Academic Excellence 

Have Sum Fun Online

Over the past few weeks, our Year 10A Maths students have been competing in the Have Sum Fun Online mathematics problem-solving competition, joining students from across Australia.

The 2025 Have Sum Fun Online competition was a fantastic experience for all involved. Students were presented with a series of challenging maths problems that pushed them to think creatively and collaborate in small groups. To succeed, they had to explore innovative approaches to solving complex problems. The competition also provided valuable opportunities for students to develop teamwork and communication skills as they worked together to tackle each challenge.

Congratulations to our top St Norbert teams, SNC6 Sine Me Up (Prince Ledalla, Harry Clements, Veerpartap Singh and Luke Trevenen) and SNC3 Quadratic Crew (Ethan Sayula, Amiel Pedro, David Menhennett and Tristan Martinez). They missed out on third place by just four points, finishing with an impressive score of 308.

This year has been our strongest yet, with all teams trying hard and performing exceptionally well.Well done to everyone involved!

STEM Make a Difference (MAD) National Showcase

Congratulations to Year 7 students Vanessa Johnson and Shiyu Chen, who were selected by CEWA to participate in the STEM MAD National Showcase. On Tuesday, they pitched their sustainability project to schools around Australia and participated in activities hosted by the Australian Space Discovery Centre. What a fantastic opportunity!

Let’s hear from the students:

“We were invited to participate in the National STEM MAD Online Showcase. We started off listening to keynote speaker Isabella Evans from the Australian Space Agency. Then we moved onto showcasing our projects to eight other schools around Australia. We showed the video we made and delivered an extra pitch for our Soil Erosion Prevention truck. Everyone’s ideas were creative and innovative. We voted for the project we thought was the best. We also completed STEM activities such as creating our own pocket solar system and solving problems like calculating the time delay for Apollo 11 astronauts to speak to ground control (answer: 2.5 seconds). To wrap it up, we watched the award ceremony where teams received prizes for their efforts.” By Vanessa Johnson

“We looked at the sustainability of our land. Through our research we found that 75 billion tonnes of soil are lost every year due to erosion. We wanted to create a machine that would help prevent this. Landslides are dangerous for people and animals, and fertile soil is essential for growing food. We created several drawings of our truck before making a prototype. Our Soil Erosion Prevention truck was made from cardboard, paper, cotton balls, foil and toothpicks. During the STEM MAD Online Showcase, Vanessa and I explained how our truck worked and how we made it. The truck contains a fertile mixture inside which is moved through a pipe to the rake, where it mixes and levels the soil. Solar panels on the top of the truck provide energy and reduce air pollution.” By Shiyu Chen

Academic Excellence Program

Our Academic Excellence students have continued exploring the world of gaming and programming, now taking on their second coding competition through Grok Academy. As they compete, students are developing valuable skills, including the confidence to embrace new learning challenges and the resilience to persevere when tasks become difficult.

A rewarding and enriching learning experience all round!

Mrs L Cardenia

(Academic Excellence Coordinator)