Academic Excellence

Bridge building draws a crowd

OUR Year 7–9 Academic Excellence students have had a busy term. The eager group of students meet early Friday mornings to enhance their learning and be involved in some challenging and fun activities.

Our students researched famous bridges, different types of bridges and the forces that are at work on the bridges. They then had to design their own bridge. Some students chose to sketch their bridge while others used technology such as Sketchup or Minecraft to make a copy of the bridge they intended to build. 

Many of the students used the Truss bridge as their predicted strongest type of bridge due to the strength of its triangular pattern. The bridges were built using certain criteria:

• Materials - popsticks, recycled materials or Lego, 
• Weight -  under 800g,
• Length -  long enough to span 60cm
• Width – no more than 15cm

In the past week the students have been bringing in some amazing-looking bridges, all creatively designed and some with pops of colour. One bridge even had vehicles on it! 

We met each recess and lunchtime this week to test the strength of the bridges, drawing quite a crowd some days. It was so exciting, but also nerve wracking, for the students to see their work being put to the test and watch the bridge being loaded up with weights until it cracked, and in some cases smashed. 

We had some great results. Isaac and Aiden’s bridge weighed only 419g and held 29kg before breaking. However, our winners Aydriel, Ben and Harrison’s bridge was lighter at 385g and carried a whopping 54.5kg! That’s more weight than many of our students. Congratulations boys, what an amazing effort!

If Year 7-9 students wish to be part of the Academic Excellence Program from Term Two to Term Four you will need to apply. The application forms will be direct messaged to you and will be due week 2.1. It’s a wonderful opportunity to learn new skills, have fun, challenge yourself and make some new friends.

Debating global issues at Aquinas College

LAST week 10 students attended the EVATT Model UN excursion at Aquinas College. The workshop allowed the Year 9 and 10  St Norbert College and Aquinas students to learn the process, skills, and tips of the competition. The students were engaged in learning about world affairs and issues through debating mock Security Council resolutions from the position of an assigned country. In pairs, delegates were assigned a country and had to research their countries stance on the resolution. They then debated, amended, and finally voted on the prepared resolutions. It was a fantastic learning experience for all of us. The students are pumped to enter the competition. Here is what they had to say about the day …

“I had a fantastic experience at the Aquinas College - they were very welcoming and accommodating towards us. I have learnt so much new information, of which I have never even heard of before. We attended a practice round of the Model UN to get ourselves used to the debates, workings and resolutions involved in the program and competition. I was glad that I was able to talk to the students, make agreements and alliances. We would first look at resolutions regarding a global issue, then debate or make any changed towards it. This was a very fun and a full learning process. Not to mention, the food that they provided was very delicious.”

“We had an amazing time at Aquinas College, as we learnt all about Model UN and other competitions around the area. Overall, it was an amazing day, as we were in groups of two with our friends and having a great time. Each group got a country to debate from their perspective and we had to see if we agreed or disagreed with the resolution given. It was a fun day as we were competing against Aquinas and had an amazing lunch to keep us throughout the day. It was an amazing opportunity and a wonderful day.​”

Australian Geography Competition

Selected students from Year 8 - 10 Humanities classes and 11/12 Geography students will sit the Australian Geography competition early next term. They will test their geographical knowledge, competing against each other and thousands of students across Australia. I hope the students enjoy this challenge.

Computational and Algorithmic Thinking (CAT) Competition

Senior Maths Specialist students will sit the CAT competition, an online problem-solving competition that seeks to identify a student’s computer programming potential. Good luck to the students.

Write4Fun Competition

A small group of students have displayed their literary skills by participating in the Australia wide Write4Fun competition. They have written either a short story or poem which has been submitted. We await a positive outcome.

Mrs L Cardenia

(Academic Excellence Coordinator)