivated by the wonderful storyline throughout, and participated in many activities related to the book, including answering comprehension questions, discussing issues raised in the text, and predicting storyline developments.

In Mathematics, the class has been working on calculating the perimeter and area of polygons, and the circumference and area of circles. The students have also been improving their money skills, calculating change due from purchases.

As part of their DFES lessons, the students recently undertook a first aid course. They learned about following the DRSABCD action plan, and participated in role playing scenarios with their peers.

Have a fantastic break, everyone. Thank you to all parents for your support during the semester, it is much appreciated.

Mr Steve McMahon

10-2 Teacher

All the Cadets have been super busy this term with each year group following their DFES workbooks. The Cadets have covered a range of topics, such as, Fire Awareness, Bushfire Safety and Natural Hazards.

Also, the Year 10 and 11 Cadets are following the ASDAN ‘Personal Safety’ program, with the Year 10s focusing on First Aid ‘minor and serious injuries’ and the Year 11s concentrating on ‘Safety in the Home and the Community’. The Year 12 Cadets have further increased their First Aid knowledge by covering a section of the St John ‘First Aid Recruits’ program by concentrating on DRS ABCD, CPR, how to deal with burns, fractures, choking, bleeding and snake bites.

The DFES Cadets have worked extremely hard this term. So as a ‘thankyou’ for such a successful and enjoyable term the DFES Instructors are planning for each class to participate in a well-deserved BBQ sizzle during week 10.

Enjoy the break and stay safe

Jan Bowler, Chris Vandenbroeke & Nicola Long

DFES Trainers

Students have been working hard in all areas. 11-1 students presented a PowerPoint showing their peers the safety signs at their workplace from Term 1 and why they are important. Some students were nervous while others were excited as they also had another practice at presenting another Powerpoint on a topic of their own choice. Students are looking forward to returning to Workplace Learning next term.

Students have been busy in the garden. 11-1 has been working on the patch outside the home economic rooms for mainstream as well as our students to be able to handpick herbs and vegetables needed for their classes. Students have prepared the area by weeding and clearing rubbish followed by sprinkling fertiliser and raking it in. Last Friday the students planted some parsley and marigolds using their measurement skills of each plant being 30cm apart. The students made grassheads when they weren’t able to get out in the garden due to the weather.

11-1 and 12-1 students are still motivated, engaged and practicing their communication and social skills as they continue to meet weekly.

11-1 students created a 3D calendar to represent the six seasons on the Aboriginal Noongar calendar and are currently designing their entries for the whole school NAIDOC competition.

Ms Kim Butler

11-1 Teacher

Well here we are, at the end of a very different and somewhat strange term. Despite everything, this term has flown by and it’s hard to believe that we are two weeks away from starting the second half of the year. I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to both staff and students for their flexibility, commitment to education and perseverance in the face of uncertainty.

In-class, it has been business as usual for the year 11-2’s. They have worked extremely hard in all their subject areas, in particular in their Certificate I Course in Transport & Logistics. Here, students have been catching up on hours missed due to COVID 19 and the fact that Workplace Learning has been put on hold for the time being.

Volunteering has continued at school with students contributing towards the Sensory Garden. They have given their time helping with general maintenance, creating a fairy garden, an outdoor study space, painting a lean-to structure to house the garden’s aboriginal mural, and potting plants and flowers for Market Day scheduled for later in the year.

Mr Greer has been taking the class for Maths, PE and Health this term. In Maths, students have been working at spending (something that the students are very good at) and budgeting. For PE, the students have engaged in both bike riding and modified dodgeball. Finally, in Health the class have been studying drugs and alcohol, and the effects they have, the impact they have on the body, and the different types.

The DFES course that runs on a Tuesday has continued with the hope of going out on relating excursions, set to commence next term. Students have been learning about bushfires and the devastating effect they have on both our landscape and communities.

Finally, in their Certificate II Course in Business, students have made a great name for themselves by making fantastic coffee. Student work as a team to make, label and deliver coffees to staff, all of which they do with a smile and aplomb.

As ever it has been a busy term for class 11-2 and they all deserve a break. So, enjoy your mid-year break and I’ll see you all for Term 3 to hit the ground running.

Mr Tom Cann

11-2 Teacher

As Term 2 draws to a close 12-1 are looking forward to Term 3 and the recommencement of some normality to their school week.

The class has kept very busy while school based and has honed their skills in car washing for Business Enterprise. To date we have raised over $200 for the ‘Koalas Bushfire Appeal Fund’. Students have become efficient, worked as a team and clean cars like experts.

Coffee Club on a Monday has allowed students to continue practising customer service skills and coffee making with assistance. We have some students who have confidently shown their Barista abilities when it was their turn to make the coffees.

Completing ASDAN modules has been a focus for the class this term while we remain onsite. We are looking forward to heading back out into the Community to gain more skills and to complete further sections of the modules.

12-1 have been stars in the garden. They have cleaned up after storms, cleaned sheds and all equipment including washing and oiling all wooden handles of tools. The class recently made Grass Heads out of plastic cups, which they decorated with faces, soil and grass seeds. We will watch them grow over the coming weeks.

The class’ weekly visit with Year 11-1 to socialise and play a board or card game has been a great success. Students in both classes are showing an increased level of communication and interaction. It has been very pleasing to see quieter students coming out of their shell.

During DFES students have been learning DRSABCD, how to deal with fractures and snakes bites. There has been lots of practise bandaging and practising CPR.

As a class we look forward to Semester Two and accessing the community again for WPL, DFES and ASDAN.

Ms Tonya Vander Loop

12-1 Teacher

Well done to the 12-2 students for completing their first semester of Year 12.

Most of the class have completed their Mosaic Projects which have all turned out amazing! The designs are all very individual and the students are proud of their final product!

Cobra Café has been continuing to run throughout the term and students have been working through perfecting the different coffee recipes including Flat Whites, Cappuccinos, Mochas, Lattes and Espressos. We look forward to creating a new winter menu for Term 3.

The students have worked very hard on their Certificate II in Skills for Work and Vocational Pathways. Next term they will complete three more units including Interact effectively with others at work, Use hygienic practices for food safety and Calculate with whole numbers and familiar fractions, decimals and percentages for work.

Ms Lauren Thompson

12-2 Teacher