May 2017

BELRIDGE SECONDARY ESC NEWS An Independent Public School

17 Gwendoline Drive, Beldon WA 6027 Tel: 9408 8050

Email: belridge.sesc@education.wa.edu.au www.belridgesesc.wa.edu.au

Important Dates

School Development Day—PUPIL

FREE Friday 2nd

June

WA Day Public Holiday

Monday 5th June

Centrelink Disability

Advisor Info Session

Tuesday 20th June

5.30pm-6.30pm (Years 10 & 11)

Last day of

Term 2 Friday 30th

June

First Day of Term 3

Monday 17th July

From the Principals Desk

Welcome back to Term Two and all of the students have returned to school with lots of energy and enthusiasm. The programs that operate in all year levels across the school continue to provide an extensive range of exciting and motivating learning opportunities that encompass all areas of the Australian Curriculum. Many of our Lower and Middle school students attended a ‘Magic Show’ at the Perth Convention Centre last Thursday. These excursions into the community allow our students the opportunity to generalise their knowledge, social and communication skills outside of the school environment as well as being an enjoyable educational activity. At this time of the year there are many prospective parents doing tours of our school and they are always impressed by the quality and types of programs that are provided, the facilities, the staff and of course the students. Parents and families are also always pleasantly surprised at the low fees associated with attending our school and the amount of activities, programs and opportunities that are provided within this cost framework here at Belridge Secondary ESC. Congratulations to all of our students on the positive manner in which they have commenced Term Two and of course to the staff who work tirelessly to provide the very best opportunities for our students. Beyond School Parent Information Evening We recently held an information evening for all parents regarding the process for students as they begin to finalise their Personalised Plans with the Disability Services Commission (DSC). This evening was extremely well attended with a range of providers including; DSC, supported and open employment options, further study opportunities such as WCIT as well as a range of Life and Skill development opportunity providers in attendance. Parents of students in varying year levels across our Centre attended and feedback on the evening was extremely positive. Thank you to Mrs Jenny Winston who organised this evening and to all of the staff who also attended and assisted during the night!

School Board Our next School Board meeting is on Tuesday 13th June, 2017. The School Board participates in establishing and reviewing the school’s objectives, priorities and general policy directions; planning financial arrangements necessary to fund those objectives, priorities and directions; evaluating the school’s performance in achieving those objectives, priorities and directions; and formulating codes of conduct for students at the school. Nominations forms were sent out to the school community last term inviting parents and community members to join our School Board. Our parent representatives are Wendy Langford and Caroline Wright and we would like to welcome Jo Waterman to our School Board. Thank you for your valuable input, time and contributions into school operations here at Belridge Secondary ESC. School Uniforms As the cooler weather rapidly approaches parents are reminded of the need to follow the school uniform policy. The school uniform plays an important role in creating a sense of identity within the community but also supports the inclusive nature of the two schools here at Belridge. Students are able to wear navy blue track pants and jumpers that DO NOT have any logos. School track suit jackets, pants and jumpers are also available for purchase from Uniform Concepts located in Delage Street in Joondalup. We appreciate your support in following these rules and please contact the school if you require any information regarding this. Important dates to remember: Just a reminder that Friday 2nd June, 2017 is a designated School Development Day and students will not be attending school on this day. The following Monday 5th June, 2017 is WA Day and we hope that you are able to make the most of the long weekend. Kind regards

Jenine Wall Principal

Belridge Secondary ESC News

Year 7-1 Welcome back! It seems as though the holidays are a distant memory now we are back and already in week 5! I loved hearing what everyone got up to during their break. I am really impressed with how everyone is able to clearly deliver their news and ask each other a question. It’s such a fantastic improvement from the start of the year and clearly shows how much everyone’s confidence has grown. We had an extremely exciting day out at Caversham Wildlife Park in week 2. We saw so many Australian animals and had the opportunity to touch and pat them. One of the highlights of the day was definitely getting to feed the kangaroos. I was very impressed with everyone’s behaviour on the excursion. From what I saw everyone was very sensible and listened to instructions. The class have been thoroughly enjoying Dance with Miss Currie, I can’t wait to see their routine. They have also been cooking some delicious food with Ms Corless in Home Economics. The classroom smells so good on Thursdays! Mr Bond has started metal work in D and T so they’ve been soldering and hammering using a jeweller’s mandrel. As always our classroom work is well underway. Students have been working really hard in English and Mathematics and we’ve been doing some exciting science experiments on Friday’s with the other year seven class. I apologise in advance if anyone is messy afterwards! As always please feel free to contact me via email or the school planner.

