Category: Schools

Pop quiz: Name more than one female scientist

How many famous female scientists can you name — not including Marie Curie? If you’re having trouble thinking of any, you’re not alone; even scientists struggle to answer this question.

Brainy beauty ... actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr.
Brainy beauty … actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr.

The ongoing Public Perception of Famous Female Scientists survey has, since 2004, asked over 1000 scientists and members of the general public in the UK and Western Europe to name 10 famous women scientists. So far, just over 1 per cent of respondents have been up to the task while 30 per cent could name only Marie Curie, the Polish-French two-time Nobel Prize winner for her work on radioactivity and the discovery of the elements radium and polonium. DNA researcher Rosalind Franklin and pioneering nurse Florence Nightingale (included for her statistical work) rounded out the the top three.
Continue reading “Pop quiz: Name more than one female scientist”

School Debating: Where future leaders forge their skills

“If you get involved in debating and public speaking you will definitely go on to rule the world. Guaranteed.”
— Craig Reucassel, comedian and NSW Department of Education Ambassador for Speaking Competitions

Last week, Joe Nimmo of the BBC, asked, “Why have so many Prime Ministers gone to Oxford University?” Of Britain’s 54 elected heads of government, 27 were educated at Oxford making the university enormously politically influential. The answer, Nimmo concluded, lies in the prestigious Oxford Union debating society.  

Incorporating both parliamentary and persuasive speaking styles of debating, the Oxford Union is renowned for its competition success and defence of free speech. Its adherence to the House of Commons debating format makes it “the place where these parliamentarians of the future cut their teeth and learn how to debate,” Harrison Edmonds, president of the Oxford University Conservative Association, told the BBC. Continue reading “School Debating: Where future leaders forge their skills”

“When you have quality teachers, you achieve quality results”

This is how Rhonda Robson, Head of the Junior School at St Andrew’s Cathedral School, explains their outstanding 2016 NAPLAN results.

Half of the year 3 class achieved top bands in all subjects and the year 5’s did so well that they outperformed the averages of every other independent school in the country.

Congratulations are in order for students and teachers alike, but how did they do it?

On the teaching side, Ms Robson says that consistency and continuous improvement have made a significant contribution to the school’s success.

“We’ve been very targeted in our efforts to lift results; introducing systematic programs throughout the school so that we’re all emphasising the same things,” Ms Robson says. Continue reading ““When you have quality teachers, you achieve quality results””