Message from the Head of Senior School Asalamu Alaykum Dear parents & carers, I’d like to pass on a warm welcome to our new and existing Bellfield community members and thank you for your ongoing support. Parents / carers and students will receive regular updates through the College WhatsApp, student and parent emails and CANVAS classrooms. For now, I have kept it short with the most ‘need to know’ information. AFTERNOON PICKUP Parents will be asked to join carline and under no circumstances should pick up occur at the front of the school. All students will be directed to the carline zone for the afternoon pick up. COVID -19 guidelines - Parents must remain in their car and avoid social gatherings. ROLL CALL We no longer have morning roll call class. Students must arrive at school prior to 8.30am and will attend period 1 class immediately after the morning bell (8.30am). Attendance rolls will be marked at the commencement of period 1 and throughout the day occurring at the beginning of each period. Students late to class will be issued with an ‘on the spot’ afternoon detention. AFTERNOON DETENTIONS Your child may receive an on-the-spot afternoon detention for reasons including but not limited to: o Late to class o Out of Uniform o Non completion of class work If a student is absent from school when the afternoon detention is served, then he/she will have to serve it on another day and families will be notified accordingly. MOBILE PHONES Our College is a student phone free zone. Mobile phones MUST be placed in the school bag and switched off before entering school grounds, this includes before the 8.30am bell and after the home time bell. If seen, heard or used on school grounds devices will be confiscated immediately and held for two weeks. Please note that this also includes mobile phone devices such as Air Pods and headsets. Other technology items including IPADS and Apple watches are also not permitted. Students also have the option of handing in their mobile phone to the senior administration office each morning. Pick up occurs at 3.20pm, not earlier. SPORTS UNIFORM Sports Uniform is worn for PE PRACTICALS and Sport days only. Please refer to the student timetable and CANVAS classroom for PE practicals days. o Year 7 - Year 8 students attend sport on Wednesday afternoon. o Year 9 - Year 10 students attend sport on Friday afternoon. Students not in the correct and full summer uniform will be issued afternoon detention. SCHOOL CANTEEN The canteen aims to open for operation in week 3 of term 1 and will open three days per week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday). This information will be communicated to parents in our week 1 newsletter. PARENTS ON CAMPUS - COVID-19 Schools may allow parents to come on to the school grounds to drop off or pick up their children where it is necessary for the welfare and wellbeing of students, or where the school’s education philosophy requires that students be escorted to class each day. When this occurs, the college must implement COVID-19 safe practices including physical distancing and other COVID-19 requirements. We encourage parents to leave the school quickly and discourage gatherings of parents.
SCHOOL BUS SERVICES - COVID-19 The current Public Health (COVID-19 Mandatory Face Coverings) Order 2021 requires students to wear masks while on public transport, or school buses in the Greater Sydney area. Students must wear a mask for the whole trip. Students 12 years and under are exempted from this requirement. Parents must inform the school administration office if there are changes to buses. CURRICULUM From Term 3, 2020, Parents and students received information about classes, electives, textbooks and stationary items through their CANVAS classrooms, emails and College WhatsApp. Please ensure your child attends class prepared for learning with all equipment daily. Please note there will no photocopying of resources for students without their textbook. Students not prepared for class will receive afternoon detentions. Preparedness for class also requires that students comply with the school uniform policy ie. For Work Health and Safety purposes all students participating in Food Technology or Science practicals must be wearing fully enclosed hard leather, hard sole shoes. Your child will not be permitted to participate if not wearing the correct shoes. We will send the assessment and reporting procedures in a separate communication. I have attached the textbook list which may also be found on CANVAS and the College website (along with the Grade assessment planner) from week 2 onwards. STAFF UPDATES Our senior school team has experienced growth in student numbers and as a result of this growth we welcome several new experienced senior school teachers’ including Mr Gates – STEM, Ms Laguna – STEM, Ms Jomaa – HSIE / English, Ms Kumar – HSIE / English, Mr Barrington - HSIE / English, Mr Fawaz – HSIE / English, and Dr Ali – existing member appointed as Head of Department STEM, Mr Karimi – existing member appointed as Mathematics Coordinator. 7-10 PARENT INFORMATON EVENING Senior School Parent Information will be held on Thursday 11th February 2021. PIE night provides parents an opportunity to meet their child’s teachers, consult with our IT technical consultants about the Parent Portal, and meet with your child’s Year Advisor. Parent will receive information about curriculum, Illuminations and CANVAS the College online learning management system. YEAR 7 ORIENTATION – KIDS HELPINE PROGRAM from Day 1 of school. Transition to High School: ▪ KHL @School provides a riverbank analogy to discuss: ▪ Things we will miss about Primary School ▪ Things to look forward to in High School ▪ New Expectations ▪ Worries around High School ▪ Tips/strategies (Teacher/class to choose 2-3 to focus on) o Making friends o Calming Strategies o Homework/Study Pressure o Help seeking o Staying Organised On behalf of the Senior School team, I wish you all the best and pray for a successful, safe and productive year ahead. Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions. Ms Mouina Ramadan Head of Senior School