Science News

The super seven science staff have been working hard this week, preparing for NESA to look at how wonderfully well we work. 

Student classwork has been scanned and I must say that some work is excellent while some work doesn’t show some students in a good light.  The opportunity is there to learn and so it depends on the aspirations of the student and the expectations of both parents and teachers. Building brains is what we are trying to do here in the science department, preparing students for an independent adult life. 

Students can compete in the International Chemistry Competition by paying $5 by Monday.  This is the last opportunity and gives the student some idea of the understanding required in Chemistry, an area of study that the Year 10 are just about to start. This prepares the students for Chemistry as a senior study.

I was extremely impressed with the meriSTEM learning environment which is a free online learning area developed by the Australian National University. It is aimed at building expertise in the areas of Biology, Chemistry and Physics and does a great job. Senior students should be taking advantage of it. All they need to do is register online, and choose a course to enrol in. They can do the online learning as they wish, re-do it for revision and complete when they are able. Its great!

The Year 9 have submitted their narrative on their life as a pathogen so the teachers are looking forward to reading some great examples of creativity and exceptional writing over the next few weeks. I have been really impressed with those that I have read so far. Well done Year 9. 

Let’s pray for the people who live or have loved ones in Melbourne and the areas that have had new Covid-19 clusters. We all need to have a vaccination as soon as possible and follow the rules to make sure we stay safe 

Have a wonderful weekend

Best wishes

Esther Dumbleton (Science Leader of Learning)