Science Department

Specialist Science Events (School Year 2008-2009)

(Overview of Key Events)

Specialist Science Events that have taken place during September 2008

• 30 pupils from Year 10 attended a talk given by the crew of the recent space shuttle mission held at Lumen Christi College on Wednesday 10 th September.
• Meeting with staff of Lumen Christi re. use of Learning NI for joint project between schools.
• Meeting with representative of Association for Science Education resulted in offer of a post-grad student to help with PSE study for 14 hours.
• Primary school Science Workshops begin Monday 13 th October.
• Meeting with Ms. Gill from Lumen Christi to discuss Whole City Science Fair organized and promoted jointly by St. Mary’s College and Lumen Christi College (the 2 schools with science specialisms)
• ‘Dissolving Boundaires’ Programme: initial contact and training (continuing Friday 10 th October). Science Link with Carndonagh School.

Specialist Science Events that have taken place during October 2008

• All Year 8 and Year 9 pupils entered one of two on-line competitions on Learning NI (Poster on Firework Safety or Write a news report on a firework accident). These were posted onto the Learning NI site by the pupils.
• Two final Science Field Trips to Magilligan Field Centre took place in early October and were very successful.
• Primary School science workshops began with Electricity Workshops for Holy Child PS.
• BBC Visit to department to trial new science software with pupils from the Junior Chemistry Club.
• Meeting with Peter O’Donnell from the Lough’s agency resulted in production of schemes of work for the Lough’s agency Project for pupils in Year 9 (Revised Curriculum)
• All Pupils will carry out a 2 week project in conjunction with the Lough’s agency including site visits etc.
• Arrangements for the St. Mary’s College/ Lumen Christi Derry Science Fair through meeting with Ms. Mildred Gill resulted in venue being arranged. Venus set to be the Millenium Forum, date – Friday 22 nd May. All local schools, primary and secondary will be invited to participate. Sponsorship is being sought to help with funding.
• BT Young Scientist entries were sent (6 entries including individual and group entries) – as yet we are awaiting news on which pupils have been accepted.
• All entries for Step-Up engagement activities/ lectures were sent. Pupils from St. Mary’s College will be involved in all activities offered including a science photography competition, a competition to make a science movie, making a go-cart, the Jenny Bristow Can’t Cook, Won’t cook competition and, of course, the science challenge quiz.
• 9 pupils from Year 9 received their BA Bronze Crest awards, 2 pupils from Year 9 received their BA silver Crest awards and Terri McLaughlin from Year 14 received the BA Gold Crest award. This is our first winner of a Gold award and is a great achievement for Terri! (BA = British Association for the advancement of science)
• Visit by Gavin Boyd to Science Department.

Specialist Science Events that have taken place during November 2008

• Community Programme began with Home Safety workshops for 2 community groups.
• All pupils from Year 11 and Year 12 attended ‘Nobody lives forever’ by Y Touring Group – 2 performances in school on the 20 th November. Pupils from St. Joseph’s College also attended.
• 15 Year 10 pupils attended the Seagate Real World Science Conference on the 21 st November. Feedback was extremely positive.
• A Talk to all Year 9 pupils on Conservation and Bats with live animals for pupils to see and handle took place on Wednesday 12 th November
• News was received back from the BT Young Scientist that 5 of our 6 entries were accepted through to the finals in Dublin in January 2009. This was quite an achievement considering only around 500 entries out of over 1600 get through to the finals. In addition these pupils have been invited to Stormont by Catriona Ruane to recognize their achievement.
• A meeting took place with Mr. Niall Havlin of Carndonagh Community School regarding a joint project between the schools as part of the ‘Dissolving Boundaries’ programme.
• A meeting also took place on Tuesday 25 th November with Sorcha Dunne from Business in the community regarding the ‘Adopt a school’ programme.
• 65 pupils from Year 11 attended the science engagement lecture ‘Science in your kitchen’ in Coleraine on Tuesday 25 th November.
• All primary responded positively regarding the Funtastic science programme to be held early in the new year in addition to the Robotics roadshows which are available for the 5 partner primary schools.

