Newman Selective Gifted Education Program

Newman Writing 2024                                      

A special mention and commendation to our students in the Newman Writing group this year, for their enthusiasm, commitment and consistent effort in their writing tasks.

In addition to their classwork, they have competed in several writing competitions, including the Dymocks Beyond Words Creative Writing, the WildLife Fiction Short Story and the Better Read Kids ‘Scrumptious Food’ theme short story, (where every student's work was published in an Anthology). They entered two poetry competitions, the Dorothea MacKellar Poetry Awards, in which each student received a certificate, and the Poem Forest nature poem competition.  

For every nature poem received a tree is planted in Dharawal and Wodi Wodi Country to help heal habitats, and create and preserve the forest for future generations. The students were  praised for their words and passion in helping to plant thousands of seedlings in POEM FOREST. 

Students also reached out to the community with Christmas cards and messages to residents in local Nursing Homes, and composed very informative and impressive Newspaper articles.

Congratulations to all students!

This year, OLSS proudly participated in the highly regarded APSMO Mathematics Olympiad, and let me tell you—our school is home to some incredibly talented mathematicians! 

The Maths Olympiad is a prestigious competition that has been running in Australia since 1987, offering students across Australia and New Zealand the chance to compete as part of a team while also striving for individual excellence.

At OLSS, a select group of high-achieving Mathematics students from Years 4-6 were chosen to take part in four rigorous competitions held throughout the year. Each Olympiad test featured five exceptionally challenging problems designed to push students’ critical thinking and problem-solving skills to the limit.

We were truly impressed by the remarkable understanding demonstrated by our students. Their hard work and dedication paid off, with the OLSS team achieving outstanding results—placing in the top 25% of schools across Australia and New Zealand. Congratulations to all participants for such an incredible achievement!

We would like to congratulate the following students who participated in the competition and achieved great scores.

In Year 6:

• Ethan Irawan-Trang 
• William Kruse 
• Amelia Di Noia
• Nicholas Munayer
• Sasha Chufirina
• Huxley Hughes
• Markus Racca
• Daniel Nateghi
• Aidan Lyne
• Hunter Trollope

In Year 5 

• Isabella Ayoub
• Austin Groos
• Monique Kamper
• John Arieta
• Victoria Tjetjep
• Lachlan Phillips
• Luca Dibiassi

In Year 4 

• David Del Prado 

A special mention goes to the following students, who achieved an incredible result by scoring in the top 25% of all participants in the entire competition. This is a remarkable accomplishment, and we are thrilled to recognise their hard work and exceptional performance.

We are proud to present these students with a special certificate and a High Achiever Patch.

In Year 4

• Daniel Duffey 
• Mindy Zhang

In Year 5

• Christian Chang
• Gregory Samokhin

In Year 6

• Sophy Wang 

This year, OLSS achieved an extraordinary milestone, with seven of our students scoring in the top 10% of participants across the entire competition—a truly remarkable accomplishment! To honour their exceptional achievement, these students will be presented with a special award and a Pin Medal as a token of recognition for their hard work and dedication.

From Year 4

• Marcus Yan

From Year 5  

• Emily Irawan-Tran 

From Year 6 

• Maxim Petrichev
• Lily Mar
• Isabelle Wen
• Jude Mamo 
• Emily Zhou 

There are two additional awards that hold a very special significance for two of our students, however because they are so significant we would like to present them during our end-of-year assembly. We can’t wait to see what our students do next year in the Maths Olympiad competition. 

A huge thank you to Mrs Bowmaker for organising and running our Maths Olympiad this year. Your dedication and commitment to supporting our students is truly appreciated.

Ms Matilda Raper

Newman Leader of Learning