I love hearing from you.

Miss Emma Reed Year 7-1 Teacher

May 2017

Year 7-2 It has been a great start to term 2, with some

exciting outings and activities. To start the term off,

both year 7 classes went to Caversham Wildlife

Park as part of our science and humanities

program. We got to explore the park as well as see

an awesome farm show, where we even got to milk

a cow!

One activity in particular that we enjoyed was

getting to feed the kangaroos. We saw grey

kangaroos and even white ones!

There were lots of kangaroos around to feed and

they were so soft to pat. One kangaroo had a joey in

its pouch. We were lucky enough to be able to get

close enough to see it’s little head popping out.

While we were at Caversham, we were able to see

‘Wombat and friends’’ which is an area where we

could get up close to some different Australian

animals. Some were fluffy, while some were a little

scary.

It was a great day learning about different habitats,

climates and animals. Everything that we had been

learning in the class, we were able to see in real life.

We were able to learn even more about the animals

and their habitats that we didn’t already know.

Which leads us on to another exciting activity we did

in science, where we learnt some facts the we didn’t

already know. Solids, liquids and gasses – an

experiment where we got to make goo.

During this experiment we had to see if this goo was a solid, liquid or gas. It was quite tricky because it looks runny like a liquid when it is in the bowl, but when you pick it up you can roll it into a ball. Some groups made some really runny goo, while others were really hard. We made a bit of a mess but it was so much fun and got our brains thinking hard about solids and liquids. It has been a busy and exciting start to the term and

we are excited to see what the rest of the term

brings. It is always an enjoyable experience learning

while having fun, and sharing these experiences

with our fellow year 7 students.

Miss Crystal Thompson

Year 7-1 Teacher

Belridge Secondary ESC News

Year 7-11 MAG Term 2 has started well in MAG. Students have continued on from where they left off in Term 1 and have settled back easily into their school and class routines. Well done! While we were on holidays our garden flourished. We have vines laden with cherry tomatoes and snow peas. Our corn is high and still growing and our capsicums are starting to look like the real thing! Students have been busy engaging in sensory activities as part of their ASDAN module. This combined with craft has produced some awesome gifts for home. They moulded and played with clay and then painted their results to produce Easter baskets which were filled with eggs ready for Easter. This term they have used recycled products such as Styrofoam, milk bottle lids and old shopping bags to produce beautiful planter boxes full of flowers and colourful plastic bugs ready for mum on Mother’s day. During mainstream options the class has created yummy toasted sandwiches and ‘chocolate cake in a cup’ in Cooking and have been learning how to use a Rhythmic gymnastic ribbon during Dance classes. Students are working hard towards their individual learning goals and it’s a pleasure to see. We are practising our names and writing our initials daily and the whole class, staff included, are getting better at using our Communication devices so we can interact and ‘talk’ to each other. So Term 2 is off to a great and busy start. We

look forward to the rest of the term as we

continue to strive to do our best.

