Belridge Secondary ESC News
Welcome to the 2022 School Year
From the Principals Desk
Welcome to all students, parents and guardians to the 2022 school year. Despite the uncertainty of COVID I would like to thank our entire school community on rising to the challenge which made start of the school year as seamless as it possibly could be. Greeting all of the students upon arrival at school and seeing their eagerness and enthusiasm in returning, was a personal highlight for me as students and staff were all so excited to get the 2022 school year underway.
A special welcome to all of our new students and staff who have joined us and this year we have also welcomed students from a range of different schools in Years 7 – 9, welcome one and all-we know that you will really enjoy the many opportunities here at Belridge SESC! You should all be extremely proud of the manner in which you have settled into your school routine.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank all of our staff for their innovative thinking and dynamic approaches to continuing to offer exciting and relevant educational opportunities for our students. As highlighted in the final newsletter of 2021, the ever changing COVID situation would pose some challenges and that changes to the delivery of some programs would result. Traditionally a range of activities have been offered offsite and these are not a mandatory curriculum requirement, but rather a means to supplement teaching and learning, -these activities have included Year 7 Swimming, Work Place Learning, Community Access and general excursions. The Senior School classes will be taking on some micro business enterprises during 2022 such as gardening projects, paper brick making and cooking classes. Certificate I Agrifoods/ASDAN Horticulture and Certificate II in Focus Skills for Vocational Pathways will run for some Year 11 and 12 classes. The program will be supplemented by ASDAN Short Courses and Towards Independence modules. In addition, we will be running a Work Skills Focus program which will continue to develop their employability and other work related skills.
I understand that these changes may disappoint many of our families, however Belridge SESC considers the safety and wellbeing of our students and staff to be a priority. The staff are to be congratulated on their collective ideas and strategies to support student learning.
Whilst our students with disabilities are exempt from wearing masks, we strongly encourage those students who are able to wear them to do so. We also ask that all parents and visitors to our school office adhere to the mandated mask requirements. Can we also please ask parents and visitors to ‘check in’ with the Safe WA app when entering the school reception area.
Please remember that our School Photo Day is on this Friday the 4th of February and please do not hesitate to contact the school if you have any enquiries.
Take care,
Kind regards,
Jenine Wall
Principal
School Administration Structure
Jenine.Wall@education.wa.edu.au
Shayne Hutchings - Deputy principal (Middle School 7-9)
Shayne.Hutchings@education.wa.edu.au
Wendy Hughes - Deputy Principal (Senior School 10-12)
School Bus Service
We have many students who access the School Bus Service provided by the Public Transport Authority daily and currently have 5 school buses that transport our students to and from school.
Coordinating the students on the buses is a priority for our office staff and to do this effectively they rely on information being provided by families when there is a change to the normal bus routine.
If your child is not going home on the school bus it is imperative that the school office be notified by 2pm at the very latest, preferably earlier. This notification can be via the student’s diary, phone call to the office or email to the office staff.
In the case of notes in the student’s diary, if the student has written the note please have a parent countersign the note to ensure the accuracy of the information.
If no notification is received by the office, your child will be placed on the bus as usual.
Contact details for notification:
Telephone number - 9408 8050
Email -
Darcie.Fricker@education.wa.edu.au
Tracey.Taylor2@education.wa.edu.au
Amanda.Brown@education.wa.edu.au
Please email all office staff members as alternative days are worked.
(Please also notify your bus service directly for any changes to routines or illness)
Student Absences, Late Students and Early Pick Ups
Please notify the school office if your child is absent from school on a particular day. This can be done via email or by calling the front office staff who are available from 8am Monday to Friday. If you call prior to 8am please leave a message on our answering machine.
If a student arrives at school after the final bell at 8.45am they must come to the ESC office and be signed in to school and receive a late pass. The class will be contacted to let them know the student has arrived and will be collected and taken to class if need be.
