LEARNING AND TEACHING
Oars Global Challenge Results
Congratulations to the following students for their outstanding results in the Global Challenge that was held last term.
Medallion Winner (top result):
Special recognition and congratulations to Elliott Wong (4V) who achieved the top score in the Global Challenge for Science. Well done Elliott!
High Distinction with Honours (top 2% of results):
- Zoe Almodiel (4C) - Reading
- Samuel Tang (4C) - Mathematics
- Gabriel Liu (6F) - Mathematics
- Daniel Lee (8E) - Mathematics
High Distinction (top 10% of results):
- Isabella Yin (4C) - Reading
- Gabriel Lau (4V) - Mathematics
- Shiphrah Wang (4C) - Mathematics
- Joyce Zhao (4C) - Mathematics
- Joshua Chen (6F) - Mathematics
- Marcus Chong (6F) - Mathematics
- Eric Li (6L) - Mathematics
- Jin Wang (6F) - Mathematics
- Terrence Cheng (8A) - Mathematics
- Jett Wong (4V)-Science
- Eelyn Zhang (4C) -Science
- Cissy Zhang (4C) - Science
- Sheanne Hii (6F) -Science
- Declan Lee (6F) -Science
We also had 12 students who achieved a Distinction (top 25% of results). A great effort – well done to all!
Click HERE to hear a congratulatory message from the CEO of ACER.
Kerryn Terrington
Learning Support
Learning Support Update
It is with gratefulness to God that we welcome Josie Mayer to the Primary School and Primary Learning Support Teams. Josie brings a wealth of experience and is also a passionate Mathematics Educator who will be taking the Year 2 class.
I’ll let Josie introduce herself:
I thank God for His goodness and faithfulness in directing my steps to serve Him at St Andrew’s Christian College. What a privilege!!
I started my career as a classroom teacher and worked many years before starting our family.
I resumed classroom teaching eighteen years ago. However, nine years ago the Lord moved me to Learning Support where I have loved serving and supporting His children with great joy and commitment.
Now, just a little about me. I have four wonderful adult children, I love a good soy, extra strong, extra hot, Hot Chocolate and my hands-down most favourite pastime (aside from the obvious-time with the Lord) would be to spend quality time with family and friends over a nice lunch in a warm, cosy café.
I enjoy AFL football and have been following Essendon since I was a child. Regardless of their recent performance and their years of ups and downs, I will stay true and totally committed to the end.
I love the sun, suffer in the cold and during the winter months, won’t go anywhere without my trusted hot water bottle.
We look forward to working alongside Josie. Please feel free to make contact with her.
We will be saying farewell to Jenni Booth, a fabulous Learning Assistant who has worked alongside many students over the last two and a half years. Jenni is retiring and looking forward to spending time with her family. We wish Jenni all the best and thank her for the way she has brought so much sunshine and joy to everyone she has encountered.
God bless you, Jenni.
The Autism Spectrum Parent Support group meeting will be held on campus on Wednesday 22nd June from 9 – 10am in the boardroom This is an informal group for any parents who would like to connect with other parents who also have children with Autism, all are welcome.
If would be helpful if you are able to RSVP for catering purposes, however it is not essential. Please RSVP via email to any of the following:
Shirley Gillie (Head of LS): sgillie@standrews.vic.edu.au
Josie Mayer (Primary): jmayer@standrews.vic.edu.a
Kerryn Terrington (Secondary): kterrington@standrews.vic.edu.au
If you have further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact one of the Learning Support Teachers.
Shirley Gillie
Head of Learning Support
NAPLAN Online 2022 & 2023
I am pleased to be able to report that the NAPLAN testing for Year 3, 5, 7 and 9 students has been completed successfully. We completed 831 tests over the testing period – with 777 tests completed “online” and 54 tests completed in the more traditional “pencil and paper” format for Year 3 Writing. Congratulations to all students who participated in the testing program and to all of the staff who either supervised tests or completed administrative tasks to enable everything to run smoothly. We look forward to receiving results later in the year.
In preparation for 2023, I am also able to announce that the NAPLAN Testing Program will be completed during Term 1 commencing on Wednesday 15th March. This will mean results will be available to education authorities earlier in the year to inform school teaching and learning programs and will allow teachers to better assess what support students need for the coming year.
Further information can be found in the NAPLAN Media Release HERE.
Michael Swanborough
Deputy Principal - Learning & Teaching
Computational and Algorithmic Thinking Competition
In Week 2, 21 students from Year 5 to 9 sat the Computation and Algorithmic Thinking (CAT) Competition. This is the first year that we have had students attempt this competition. The types of questions included are designed to test the type of procedural thinking which is often used in computer programming. There were a range of responses on completion of the competition, but all agreed that it was quite challenging. Results will be published later in the year.
Kerryn Terrington
Learning Support
ICAS Competitions – Update
The College has recently received information from ICAS that there was an error on the ICAS website regarding the Year levels eligible for various competitions.
Year 2 students are able to register for the ICAS Digital Technologies and Spelling Bee competitions.
Should you wish for your child to participate in the ICAS competitions, please refer to the News item published on The Hub.
Kerryn Terrington
Learning Support
McCrindle “Future of Education” Report
Each year the highly regarded social research company McCrindle publish a “Future of Education Report.”
The report this year is titled: Equipping Students to Thrive in the New World of Work.
