2015 School Magazine

PHYSICS RIANNA BELL (11M)

SCIENCE OLYMPIADS

BIOLOGY LILY BLAKE (11W) AND ANNABELLA ENGLISH (11B)

DA VINCI DECATHLON ABIRAMI SOMASUNDARAM (10M) The da Vinci Decathlon is an academic competition designed to challenge and stimulate the minds of school students. The theme for this year was Place. Girls Grammar had a combined Years 7 and 8 team, and a Year 9 and Year 10 team. The Year 9s placed first in Philosophy, second in English, Science and Cartography, and third in Code Breaking. The Year 10s placed first in Philosophy and second in English and overall came third. The Years 7 and 8 team placed second in Philosophy and third in Art and Poetry and Code Breaking, placing second overall. I have been attending the da Vinci Decathlon since Year 8 and have been enjoying these educational experiences ever since. I have met so many like-minded people from our School and other schools. This was also an excellent opportunity to learn some new skills and improve my knowledge of other subjects that I don’t take at school. seen before and how to extract as much information as possible from a question in order to answer it. The Physics Olympiad allowed us to develop and refine many problem-solving skills, helping to develop us as independent and forward-thinking science students. The Physics Olympiad was sat in August this year by a number of Year 11 physics students. It was an amazing learning opportunity that allowed us to extend our knowledge of complex and advanced physics topics, both within and outside the normal curriculum. In the weekly training that was held leading up to the exam, we learnt how to approach questions on topics that we had never

In August, thirteen Year 11 Biology students sat the Biology Olympiad National Qualifying examination. Biology Olympiad training was a great extension opportunity for us to further our knowledge on many aspects of biology such as biotechnology, the human body, plant biology and genetics. This opportunity helped us prepare for the national qualifying exam and gave us insight into the Year 12 Biology curriculum. It was a thoroughly enjoyable and beneficial experience.

CHEMISTRY ALISHA TANG (11W)

The Chemistry Olympiad was an extremely challenging yet rewarding experience, allowing us to extend our chemistry

AUSTRALIAN SPACE DESIGN CHALLENGE KIA DAVIS (11R) After six months of hard work, a team of twelve Grammar girls was selected for the finals of the Australian Space Design Challenge at The University of Queensland in January. Our task was to respond to a request for a business proposal that would outline the fabrication and functionality of a space port and fully-functioning hospital, as well as identify the needs of the five hundred transient workers who would inhabit the station. The BGGS team placed a commendable second place. Although challenging, the Australian Space Design Competition was extremely rewarding and each girl enjoyed herself immensely. knowledge well beyond that of the normal curriculum. The extra hours put into Olympiad practice saw us delving deeper into complex and intriguing concepts, at the same time refining our problem-solving skills and developing our independence as young scientists. The demanding and stimulating questions we encountered taught us to examine problems in a different light, allowing us to tackle questions we would have thought impossible before participating in the Chemistry Olympiad.

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Mrs Carmichael, Ms Clemot and Dr Burnett deserve special thanks for helping us so much in preparation for the tournament and giving up their time to help us attend. Without their help, we would never have accomplished such outstanding results and it would have been impossible for us to attend. This is a very rare and unique opportunity and I would recommend it to all girls eligible to enter.