Mathematics

Lachlan Butt

2021 has been another interesting year, with a large portion of the year (all of Term 3 and the first few weeks of Term 4 for most students) being spent at home, doing Home-Based Learning. In addition to this, Year 12 Trial Exams were conducted online and these students had to return to school for an additional 5 weeks of learning due to the HSC Exams being pushed back to November. Despite all of the difficulties experienced throughout the year the boys of St Edward’s have stepped up again and done a fantastic job of navigating their way through such a challenging time.

2020 HSC Results

2020 was another successful year for students studying the various Mathematics courses, with all subjects being close to or above the state averages. To provide a brief overview of the results:

• Students in Mathematics Standard 2 received two band 6’s and 15 band 5’s. Students who achieved band 6 results were Dylan Poate and Sandon Smith. • Top results in Mathematics Advanced included two band 6’s (Lars Cleeren and William Lambeth) and 7 band 5’s, with 96% of students achieving a band 4 or higher. • Students in Mathematics Extension 1 and Extension 2 excelled, achieving one E4 in Extension 1 (Daniel

Brazier) and a total of eight E3’s across both courses (4 in Ext 1 and 4 in Ext 2).

• Congratulations on these fantastic results!

Welcome to Mr Mantellato

At the beginning of the year we welcomed Mr Joshua Mantellato to the Mathematics faculty as a new permanent teacher. This is Mr Mantellato’s first teaching appointment and he brings a wealth of knowledge and fresh ideas to the faculty. What an interesting year to start your teaching career; hopefully the next few years are a bit more ‘normal’!

Mr Mantellato

Mathematics

Maths Week 2021

Maths Week was held at St Edward’s College throughout Week 8 (Term 1), aligning with International Pi day on 14 March. Throughout the week, students were provided with opportunities to immerse themselves in the wide world of mathematics.

Lunchtime Activities

During Maths Week, the boys were offered activities to participate in at lunch time each day, including Rubicks Cube solving, Chess, Card Games, Bingo and Kahoot, with prizes being awarded for those who excelled each day. There was also daily trivia that boys were invited to participate in. Many boys turned up each day and participated in the activities having fun and earning some tasty treats along the way. Thank you to the Academia Portfolio, Mrs Abbott-Atchison, Mr Rozario and the Mathematics Faculty for their work in planning and running these activities throughout the week!

Assembly and Pi Recital

The celebration commenced, with the College assembly taking on a maths theme. During the assembly, Maths Week was promoted and the students were treated to the annual “Pi Recital” in which students from various years battled to recall Pi to the most number of decimal places possible. This year was another exciting battle with Kai Maitland (Year 9) edging out Maxi Corrigan (Year 8) to take home first prize and bragging rights. Tristan Pearce-Maitland and Beau Seale also earned the right to stand on stage and participate in the competition, doing themselves proud in the process. Well done to everyone involved!

Inquisitive Minds

On Thursday of Week 8 (Term 1), the College invited “Inquisitive Minds” to come in and run sessions with all of Year 8. Inquisitive Minds is a hands-on, engaging workshop, where the boys are able to compete in problem solving challenges in groups, while learning important skills that can benefit them in the classroom along the way. It was great to see so many boys completely immersed and engaged in the activities throughout the day! The workshops were assisted throughout the day by Year 9 and 10 leaders, who did a fantastic job in ensuring everything ran smoothly. A special thank you to Mr Marks, who coordinated the running of the day – it was very well organised, resulting in its success!

Mathematics in Trades

Pi Recital

Cityscapes Art Competition Art Competition

During Maths Week, Year 7 Art classes joined in the Maths Week fun, creating cityscape artworks based on the digits of Pi. Over the week some great artworks were produced and three of the best were chosen to receive prizes – congratulations to the winners! A big thank you to the Art staff for running the Pi Cityscapes Art competition and joining in on the Maths Week fun!

Pi Pie

Once again, this year, In celebration of International Pi Day, Mrs McDonald, Leader of Learning Food Technology, made a Pi Pie for the Mathematics Staff to share! Thank you Mrs McDonald, it was delicious!

Home-Based Learning

With the Central Coast being in lockdown for all of Term 3 and part of Term 4 lessons were moved from the physical classroom to Microsoft Teams again, similar to 2020. While the timing of this was unfortunate for Year 12 students and their HSC preparation, Maths staff and students embraced the home-based learning period, using various means and modes to ensure all students received a quality Mathematics education. Over the period of home based learning, students completed activities on Canvas, Education Perfect, Kahoot!, Microsoft Teams, Desmos and Edrolo, while also being assigned practical tasks to complete outside and away from their screens. While it felt like it would never end, we made it eventually. Well done to everyone on their effort and enthusiasm over this time!

Thank you to everyone in the Mathematics faculty for another fantastic year – it was certainly a challenging year, but we have all stepped up, learnt new skills and supported each other as we always do.