Principal Report

We are now well into the swing of things in Term 3. Earlier this week the staff participated in a professional learning day. The focus of this day was supporting staff to migrate to the Office 365. which in turn will lead to IT innovation in our classrooms. We will look at supporting the students in this process at the start of 2024. Additionally, we continued our work with our School Wide Positive Behaviours framework and looking at how we can embed this positive language into our everyday teaching. Our 3 school values of Respect, Resilience & Opportunity form the basis of all this work.

Lunchtimes have been filled with students are preparing for the upcoming House Music Competition. It’s been terrific to see a wide spread of students getting involved in these bands.

There are several important events occurring during Term 3 that have impact on some classes running. Please see a list of these and the dates occurring:

Tuesday 8th August - Year 9 SEALP & Year 10 Subject Selection (No year 10 classes running) 12:00pm – 7:00pm
Thursday 17th August – Parent /Teacher / Student Interviews (No classes)
Friday 25th August – BHS House Music Competition (1:30pm-3:30pm)

Parent / Teacher / Student Interviews

This Year our Term 3 Parent Teacher Interviews have been brought forward to week 6. Interviews for all students will take place on Thursday 17th August. This brings all our interviews in line rather than splitting the year 12’s and the rest of the school, as has been done in the past. Parents can book these interviews via Compass. These interviews work best when the student is present and can engage in the feedback about their learning.

Breakfast Club

Our wellbeing team have re-launched the breakfast club program. This began last Thursday with over 100 students coming along to enjoy a toasty and milo before school. This is set up as a social gathering, so I encourage any student to come along and strike up a conversation over a warm milo. Breakfast club will run every Thursday out of the staff common room between 8:20am – 9:00am

NAPLAN Results

NAPLAN results for our Year 7 & 9 students are now available via Compass. The hard copy sheets will be available for parents to collect on the parent teacher interview day, Thursday 17th August.

Parent Survey

WE WANT OUR PARENTS / CAREGIVERS / GUARDIANS TO TELL US WHAT THEY THINK!

Our school is conducting a survey to find out what parents / caregivers / guardians think of our school. The Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey is an annual survey offered by the Department of Education that is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behaviour, and student engagement. The survey is optional, but we encourage all selected families to participate. Our school will use the survey results to help inform and direct future school planning and improvement strategies. A random sample of approximately 30 per cent of parents / caregivers / guardians has been selected to participate in this year’s survey.

The Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey will be open from Monday 7 August to Friday 8 September 2023.

The survey will be conducted online, only takes 20 minutes to complete, and can be accessed at any convenient time within the survey period on desktop computers, laptops, tablets, or smartphones. The online survey will be available in English and other languages where necessary.

Subject Selection process

Most year levels have worked with our Careers Coordinator, Mr Nick Masters to start the process of considering future pathway and subjects for 2024. Initially our Year 10 and 11 students will be selecting their subjects and having some good conversations with parents, teachers and House Leaders regarding their career pathway and subjects that can support this pathway planning.

School planning 2024

The school is currently planning for the 2024 school year. If you are aware that your son/daughter is not returning to the school for 2024 (Year 12’s excluded) could you contact the school and leave a message with one of our Assistant Principals.

Student Achievement

Oscar Waring has recently been successful in earning the Tuckwell Scholarship at the Australian National University for next year. This is a massive achievement; Oscar was shortlisted from over 1500 students Australia wide and was one of only 25 recipients of this prestigious scholarship. We are amazingly proud of Oscar's achievement. A sign of his high achievement is Oscar’s current participation in the London International Youth Science Forum. If you’re interested in what this involves check out the link below:

London International Science Youth Forum

After Poppy Nivarovich’s success at the recent state school’s cross-country event, Poppy competed in the Vic All Schools cross country at Bundoora Park. She finished in 7th position to be selected in the Victorian team to compete at the upcoming National Championships in Canberra at the end of the month. Brilliant work Poppy.

Ruby Moon-Elshout has recently been selected to represent Victoria in the upcoming national Hockey championships.

Mai Lorenzen (Year 9) has been selected in the U16 School Sport Victoria Hockey team heading to Adelaide this month. Mai is a star Goalie who has the unenviable task of people hitting hard hockey balls at her as a job. Good luck Mai.

Josh Baker

Belmont High School Newsletter

No.11

Issue 11 · 04 Aug 2023

In this issue