Extension Programs
Aitken College Competes in the 2017 Galway Maths Olympiad
On Thursday 12 October, Aitken College was invited to send two teams of Year 7 and Year 8 students to compete in the annual Galway Maths Olympiad. This event was hosted by Southern Cross Grammar and the competition involved three challenging mathematical problems over the course of the day: a problem-solving relay, a mental maths quiz and a STEM project.
It was a wonderful opportunity for students to show their mathematical abilities and pit their skills against other teams from across the district. We are very proud of the way our students represented the College and congratulate the Year 8 team on achieving first place in their division and across all divisions on the day.
Aitken College Attends G.A.T.E.WAYS - Eureka Program at Spotswood Primary School
On Thursday 14 September, Aitken College was invited to participate in the G.A.T.E.WAYS Eureka Program at Spotswood Primary School. The students participated in three hands-on workshops based on the theme: ‘That’s Unbelievable’. They were challenged to exercise the extremes of imagination. They explored ideas to expand their minds; encountering places, characters and stories both strange and unbelievable and even had the opportunity to create some of their own over the course of the day. Here’s what the students thought of the day:
What did I do there?
Well, there were three fun activities to do and they were really cool! The first one was called: ‘The Future: good or bad?’ The second activity was called 'Time-Travelling Tales: Finding the FINAL FRONTIER,’ and the third activity was called, ‘Don’t Trip over your Tropes!’
What did I enjoy most?
The first activity because it was fun thinking of ways the future could be good or bad.
What was most challenging?
Definitely the Time Travel activity. I kept getting confused about how to use the right tense at the right time and... ohhh, my brain hurt just thinking about it, but I liked being challenged and learning new things.
by Aoide Andronikos - Year 5
I loved going to G.A.T.E.WAYS. The people were awesome and it was great seeing another school. I made friends as well, and talking to them was always a laugh! We looked at dystopias, time travel, tropes, science fictions and recurring motifs. All of it was fun, but I must say, our time travel was the most challenging.
by Amy Graham - Year 5
The extension program, Eureka G.A.T.E.WAYS had three separate workshops. In each we learned something new. My favourite one was 'Finding the Final Frontier-Time Travelling Tales'. It was a lesson on sci fi and time travel. We learned the rules of sci fi fantasy and its features. I really like learning about the grammar of time travel.
by Zahn Calabro - Year 6
The Eureka G.A.T.E.Ways program was a fun trip. The first workshop was called 'Don’t Trip Over Your Tropes' with a nice presenter called Racheal. The idea of the workshop was to think about different stories and combine them together in their tropes. For example, 'Dead parents: Harry Potter; Good but not nice: Batman; Down the rabbit hole: The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe'. The next workshop was on Dystopias. A Dystopia is a place where something bad is happening, or the whole place is bad. My dystopia was a flood. After that cool workshop we did a science-fiction workshop in which we studied what makes sci-fi, sci-fi.
by Alexander Hendriks - Year 4
Mrs Mary Ann Di Martino
Head of Faculty - Extension Programs