School Highlights
Press Club – Treasurer’s budget lunch
Melissa Deacon and Paige Strachan, Year 11
On 21 May, we had the honour of experiencing Tim Pallas’ presentation of this year’s Victorian State Budget. The presentation itself was attended by a myriad of groups, including various private firms, journalists, government officials, media and the occasional high school student (that was us).
This experience enlightened us to the process of assessing and prioritising funding for the many services the State provides. Furthermore, we were able to experience firsthand the education of what the Budget is and what it does. The Q and A style question time also enlightened us to people’s responses to the budget and to the Andrews Government.
Overall, it was great to be able to connect with other people over lunch and enjoy conversation about economics, politics and Victoria as a whole.
Mathematics Faculty News
Helen Cole, Academic Dean of Mathematics
Year 7
This week, the Year 7 students have been practicing solving many different types of equations using the backtracking method. They have also been preparing for their Algebra Skills Test and Equations Problem Solving Task, which were both held recently.
Year 8
The Year 8 students have been learning about straight line graphs. They completed tables from rules, plotted graphs from coordinate points and found rules from both tables and straight lines.
Maths Challenge
Some Years 7 and 8 students have been working through Maths Challenge, which is a series of six tough questions which they have a month to complete. The questions are designed to test students’ problem-solving skills, logical reasoning and ability to present strong mathematical evidence.
With questions as diverse as ‘subtraction staircases’ and ‘brick converters’, students are pushed out of their comfort zone and challenged to come up with different techniques to answer the questions. Since students get to work with a partner during class time, it also encourages mathematical discussion.
Maths Support
Diya James, Year 7
Over the past few weeks, we have been dedicating our Maths class time to the Maths Challenge. There are six questions for us to complete over four weeks. The questions are challenging, designed to make us think out of the box and apply our knowledge across a range of maths topics. We are able to pair up with someone else who has entered the challenge, to solve the questions jointly.
The Maths Challenge has been tricky, and there have been times when I’ve been stuck on a question. However, those ‘lightbulb moments’ that help you solve the question feel awesome and that is what excites me and drives me to try the next one!
The Maths Challenge has been an amazing opportunity to work with different people and apply my knowledge in different ways.
INFORMATION:
Year 7 Maths Support is available every fortnight on Monday Day 6, 3.45 - 4.45pm, and Years 8 and 9 Maths Support is available every fortnight on Thursday Day 9, 3.45 - 4.45pm. Ms Sardellis supervises Year 7 and Mrs Cole supervises Years 8 and 9.
Years 10 to 12 Maths Support is available every Monday after school. Each week, about 15 to 20 students have been attending this session, where they can receive extra assistance with their Maths. Mr Ymer and Mr Williams alternate supervision.
Year 9
This week, the Year 9s have been continuing their study of surds. They have learnt how to simplify surds, as well as add, subtract and multiply surds. When simplifying surds, students need to identify multiples of perfect squares.
Years 10 and 11
This week, the Years 10 and 11 students have been preparing for their exams, which started on Thursday 27 May.
Year 12
Mathematical Methods and Specialist Mathematics students have both been delving into calculus this week. In Mathematical Methods, students completed their first SAC at the start of the week, then continued learning Applications of Differentiation such as Maximum/Minimum problems.
In Specialist Mathematics, students have been excited to learn techniques of anti-differentiation such as the incredibly useful Integration by Substitution. In Further Mathematics, students have been preparing for their Recursion and Financial Modelling SAC, which was on Wednesday 26 May.