Ms Kim Butler & Ms Tonya Vander Loop MAG Teachers

May 2017

Hi Everyone Brrrr isn’t the weather becoming cool ? But I do love this time of year when you can rug up with a blanket and feel cosy and warm and snuggle up with your favourite people or pet. Unfortunately there are many people who don’t have this opportunity so during our recent Student Council lunch meeting our wonderful Students decided to run a blanket Drive to help. We are collecting blankets until 15th June. Relaxation is one of those things that elude many of us. The year 7 group are mastering the art of relaxation, through meditation by following the guided talk from an app called smiling minds. If you are interested it can be downloaded from Apple store or Play store. It is Free!! Lastly Some ideas for the journey of parenthood. 1. Acknowledge that you don't expect your children to be perfect. 2. Let them know your love is unconditional, regardless of their mistakes or lapses in

judgement. 3. Don't rescue children from their mistakes. Instead, help them focus on the solution. 4. Provide examples of your own mistakes, the consequences, and how you learned from

them. 5. Encourage them to take responsibility for their mistakes and not blame others. 6. Avoid pointing out their past mistakes. Instead, focus on the one at hand. 7. Praise them for their ability to admit their mistakes. 8. Praise them for their efforts and courage to overcome setbacks. 9. Mentor them on how to apologize when their mistakes have hurt others. 10. Help them look at the good side of getting things wrong!

Blessings to all

Bev Fruin

School Chaplain

What’s new? Belridge Secondary ESC mobile phone app! This app will give parents, carers and friends the opportunity to be kept informed of the Centre’s activities through, notifications, events and newsletters. Download it today to take advantage of all the wonderful features. Available free of charge for iPhone, Android and Windows phones.

Belridge Secondary ESC News

Year 8-1 This term Year 8-1 has been taking part in road and bike safety. Students have been steering

around mock roads, reading and responding to road signs and keeping an eye out for

pedestrians on Zebra crossings.

In Science students have been investigating matter through inquiry. Activities help to teach the

major concepts of the study of matter while helping students to develop the abilities and

understandings of scientific inquiry. Across the term will be exploring: physical properties,

physical change, dissolving solids, liquids and gasses, chemical change and states of matter.

In Math we have been putting our measuring skills to good use by creating measurement cities

and rainbow mother’s day cards.

Mrs Nichola Manship Year 8-1 Teacher

May 2017

Year 8-2 The Earth is a complex planet and Year 8-2 students are learning about its’ formation and landscapes in Science and the Geography this term. They are making models of landscapes, conducting experiments about rock formation and learning about the Rock Cycle. We have also looked at models of the Earth and the layers that it is made up of. In June we will be going on an excursion to Yanchep National Park to look at examples of a Karst (limestone) landscapes. We will visit Crystal Cave and look at some of the natural land formations along walk tracks. In class, students are learning about protective behaviours and puberty in Health with the People First Team conducting a class with them as well on Wednesdays. The MultiLit Reading Tutor program is running well in English and it is encouraging to see the improvements students have made in their word attack skills. It is fantastic to see the effort students are putting into completing their English and Maths homework. Well done everyone! Year 8-2 students are enjoying swimming lessons this term and also our junior school Phys Ed groups on Tuesday afternoons. Students have also enjoyed a performance by Yirra Yakin Performers who visited the school and dramatized some Aboriginal Dreaming Stories for us. On Thursday, 11

th May we

attended a magic show Razzamatazz at the Perth Convention Centre. Everyone enjoyed the performance and were in awe of the clever magic tricks performed. Year 8-2 students are a fantastic group of young people and it is a pleasure to teach them.

Mrs Pauline Egan Year 8-2 Teacher

Belridge Secondary ESC News

Year 9-1 The first half of Term 2 has been very eventful and enjoyable for the students in 9.1. Everyone really enjoyed the incursion and the performance by the amazing actors from Yirra Yakin. Each student was completely engrossed in the acting out of the Dreamtime stories and the clever costumes and humour used by the actors. The laughter from our students was so delightful to hear. The students attended the Razzamatazz Magic Show. They travelled by bus to the Convention Centre in Perth City with students from other classes. A wonderful time was had by all who attended. The children made a card and rocky road chocolate to give to their mothers on Mother’s Day. Feedback from the students and families indicated that the gift was thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated by all who received it. The new topic for the term in Humanities is geography. The students are learning about biodiversity, sustainability, landforms and weather patterns. They have already produced some excellent work. In science, they are learning all about the human body. We have included some photos showing the children enthusiastically creating adult size bodies adding each system, for example the skeletal system, as they learn about it on butcher paper. We look forward to many more enjoyable and engaging learning experiences during the remainder of this term. Best wishes to all from our lovely class.

