2010 School Magazine

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8010 saw a continuation of the girls' high levels of enthusiasm and involvement in the wide number of mathematics competitions and other maths extension

a range of new concepts presented by Maths teachers' The activities ranged from highly theoretical mathematical concepts to a practical outdoor activity requiring the girls to measure the belgtit of an inaccessible tree on the opposite Bide of a river. 80

OPPortruitties offered by the School.

in addition to the strong numbers participating in the Canberrab&Bed Maths Challenge 80tivitiee (The Challenge Popular Was MathaPatt& that the students almost and Enrichment series) and the Queensland Association ruleritmou81y Complained that a days was too short and asked for it to be extended in 8011!

of Mathematics Teachers' Problem Solving Competition, this year also saw a record number of entries in the Australian Intermediate Mathematics Olympiad. in August, 84 of our most able young mathematicians

The Mathematics Faculty strongly values teamwork, and actively encourages students to enter the Maths Teams Challenge and the Science and Engineering Challenge. 111 2010, the School entered some formidable

in Years 9 and 10 took up the challenge of the tonyhour Olympiad examination in which their problem solving and teams in both these events and enjoyed considerable analytical skills were thoroughly put to the test against Success. A new event, the an Paterson 00Uege Problem a range of extremely demanding problems characterised Solving Contest, was held in November with Girls by their unfamiliarity and complexity. in order to prepare Grammar 88atn entering a large number of hagtily motivated students with a real desire to enhance their students for the Olympiad, in July, the School offered, problem solving 8kms by investigating mathematics as it for the first time, an Olympiad preparation activity can be applied to real-fife contexts.

in the form of a two-day Maths Camp at Marron&tta. AffectionateIy dubbed "Math&patta", tmB wag a most popular activity and during the two days, the girls met

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Co titi:Iti. orLal Convention

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interactive, challenging, mmque, and most of all fun. These are a few words that describe Optiminds. in 8010 a single team from Grammar consisting of five Year 9 students - Sapa Rentoul, Hana Porter, momda ^trickfuss, Lanea Beckingham, and Tetgan Testa - was involved in this competition. ^very year a number of problems are sent out to the primary and secondary schools, where students

On 25 February, four Year 12 Modern History students, Daisy Swindon MacmiUan, Louisa MacGinley, 180bel Yule and india Snowden, accompanied by Ms I Smith, attended the Greater Brisbane/Moreton Zone Schools Constitutional Convention held at Queensland Parliament House. The purpose of the Convention is to encourage senior students to become better informed about the Australian system of government and the Constitution. This year, the focus of the event was the preamble to the Australian Constitution. We began the day by hearing from several guest speakers, who nigiriighted the importance of the preamble from a legal point of view and discussed how the current preamble fails to address important issues such as Aboriginal rights or acknowledge any form of national identity. in the latter part of the day, students were given the opportunity to discuss why or if the preamble should be changed and draft possible amendnients. it was a thoroughly enjoyable day, in which we learnt a lot about Australian history and had the unique opportunity to conaborate with students from a variety of schools. Louisa Maceinley 1.8B

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must use their problem solving skins to invent the most unique anBwer possible. This year our team chose to invent their own universal language, which they based around music and their own sign language. This task also required them to link some literature to a universal problem. For this they used an African Elegy by Ben Okri to link to poverty. DeBplte not receiving a place in their Beetion, the group agreed that it was a fantastic experience and that they all look forward to next year. We would also like to encourage more students to join in next year 88 Optimallids is a truly mmque experience that is very worthwlitle as it allows students to develop their problem solving skins, extend their creativity and in the process build new friendships.

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