Academic Excellence

Year 7-9 Academic Excellence Program (AEP) Semester One

Thank you to the students who have participated in the Academic Excellence Program (AEP) in Semester One. They have shown a great interest in the topics studied and have gained confidence as the semester progressed, now more willing to share their knowledge with and to challenge their peers.

The group of students have learned about the cycle of habits, had an introduction to Philosophy, discussed team work, practiced public speaking and more recently they were introduced to the art of debating. The students participated in the first-ever SNC Bridge Building Competition.

Bridge Building Competition

After researching and designing their bridges, the AEP students built and tested their bridges. Bridges were to be made using recycled household materials such as pizza boxes, cardboard boxes, popsticks, bamboo skewers or Lego. The bridges looked amazing - all very different from each other - and proved to be tough, some carrying more than 50kg despite weighing just under 1kg.

 

The final results are as follows:

  • Strength Award went to two teams: Emma Pickering, Chanelle Min and Sharie Fernandez, and Deena Manlutac and Chelsea Inocencio.

Their bridges managed to hold more than 50kg and could’ve gone further if we had more weights available and space on the bridges to hold them!

  • Overall winners were Isabella Hulm and Sophie Griffiths.

Their colourful bridge managed to hold 20kg and their accompanying report was fantastic. Well done to all the bridge engineers for their fantastic efforts.

AURECON Bridge Building Competition

Congratulations to Year 8 students: Isabella Hulm, Sophie Griffiths, Kelly McKie, Sharie Fernandez, Chanelle Min and Emma Pickering for being selected to participate in the Aurecon Bridge Building Competition based on their fantastic bridges in the College competition. 

They will be busy designing their bridges over the holidays and building them in Term 3.

Debating

The students have discussed tips for public speaking and have been introduced to debating. Their next challenge is to debate on the topic “The insanity plea should be abolished for crimes”, an issue they identified as interesting. The debate took place before school today and the results will be published next newsletter.

Year 7-9 Academic Excellence Program (AEP) Semester Two

Application forms for the Academic Excellence Program in Semester Two are now available. They are due to Mrs Cardenia by Wednesday, 24 July 2019.

 

Applications must demonstrate at least TWO of the following:

  • NAPLAN (Listed in the Top 10 ranked students)
  • MYAT score (‘as above’)
  • Academic Score (Listed in the Top 10 ranked students)
  • Demonstrated significant academic improvement in at least TWO core subject areas (Religion; English; Mathematics; Science or Humanities)

[I.e., From a ‘C’ grade to an, ‘A’ grade; from a, ‘D’ grade to a ‘B’ grade].

OR

Applicants will also be considered for entry by demonstration of the following criteria:

  • Record of outstanding effort, commitment or progress in the Academic Excellence Program in Semester One.

AND

  • Personal recommendation from at least TWO subject teachers

Students may have the opportunity to take part in Tournament of Minds and the Aurecon Bridge Building competition.

                                         Mrs L Cardenia (Academic Excellence Coordinator)

Australian Brain Bee Challenge (ABBC)

Year 10 students Diep Nguyen, Tony Ngo, Isioma Onyemgba and Juphil Jiji attended the Brain Bee State Finals on Friday, 21 June at the University of WA. They were great ambassadors for our College. As well as answering the extremely difficult quiz questions on Neuroscience, the students heard from an expert in the field and were also taken on a tour of the Anatomy laboratories. 

 

In the morning students competed in individual and group competitions to determine those who would go into the finals in the afternoon.  The students had an opportunity to attend seminars and presentations to learn about neuroscience from PhD and Honours students. Students also competed in mind games and tested how good their concentration was against other schools. Isioma and Tony defeated many students with their mind power and concentration!

Students then witnessed the individual and group finals in the afternoon. Many of the questions were 2nd and 3rd year university level questions and it was amazing to watch the students answer questions correctly. I wanted to personally congratulate Juphil, Tony, Isioma, and Diep on representing St Norbert College beautifully and even though they were a bit nervous they did very well in the competition.

 

Thank you Mrs Cardenia for organising this Brain Bee Challenge for the students and to Mrs Spinks for driving the bus.

                                        Miss A Fogliani (Science and Psychology Teacher) 

 

Isioma Onyemgba wrote:

The experience was amazing. We learnt many new things about the human brain in the studying process and even more during the tours that we took around the campus. There were many schools competing so we were a little nervous but we tried our hardest and recalled as much as we could during the testing. We were delighted to know that our studying paid off and although we didn't get into the top schools I still found the experience to be one that was truly delightful. Thank you to Miss Fogliani and Mrs Cardenia for introducing us to this competition, I really enjoyed it. 

                                     

                                      Mrs L Cardenia (Academic Excellence Coordinator)