Mrs Victoria Lade &

Mrs Leoni Sutherland

Year 9-1 Teachers

May 2017

Year 9-2 Here we go again! We are almost mid-way through the term. It has been a busy start and we have hit the ground running. Week 3 we had an educational morning of entertainment with a performance by Yirra Yakin Indigenous dancers telling dreamtime stories through dance. Then we attended the Razzamatazz comedy event at the Riverside Theatre, Perth Convention Centre. It was a fantastic show and our bellies ached from laughing. SWIM, SWIM, SWIM ….it is back to the pool! Some great swimming and laps by the students of 9-2. It’s great to see the kids enjoyment and learning to support enjoyment and safety in the water. Back in the classroom: Science - we are working like ‘mad scientists’ performing experiments to learn about

chemical reactions. English - we have started guided reading as a whole class reading WEIR DO by Anh Do,

learning about Weir and his crazy family. Don’t forget about home reading folders and Spelling City!

Maths work includes games of BUZZ to assist in developing automaticity in skip counting by 2s, 5s, & 10s. This will support many areas of Maths: time, money and multiplication.

History – Learning about life for the first Australians before and after colonisation. Please remember to check diaries every night for notes as students need to come prepared for: writing recounts Monday mornings, Tuesday students should come in appropriate school

uniform for sport, and Friday we have swimming and Jokes. We are looking forward to a fun and educational finish to the term so watch this space!

Mrs Susan Osborne Year 9-2 Teacher

Belridge Secondary ESC News

Year 10-1 Wow! How quickly the term is going by. Once again, the students in 10-1 have an exciting term ahead with more new experiences and further personal growth. On Thursday 18

th May we had our first

community access day using public transport. Before embarking on this new experience, the students enjoyed participating in role play activities in class to prepare them for what would be expected of them.

The students were great representatives of Belridge Secondary ESC, with fabulous manners and excellent behaviour towards their peers, staff and all members of the community. Well done to you all! I look forward to watching your confidence in using public transport growing throughout the term.

So far in DFES this term we have learnt how to be human measuring tapes, Participated in a St Johns First Aid course and had an excursion to Ern Halliday for an orienteering activity. Here are some pictures of the students being Human tape measures.

Our orienteering activity at Ern Halliday was enjoyed by all and one of our teams managed to locate all 22 points on the course. This was a great achievement, as they were the first DFES cadets in Belridge to do this. The team included, Utah, Isaac, Ben and George and together they showed what could be achieved when you work together with your peers and remain focused on a task. We are looking forward to more experiences throughout the term and if the first 4 weeks is anything to go by, it is going to be busy!

Mrs Aileen Finn

Year 10-1 Teacher

May 2017

Year 10-2 Term 2 has started well for class 10-2 with all students picking up where they left off last term. Students appear refreshed and ready to continue on their merry way to a successful year. We have been working hard these past few weeks to complete projects remaining from last term but have also begun a number of new projects. In English students have been looking at poster making including all the key elements to what constitutes as a well-balanced and educational poster. Each student has researched, investigated and produced a poster on a revolutionary invention that can help the environment including; The Sea Bin, The Bee Flow Hive, Ocean Cleanup Device, The Ecocapsule, The Life Straw and The Altered Nozzle. The students have created fantastic posters that are eye-catching, colourful, and informative. These posters are currently on display in class but students have also been given an A4 copy for their own records. In Maths, students are edging closer to completing the first project in their ‘MoneySmart’ program where they have designed, budgeted and calculated the cost of creating and running a Nature Park. Students have had to budget in the cost of providing toilets, healthy food outlets, bike racks, bins, playgrounds, walking & bike trails, picnic areas, seating, first aid tents, car parks and major attractions such as a flying fox, paddle boats and mazes. The students have all shown enjoyment in this project and have produced some excellent designs. Module 1 in DFES has continued this term with closer studies of navigation, map reading, distances, measurements and compass work. Last week students participating in a navigation activity at Ern Halliday where students were required to locate points on a map then find the corresponding markers and stamp a card. Students worked very well in teams and developed new skills. Mr Silva the year 10 Design and Technology teacher has students crafting portable chessboards which are in the final stages of completion. Agri-Foods – Certificate 1 via West Coast Institute of Training has continued with general maintenance and now the introduction of concreting and paving. In other subjects such as cooking and independently we are working through the alphabet of food.

