Saint Ignatius’ College, Riverview Our Alma Mater 2011. Saint Ignatius’ College, Riverview Our Alma Mater 2011. Saint Ignatius’ College, Riverview Our Alma Mater 2011. Saint Ignatius’ College, Riverview Our Alma Mater 2011.
MATHEMATICS
Mathematics Teaching Staff 2011 L to R: Les Kirkpatrick, Daniel Hyde, Maryanne O’Donohoe, Chris Farnsworth, Jeremy Bennett, Fiona Yates, Belinda Clark, Neil Mushan, Fr Gerry Brennan SJ, John Newey, Tina DiSano, Paul Collins, Brett Donohoe, Matthew Furtado, Peter Colledge.
Mathematics Mr Glenn Abrahams, Head of Mathematics Each year, the College Council engages an external auditor to undertake an analysis of the Higher School Certificate results. Based on the HSC achievements of the class of 2010, they presented the Mathematics faculty an award for the following: all four Mathematics courses were above the relevant State averages; all four Mathematics courses exceeded the Grand School Average; all four Mathematics courses were at or above their Course Performance benchmarks. This was one of only two awards presented across NSW schools this year. The other major recognition during 2011 was the very positive feedback from Registration and Accreditation inspection carried out by the Board of Studies According to the Sydney Morning Herald’s merits list, Riverview had 322 mentions. Most notably, 115 of these were student’s Mathematics scores (i.e 36%). This exceeded our Band 6 results from previous years. They also ranked schools according to the percentage of students enrolled in Mathematics courses who recorded Band 6. For Saint Ignatius’ College, Riverview Mathematics had 40% of our students in Band 6 with our highest ranking of 30th. The performance of the General Mathematics cohort was outstanding when compared with the State. Most notable was the performance of Liam Carmody who placed 5th in NSW. The 2010 classes recorded 45 Band 6 results, 46 students achieved Band 6 and 23 of these were accelerated students from Year 11. Also, for this cohort 87% of students were in Bands 6 or 5. In the 2010 School Certificate our students achieved results well above state average. The state average in Band 6 was 8.29 % whereas 18.3% of Saint Ignatius’ students achieved a mark above 90%. Similarly, in Band 5 19.04% of NSW students achieved this level compared with 36.6% of Riverview’s students. Equally inspiring was the small number of Band 3 and 2 results recorded by our lower ability students. Thank you to College icon Les Kirkpatrick for the excellent job that he does. In Term 1, through the Viewpoint newsletter, students were encouraged to solve problems across a range of mathematical strands. The winner of the iPod competition in Semester One was Ryan McAlpine (Year 8). The competition was quite close and the second placed student was Jack Herschel (Year 6). Thanks to all students who submitted solutions to this competition. Our College again recorded a strong set of results in the Australian Mathematics Competition. Overall, the College had 1 High Distinction (Mark Rothery Year 7),
42 Distinctions and 107 Credit award winners. These results recognise the tremendous depth of students’ natural problem solving ability here at the College. As a Mathematics faculty we are very conscious of catering to the needs of each individual student. A modified curriculum has been developed to cater for the students who cannot cope with the demands of the main stream courses in Mathematics. Susan Addinal, George Cassar and Les Kirkpatrick have worked very well throughout the year with students entrusted to them. The Mathematics faculty also continues to provide a tutorial service to any boy who needs remedial work on any topic. The sessions have been well attended and thanks to Jodi Kinchant, Father Gerald Brennan, Donielle Gale and Fiona Yates for their continued efforts in this area. The Mathematics Faculty conference at Lake Macquarie during the October vacation period proved to be a highly beneficial professional development experience. The theme of the conference was to consider modern teaching practices that will engage a new generation of digital learners. Specifically, as a faculty we considered the use of iPad 2 and tablet computers as classroom teaching tools. Staff also worked on individual projects that had a digital focus. I would like to commend the efforts of the entire Mathematics staff for their commitment to preparation, pedagogy, assessment and reporting in 2011. They are a dedicated, inspiring group of teachers who are not just committed to classroom teaching but to the Ignatian ethos of the College through their extra involvement in boarding, the House system and co-curriculum pursuits.
Senior School
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