Big Science Competition Winners

On 20 May, 62 students from Years 7 to 10 took on the challenge of the ‘Big Science Competition’. Kilbreda students have participated in the annual competition, organised by Australian Science Innovations, for many years. In 2021, the competition had transitioned to being completely online.

Congratulations to all students who put themselves forward to participate. The competition is challenging, and we are grateful to all who participated. We are very proud to announce and celebrate the achievements of the students who placed in the awards sections.

The following 17 students achieved a Credit award, placing them in the top 25-30% of all participants.

Year 7:

Elyssya Buyck, Ava Ferguson, Kate Fountain, Eloise Holborn, Amber Jedynak, Bridget Monaghan and Tara Prasad

Year 8:

Taylah Bell, Yzabel Mariano, Hannah Mesic and Olivia Murphy

Year 9:

Renae Alesci, Siena Hoult, Caitlyn Singleton, Emily Smith and Hannah Young

Year 10:

Lulu McCartney

The following eight students achieved a Distinction award, placing them in the top 10-15% of all participants:

Year 8:

Grace Cronin and Elisa Humphrey

Year 9:

Chloe Davis and Alicia Noble

Year 10:

Emily Cox, Hayley Meure, Mary Tobin and Claudia Vannutini

Finally, we are delighted to celebrate the achievement of Year 9 student, Lola Martin. Lola earned a High Distinction award, placing her in the top 5% of all entrants Australia wide!

Once again, thank you to all participants for your effort and enthusiasm.

Junior Science Olympiad

As a student driven initiative after the ‘Big Science Competition’, a further seven students also participated in the ‘Junior Science Olympiad’ on 26 July. This is a new competition that consists of a two-hour online exam, testing science key concepts up to VCE standard, that is open to students from Years 7 to 10.

The results have only recently come through for this competition. Thank you to Sophie McKeown, Rhiannan Marie-Jean, Taylah Bell, Grace Cronin, Lola Martin, Hayley Meure and Claudia Vannutini who participated. The challenge was heightened when the website crashed at the start of the competition. Given that the students were taking the test in remote learning, this was difficult, but more credit to their resilience for waiting for this to come back online and then to start the long exam afterwards.

I am delighted to congratulate the following students who received a Credit award: Taylah Bell, Lola Martin and Claudia Vannutini

We also congratulate Hayley Meure for achieving a High Distinction award, incredible!

An outstanding effort, well done!

Year 7 Toy Project

As part of their study of forces and simple machines, the Year 7 students were asked to design and build a toy or simple machine at home. Students excelled at this task, producing a wide range of toys. Students needed to modify their designs to make the toys work and showed their toys over Teams to their peers. Thank you to the Year 7 students and their families for the effort put into this task.

Here are some comments from our Year 7 students about the toys created by their peers:

Their favourite toys:

“looked complicated and they looked really cool and like they took a while to make”.
“were all very creative and showed a lot of effort, as well as including many different forces”
“were well made and ran smoothly”
“were really clever”
“I wanted to learn more about them”
“the final product looked amazing”
“this was very difficult and she accepted the challenge”
“moved very smoothly and looked like a toy from a shop”
“I would definitely get one if it was in the shops!”
“is so creative and would be very fun for little kids”.
“was made by a student who put a lot of effort and time into it. She had some troubles, but she solved it”.
“were very creative, with a lot of thought put into the design”

National Youth Science Forum (NYSF)

Are you a student in Year 11 or a parent or a carer of a current Year 11 student who has a passion for Science? Then we have a wonderful opportunity for current Year 11 students. The NYSF is an incredible opportunity to facilitate Science learning and engagement through a mix of online lectures and workshops with leading STEM professionals, and several face-to-face workshops and activities, allowing students to meet youth with similar interests.

The NYSF runs over the January holidays from 10 to 25 January 2022. Local rotary clubs are keen to sponsor successful applicants and there is a link provided for application. All past Kilbreda students who have attended have raved about their experience and the difference it made to them seeking their future pathway in STEM fields. If this is for you or your daughter, please seek further information and apply directly through the link here.

The dates to apply for the NYSF have been extended but will close soon! Please let Science staff at the College know if you do apply as we would love to hear of your progress. https://www.nysf.edu.au/programs/year-12-program/

Jacinta Devlin

Learning Leader:

Science

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