So far this term we have cooked the letters J to L and will be starting the second half of the alphabet next week. Students have started Music this term and have begun to look at rhymes and beats. Thursday’s community access program is into full swing with students last week venturing into Perth Convention Centre to see Magic Show ‘Razzamatazz’. In coming weeks, we have trips to Kings Park, Sci-Tech, Perth Mint, Perth City Tour and WA Art Gallery. So as you can see, it has been a busy term already for class 10-2.

Mr Tom Cann Year 10-2 Teacher

Belridge Secondary ESC News

Year 11-1 Students are becoming more aware of Being Safe at school and in the community. In all of our lessons the safety topic arises. Their DFES Asdan units cover personal safety in the home as well. In English the topic is discussed when talking about personal information such as names and addresses and telephone conversations. In Maths, the use of money in community gives them an opportunity to practise using a wallet/purse to store money and personal ID information. In Asdan Workright, Work Awareness, and Out in the Community they role play safe scenarios and discuss unsafe practices so they can transfer good learned behaviours on buses and trains when out on Wednesdays for Workplace Learning and Fridays for Community Access. We are looking forward to many more adventures this term as we travel to the Swan Valley for bushfire awareness and Ern Halliday for a Crate Climb. Thank you for your continued support with your teenagers learning journeys. It was so good to see such a good turnout to our Beyond School night!

Mrs Sandy Riley Year 11-1 Teacher

Josh practicing First Aid in cooking class

First Aid lecturer demonstrating CPR steps

DFES students using compasses to locate places

DFES teamwork while doing the caterpillar walk

Ben, Madi and Josh using the location map at shopping centre.

Ella locating safety signs at Whitfords

May 2017

Year 11-2 Last Friday students held a Mother’s Day stall in the undercover area

at recess. They researched, budgeted and purchased gifts for the

stall. Time was spent wrapping gifts and advertising the stall to our

school peers. This project developed maths outcomes by focusing on

money handling skills, budgeting and learning about the concepts of

profit and loss. The processes will be showcased in students’ ASDAN

Citizenship and Health Short Course files. Thank you to everyone

who supported our stall and made it a success. Students handed out

feedback forms to select classes and the response was extremely

positive. Students from 11-2 should be very proud of all that they achieved. Lastly, I hope all the

Mums, Nannas and special loved ones had a lovely Mother’s Day.

The Physical Education program this term promotes students to make small

changes to their everyday lives that encourage health and wellbeing. Each student

has been given a pedometer in which they wear during the school day. Students

have been responsible for recording their own steps and looking at ways that they

can increase them.

It is the time of year when assessments are being collated in time for reports to be

written. I would like to commend 11.2 on their school attendance this Semester. It is rewarding to

see the enthusiasm of this group of students and progress each are making. During English

lessons, students are currently preparing a speech to deliver to the class on an occupation of their

choice. Students have viewed different online clips about different industries and their pathways.

Career surveys sparked some interesting suggestions for students to consider. Interpersonal skills

are continually being taught across all programs. English is another program that promotes

students development in this area. Each student will be given a checklist of the interpersonal skills

that they will work on to engage their class peers in their speech.

Mrs Kelsey Collins

Year 11-2 Teacher

Belridge Secondary ESC News

Year 12-1 Well… What an exciting start the year 12’s have already had this term! We eagerly started the

Jamie Oliver Ministry of Food cooking program. We have loved learning all of the tips and tricks

that help make cooking easy, fun and successful. Furthermore, it’s awesome learning about how

to prepare fresh food from scratch. As an added bonus we are taught all about the nutritional

information that helps us make wise food choices. For example, did you know that one serve of

protein is equivalent to the palm of your hand, or that one serve of carbohydrates is equal to half

a cup and that you should have six serves per day! That’s two serves per meal! How exciting is

that!

