Academic Excellence

Year 7 – 9 Highlights

Our Year 7–9 Academic Excellence students have had a busy term. The eager group of students met early Tuesday mornings, while we were able to, to enhance their learning and be involved in some challenging and fun activities.

In Topic 1, students learnt in depth about organisation, improving study habits and how to improve your thinking to achieve success. They were challenged to identify a bad habit, find the triggers and over a week try to slowly change the habit. A great example of this was a student who used always put off doing his homework until told to do it by his parents. During the habit focus week, he was motivated to get his homework done as soon as he got home. He now continues this positive habit. Win!

Topic 2 got us to focus on group cohesion and to begin our research project on bridges. The students gave excellent responses as to what contributes to the best group cohesion, that is, you need both task cohesion (how well a group works together to achieve a task) and social cohesion (how well a group interacts and supports each other).

The students then worked in groups to research different types of bridges, giving examples of famous bridges around the world and also the compression and tension forces that are working on these bridges. They have now started their first project, The SNC Bridge Building Competition. Students are allowed to use recycled materials to build a strong bridge that is large enough to span 65cm. We will test the strength of the bridges when back at school. Students must also complete a project write-up on their chosen bridge. We wish the students well in this competition.

Australian Brain Bee Challenge (ABBC)

A small group of Year 10 students competed in Round 1 of the Australia Brain Bee Challenge. Prior to the challenge, the students completed online tasks to study numerous facts about neuroscience. Their knowledge was then tested by completing an online quiz. We await the results.

Australian Geography Competition

In Week 8, students in Year 8-10 Humanities Extension classes sat the Australian Geography competition. They tested their geographical knowledge, competing against each other and thousands of students across Australia. I hope the students enjoyed this challenging event.

Computational and Algorithmic Thinking (CAT) Competition

On 29 April our Senior Maths Specialist students will sit the CAT competition. CAT competition is an online problem solving competition that seeks to identify a student’s computer programming potential. Good luck to the students.

Write4Fun Competition

A small group of students have displayed their literary skills by participating in the Australia wide Write4Fun competition. They have each written either a short story or poem which has been submitted. We await a positive outcome.

Mrs L Cardenia (Academic Excellence coordinator)