VEX Robotics Team

The St Andrews VEX Robotics Team had great day out at Templestowe College on the 11th May. Although our preparation was minimal, they performed well beyond expectations and we all left feeling like winners.

We had one Year 9 team who were tournament champions in their division, winning a close Grand Final, and they also won the Rookie Team award in their division. We also had two Year 8 teams who did a great job, with one of them almost taking out the tournament victory, falling 2 points short of victory in the last game and ended up in second place overall. All students conducted themselves very respectfully and I am sure the VEX Community is very happy to have St Andrews on board.

Congratulations Ji Forbes

Ji has been training hard in several martial arts and recently won numerous awards. Congratulations for the following amazing results including a silver medal at Melbourne International Judo Championships, a silver at NSW State Titles for Jiu-Jitsu, a bronze medal for Victoria Judo State titles and last weekend winning the Victorian title for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

We wish Ji all the best as he continues to train for the National Judo titles in June.

Year 10 Holocaust Museum Excursion

As a follow-up to the study of World War II, our Year 10 History students visited the Melbourne Holocaust Museum on 28th March.

It was an emotionally challenging experience as students listened to a talk about the atrocities committed during the Holocaust and discussed historical sources to gain even greater insight into this horrific event.

They also had the privilege of listening to the moving testimony of a holocaust survivor, Sarah Saaroni, who had witnessed the brutality firsthand. It was a special and poignant moment as our students would be the last generation of young people to hear an eye-witness account of the tragic and shocking loss of innocent lives in one of the darkest periods in human history.

Overall, a humbling experience and reminder of the responsibility of individuals and governments to stand up for love, compassion and respect for one another.

Year 12 General Maths - Every Dot Has a Story

In my Year 12 General Maths class, we have been studying Data Analysis. When we were working on a Scatter Plot I explained to my students not to simply view the graph as a series of dots. I encouraged them to realise that every dot on the plot may represent a unique human story – a person’s experience, circumstances etc. At the beginning of the following lesson, I was surprised and touched to see that my students had taken this message to heart. They had written "Maths - Every dot has a story" on the whiteboard. It was a powerful reminder that mathematics is not just a collection of abstract concepts and numbers, but a tool for understanding the stories and experiences of individuals and society as a whole. By recognising the humanity behind the data, we can gain deeper insights into the world around us and use our knowledge to create positive change.