If a student has to leave school before the end of the school day for any reason, parents must come to the ESC office and sign their child out prior to taking them home.
Your assistance with these matters is greatly appreciated.
Contributions and Charges
Contributions are voluntary requests for payment made each year to parents of students attending Years 7 – 10. School Charges are requests for compulsory payments and are issued to parents of students attending Years 11 – 12.
Belridge Secondary ESC keeps these costs to a minimum and only requests the minimum amount of Contributions and Charges payable. These are reviewed annually and endorsed by the School Board. Many activities are heavily subsidised by the school. Accounts are issued to parents where possible two months before the commencement of the school year. Whilst requests for payment from families with students in Years 7 -10 is a voluntary request, we encourage payment of these costs as all students benefit from the valuable resources they help to provide.
These can be paid by EFTPOS, cash or cheque through the office or if you prefer by electronic transfer direct to our Bank Account which is;
Name: Belridge Secondary Education Support Centre
BSB: 066-040
Account Number: 1990-5931
Please remember to insert your child’s name in the description to ensure funds are allocated correctly.
Secondary Assistance Scheme 2022
Any families holding a Centrelink Health Care Card, Pension Concession Card or Veterans Affairs Card are able to apply for the Secondary Assistance Scheme. This assistance will help with the payment of contributions and charges to a total of $235 and there is a payment of $115 towards uniforms or other associated costs which is credited direct to parent’s bank accounts. Applications for this assistance need to be submitted by April 1st 2021 through the school office. There is no option to access this assistance past this date so if you wish to take advantage of this please do so as soon as possible.
The Western Australian Department of Education provides an allowance to assist eligible families with secondary schooling costs. To be eligible for the allowance the parent/guardian must hold a Department of Human Services (Centrelink) or Veterans Affairs card that represents a statement of income for the family.
The allowance consists of two components:
$115 Clothing Allowance paid directly to the parent/guardian or the school
$235 Educational Program Allowance paid directly to the school. Application is made by the parent or guardian for student/s enrolled in Years 7 – 12 at a secondary school.
ELIGIBILITY CRITERA
Parent or Guardian of student in Year 7-12 must hold one of the following cards that is valid some time during first term:
Centrelink Family Health Care Card
Centrelink Pensioner Concession Card
Application can be made at the School Office - please bring your family Centrelink Card as well as your bank account details so the Clothing Allowance can be paid directly to your bank account.
Communication Tools
As mentioned earlier, communication between the Centre and our families is of the utmost importance. We currently have the following methods of communication.
Student Planner - Every student has a planner supplied by the Centre. This planner is the primary communication tool between families and the class.
Telephone - 9408 8050 is the Centre's phone number. This comes directly to the front office and we can then direct calls to classrooms or staff members.
Email - Class teachers will provide their email address to families. Please do not hesitate to send an email to them with queries, information etc.
School Star - News, Events, Notices and general messages will now be sent using the School Star app. Only parents and community members can access content in this secure app for iPhone and Android. Download from your app store. If you need assistance please contact the school office and we will be happy to help.
Website - We have recently had a new website created and this will be a major information tool in 2022 and onwards. Please bear with us as we endeavour to update the content.
Newsletter - We publish the Belridge Secondary ESC News twice a term. The newsletter is emailed to parents.
Term Dates, School Development Days & Public Holidays 2022
Term 1 - Monday 31st January to Friday 8th April
Term 2 - Tuesday 26th April to Friday 1st July
Term 3 - Monday 18th July to Friday 23rd September
Term 4 - Monday 10th October to Thursday 15th December
Staff Development Days - PUPIL FREE
Term 1 - Monday 21st March 2022 - Week 8
Term 2 - Friday 3rd June 2022 Week 6
Term 3 - Friday 12th August 2022 - Week 4
Term 4 - Friday 16th December 2022 - Week 10
Public Holidays in Term Time 2022
Term 1 - Monday 7th march - Labour Day
Term 2 - Monday 6th June - WA Day