The Year 12 staff have loved witnessing the personal growth of the students during the Ministry of Food and we have even seen their newly learnt skills transfer over into our Cobra Café sessions. We are hopeful that they will start having the confidence to help out more in the kitchen at home… as an added bonus parents, they are all really good at doing the dishes now too! In ASDAN Money, the students completed a special project for Mother’s Day. They had to try to

understand what their mums like, complete research and plan gift ideas. The students then had

to locate the correct shop at Joondalup, find the product, check the price and then use the self-

checkout to purchase their gifts. This project incorporated a number of skills not only money

handling. It taught them to recognise (and accept) the interests of others, research within a set

budget, travel training, being aware of your surroundings and locating a specific shop in a large

complex, finding a specific product (without getting side-tracked) and operating the self-checkout

machine. The students were so pleased with their efforts and it was awesome receiving the

feedback from their mums! We look forward to what the rest of Term 2 has to offer!

Mrs Carmen Lopez

Year 12-1 Teacher

May 2017

Year 12-2 The completion of term one was celebrated through a mathematics Easter Activity organised by Mrs McEvoy. ‘Eggs’ were hidden in the garden outside the class room and student enthusiastically competed to collect as many eggs as possible. Once back in the classroom, students had the task of finding the number inside each egg and using their addition skills to identify if they had accumulated the highest value of eggs. Congratulations to Leon who collected over half the eggs and therefore achieved the highest score in his addition. The start to term two has been a very productive time for the 12-2 class. Students have been developing their measurement skills as part of their Certificate II Skills for Work and Vocational Pathways. They have enjoyed the value-added practical measurement activities of making Nachos and constructing a wooden box. Thank you to Mrs McEvoy and Mrs Mellows for utilising their talents and skills to lead these activities. For ASDAN Money, students were given the task of planning, organising and budgeting for a Mother’s Day gift. It was endearing to see the students be so thoughtful throughout this project to ensure that their mums would love their gifts. Our Health program has moved onto Social Relationships. The class has reviewed numerous news articles that either celebrate diversity or discriminate differences. They have watched video interviews of people of varying ages and discussed why their answers to social questions were different. Most recently the class has discussed social media and the impact it has had on social interaction and communication – concluding with a video clip of the future human dystopia from the Wall-E film. 12– 2 has continued to enjoy our weekly sports days with 12-1 and the two year 10 classes. This term we have played kickball and AFL and look forward future events.

Mrs Lauren Spedding Year 12-2 Teacher

Workplace Learning All our Vocational programs are running smoothly and our students are really beginning to develop some excellent skills in the various programs we are running. The DFES program is giving our students so many great opportunities to experience recreation and environmental challenges off campus and our great team have been busy planning for some great excursions this term. The Workplace Learning programs in Year 11 and 12 are creating some unique challenges at times which our students are managing with growing confidence and increased initiative. It is so heartening to hear from supervisors and managers that they love having our students come and help them each week and that the students make so much difference. The Year 11 students are now coming to the end of the semester so we are looking at giving them a change of workplace for term 3, unless they have had a recent change. Students have been doing some reflection of what they have enjoyed and learned about themselves and their skill sets, and some ideas of where they would like to try next. Year 12 students are also changing some work places in term 3. We are beginning to look to transition program opportunities in the community which may start being available in terms 3-4. We encourage families to start to consider a possible work trial in term 4 for their students so they have a chance to perhaps gain a workplace when they leave school. Our Certificate courses and ASDAN are well underway and students are being successful completing competencies towards completion in term 4. We have six students at NMTAFE completing a Cert 2 in Building Construction Pathways and they are stars in the classes and achieving excellent results. Well done to all the students and Ms Mellows and Ms LeRoy who work with them. Well done to all the students and staff working with them to help them in their success.

Mrs Jenny Winston WPL/VET Program Coordinator

Belridge Secondary ESC News