The following extract (p. 9) summarises the changes to the world of work that our young people will be facing:
We are currently living in the knowledge economy where in the last 15 years growth in high skilled jobs has been higher than growth in low skilled employment. The economic marker of the knowledge economy is intellectual capital, enabling workers to have greater flexibility and freedom to conduct their work from wherever they are. While the world of work has been transforming for some time, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the pace of this change and ushered in the largest transformation to work in a century. In this environment a key question for educators today is how to effectively prepare students to flourish in this new world of work. The first step is to understand the new world of work and the demographic, social and technological trends that are driving these transformations.
The following extract (p. 23, 24) summarises the effectiveness of educational institutions in equipping students in core competencies and character qualities:
While students are taking responsibility for their own learning, they also appreciate the work their education is doing to equip them with the skills needed to thrive in the new world of work. Students believe their education is most effectively equipping them with skills in problem-solving (72%), critical thinking (70%), communication skills (67%) and self-management (67%). In a hybrid world of online learning as well as online working, self-management is going to be a crucial skill for students to develop into the future. Similarly, the character quality of self-awareness is growing in importance. This is because when the boundaries of work are removed, it falls to the employee to be self-aware and understand where, when and how they work best.
Click HERE for more information.
At St Andrews, we are constantly looking to equip and enable our students to be people who make a positive difference in their society.
As our Graduate Profile indicates, we are developing our students to be Godly in Character, Relationally Engaged, Lifelong Learners, Leaders by Example and to be people who have an Authentic Faith and a Desire to Serve. All of these attributes will enable our students to be effective and to flourish in the world as they share the hope which can only be found through a relationship with Jesus.
Kerryn Terrington
Learning Support
Mathematical Problem Solving
The problem posed in the April Newsletter was “Crosses”.
Arrange the digits 1 – 9 in the grid below so that the sum of the digits in both directions is the same.
a) How many solutions are there in total? Explain.
b) Explain, with reasons, how you know that you have found them all?
Solutions:
The first thing to realise is that there must be an odd number in the middle:
Reason:
The digits 0 – 9 contain 5 odd numbers and 4 even numbers.
If an even number is in the middle, then there are 5 odd numbers and three even numbers left over, so the total to share must be odd.
As the total must be shared in two ways then each total will be something-and-a-half – which is not possible.
Considering the possible cases for each of the odd numbers which could be in the middle:
The sum of the digits 0 – 9 is 45.
3 in the middle:
Therefore, the sum of the remaining digits is 42, shared two ways means 21 in each arm. Hence, the options are:
One arm Other arm
9, 7, 4, 1 8, 6, 5, 2
9, 6, 5, 1 8, 7, 4, 2
9, 6, 4, 2 8, 7, 5, 1
5 in the middle:
Therefore, the sum of the remaining digits is 40, shared two ways means 20 in each arm. Hence, the options are:
One arm Other arm
9, 8, 2, 1 7, 6, 4, 3
9, 7, 3, 1 8, 6, 4, 2
9, 6, 4, 1 8, 7, 3, 2
9, 6, 3, 2 8, 7, 4, 1
7 in the middle:
Therefore, the sum of the remaining digits is 38, shared two ways means 19 in each arm. Hence, the options are:
One arm Other arm
9, 6, 3, 1 8, 5, 4, 2
9, 5, 4, 1 8, 6, 3, 2
9, 5, 3, 2 8, 6, 4, 1
9 in the middle:
Therefore, the sum of the remaining digits is 36, shared two ways means 18 in each arm. Hence, The options are:
One arm Other arm
8, 7, 2, 1 6, 5, 4, 3
8, 6, 3, 1 7, 5, 4, 2
8, 5, 4, 1 7, 6, 3, 2
8, 5, 3, 2 7, 6, 4, 1
We also note that each family can have a number of “different” arrangements. There are 24 ways to arrange 4 numbers along one arm and 24 ways to arrange the 4 numbers on the other arm.
Hence there are 24 x 24 = 576 arrangements.
As each arrangement can be on either the vertical or horizontal arm, there are 576 x 2 = 1152 arrangements in total for each family.
Kerryn Terrington
Learning Support
Primary and Secondary Mastermind competitions (CSEN)
On June 2nd our Primary Team of 10 students attended the Mastermind competition at Belgrave Heights Christian School. Students competed in one of five areas over the course of the day: Mathematics, English, Science, HASS (History and Social Science) and General Knowledge. It was a fun day and a chance for our students to meet like-minded students from other Christian schools in our network. Our team finished 3rd out of 6 teams – a great result!
The Following day, June 3rd, our Secondary Team competed against 5 other schools. It was a tight tussle all of the way through the competition, culminating in a tie between Waverley and St Andrews. Tim Goh was chosen as our representative in the tie breaker. The given topic? Disney princesses! We narrowly took home the victory with a 1-point lead.
Special recognition also goes to Tim Goh for his faultless round in the mathematics chosen topic round.
Are you wondering what types of questions are thrown at the students in masterminds?
Here’s a brief taste from last year’s competition:
1. Science True or False:
Uranium, Neptunium and Plutonium were named after the planets.
2. Maths adimals round
If a segmented tape worm doubles its number of segments every 3 days, will it always have an even number of segments?
3. English anagrams round
What is the longest word you can make from the letters of INTERJECTION (12 letters).
4. HASS rapid fire round
What short but intense meteoric event often occurs when volcanos erupt?
5. General Knowledge True or False
Lactophobia is a fear of cheese
Masterminds answers:
1. True
2. No (it starts on 1 which is odd)
3. Reinjection
4. Lightening
5. False
Kerryn Terrington
Learning Support