Learning and Teaching
with Mrs Amanda Strickland
National Science Week is Australia’s annual celebration of science and technology. The school theme for National Science Week in 2024 is Species Survival - More than just sustainability. The theme aims to highlight the importance of science and innovation in ensuring the survival and thriving of different species in an ever-changing world.
At St Mary’s, we kicked off our Science Week celebrations though our Family Fun Friday event. It was wonderful to include our families in these science based activities. St Mary’s continues to value Science education.
Below are some links connected to the National Science Week theme:
Conservation volunteers Australia
Rotary Inter School STEM Challenge
On Thursday 1st August, a team of four St Mary’s students competed against 24 other teams of schools across the Mornington Peninsula in the Rotary Club of Somerville Tyabb Inter School Activity Challenge held at BlueScope. The first STEM challenge the team participated in involved each student building and flying one plane from one A3 sheet of paper. The distance flown and time airborne was measured and scored. Teams with the highest scores then proceeded into the final for accuracy.
After coming fourth in the first challenge, we proceeded to the final, finished 2nd overall and were awarded with a $250 cheque for St Mary's. The teamwork, problem solving skills and leadership of our students was commendable and we were incredibly proud of their efforts. Congratulations to our team: Amelia, Levi, Willow and Archer. Special thanks to Miracle for teaching the team a paper plane design that two of our team members used in the challenge.
“The best thing about the day was hitting the target in the accuracy challenge.” - Levi
“The highlight of my day was that I threw my plane 10.7m in the first challenge”. - Amelia “Seeing friends from other schools and competing in the final target challenge.” - Willow
“The highlight for me was coming second overall.” - Archer
We extend our thanks to the Rotary Club of Somerville Tyabb for running such a fantastic event and BlueScope for hosting.
