Maths Department

Welcome to another year and another term in Mathematics at Mater Dei! We have had a busy and productive start to the year in the Mathematics faculty. Firstly, I would like to welcome Mrs Sharon Chandler and Mr Matthew Hope to our faculty. Both bring a wealth of experience, great enthusiasm and a willingness to work hard with their students.

Last week saw the first Pi Day celebrated at Mater Dei – and what a great day it was! At recess, students came to buy party "pi’s" and cakes and biscuits all decorated with pi. There was also an Easter egg guessing competition and it was great to see so many students using their estimation skills to try and guess how many Easter eggs were in the jar. Over 200 guesses were made and it was won by:

·         Mr Pat Noonan – first place

·         Nyibol Kuol – Year 7 – second place

At lunch, students were invited to recite pi to as many decimal places as they could. The students who entered this competition amazed the teachers with their outstanding ability to remember so many numbers. Well done to the following students:

·         Jasmine Hutchinson – Year 9 – 10 decimal  

          places

·         James Whiting – Year 8 – 23 decimal places

·         Matilda Kaylock – Year 8 – 37 decimal places

·         Tim Murphy – Year 11 – 50 decimal places

·         Harry Trevaskis – Year 8 – 87 decimal places

·         Charles Donebus – Year 10 – 100 decimal 

          places

Congratulations to all to our competitors and to our winner Charles! Amazing effort!

In the classrooms, Years 8 and 10 are our first Year 8 and 10 cohorts to follow the new Australian Curriculum program. Year 8 has begun with the topics of Algebraic Techniques, Indices and Measurement. Soon they will be discovering Pythagoras’ Theorem for the first time. Year 10 classes are working with Financial Mathematics applied to real life situations, including how simple interest, compound interest and depreciation work in real life.

Our Year 7 students have transitioned well into high school Mathematics. So far this term they have been working on the topics of Computation with Positive Integers and Angle Relationships. Later in the term they will commence Computation with all Integers.

Year 9 has been working hard ensuring their basic skills in Integers, Fractions, Decimals, Rates and Ratios is solid. This first topic is designed to review their understanding and prepare them for future topics. Financial Mathematics is next to be studied. Students will get the chance to explore the many different ways to earn, spend and invest money.

Year 11 students are quickly realising that senior Mathematics courses are very busy and expectations are high. Many students are rising to the challenge by organising their time and priorities well and fully utilising their teacher's knowledge and experience. Our General classes are currently working through their first assessment task, which has the students exploring the costs of buying their first car. By the completion of this assessment, students will have a better understanding of stamp duty, green slips, registration and insurance. Parents, if you’re interested in finding a better deal with your own car, your children can show you how to use the online calculators and compare what options are available and maybe find you a better deal!

Year 12 students have just completed their Mid-Course Examinations and will be going through their exams with their teachers thoroughly. By doing this, our students can find where their strengths lie and which topics they can focus on to improve before the HSC Trials in Term 3. We really encourage all our senior students to use the next two terms to their advantage. Organise your time wisely both in school and at home. The effort you put in now will be rewarded in the end.

Tutorials on a Wednesday afternoon are fantastic! Every Wednesday after school until 4.30pm, the Maths teachers have been helping students with their homework, assignments, study and all things Maths! We are really pleased to see so many of our students taking advantage of this resource. Every week we have seen many students from year 7 to year 12 continually turning up with their Maths questions. Come along, use the teachers’ expertise and improve your Maths results – we look forward to seeing you there.

Miss Kate Nolan

Mathematics KLA Leader