Specialist Science Events that have taken place during December 2008

• 21 pupils from Upper sixth Science and Health & Social Care attended the Open Day at the Letterkenny Institute of Technology on Friday 5 th December.
• 10 pupils from Years 9 and 10 travelled to Stormont on Tuesday 2 nd December upon invitation by Catriona Ruane to celebrate their success in qualifying for the finals of the BT Young Scientist in Dublin in January.
• 45 pupils from Year 12 attended an engagement lecture in Coleraine about ‘Ghastly Parasites’.
• Community Programme continued with First Aid workshops for 2 community groups.
• The science 2 life road-shows for St. Joseph’s College took place on Thursday 4 th December. These shows were facilitated by St. Mary’s College as part of our community plan for the year.
• Lower Sixth Science pupils gave their presentations at Magee on Wednesday 10 th December and performed extremely well in front of a large audience.
• An Action Plan for the ‘Business in the community’ Adopt a school project has been drawn up and sent to Co-ordinator Sorcha Dunne.
• ‘Dissolving Boundaries’ Project – Pupils have posted their pupil profiles and begun work on their ‘wikis’ (web pages) with pupils from Carndonagh Community School.
• Step-Up Engagement Activities – Pupils have begun work on the ‘Science Movie Competition’ and the ‘Jenny Bristow Cookery competition.
• A ‘First Aid’ workshop took place for Rathmore Womens Group on Tuesday 2 nd December.

Specialist Science Events that have taken place during January 2009

• Revision classes for pupils in Years 11 and 12 who are doing modular exams in January took place.
• Year 11 OCR Double Award: Wednesday 7th January, Thursday 8 th January, Friday 9 th January
• Year 11 AQA Double Award: Tuesday 13 th January, Wednesday 14 th January
• Year 12 OCR Double Award: Wednesday 14th January, Thursday 15 th January
• Mrs. A. Blanking was short-listed for the Intel Innovative Teacher’s Award through her work with the Young Scientist Competition. She also accompanied five groups of pupils (12 pupils in total) to the BT Young Scientist Competition in Dublin from the 6 th January until the 12 th January. These pupils performed admirably and were great ambassadors for the school.
• 5 Robotics Road -shows took place for primary school pupils. Previous to this mentor training had taken for St. Mary’s and Lisneal pupils who will receive BA Bronze Crest Awards for their work.
• 5 Funtastic science workshops took place for primary school pupils including Maths, Technology and IT departments
• Step-Up Engagement Activities: Entries were completed and submitted for the Science Photography Competition (Mrs. Molloy, Science Department) and the Scrapheap Challenge Competition (Mr. Molloy, Technology Department). Work is ongoing in the Science Movie Competition (Ms. Blanking, Science Department) and the Jenny Bristow Can’t Cook, Won’t Cook Competition (Mrs. A. Kelly, Home Economics Department)
• Dissolving Boundaries: Pupils from Carndonagh have now posted their pupil profiles too and work will begin next month on the experimental write ups for the joint projects.
• A ‘First Aid’ workshop took place for St. Mary’s Community Centre Womens Group on Wednesday 21 st January.

Specialist Science Events that have taken place during February 2009

• STEM Science Roadshow for St. Joseph’s Year 10 pupils took place
• Dissolving Boundaries: Year 8 pupils have begun work on their wiki webs – incorporating the experimental write-ups in collaboration with Carndonagh Community School
• ‘A case of Identity’ CSI workshop took place on 1 st Feb and all Year 9 pupils attended.
• Lough’s Agency Projects began with Year 9 class. Each class will in turn work in conjunction with Peter O’Donnell of the Lough’s Agency on ‘Habitats, Food Webs, Adaptation etc. for a 2 week project including a visit to the Aquarium. Activities include fish dissections, habitat study etc.
• ‘Adopt a school’ update: St. Mary’s Action Plan has been reviewed and updated. Action on points raised will begin soon.
• Meeting with Mr. Friel from Hollybush PS to discuss mentoring of P7 pupils for Fun Science Workshops.
• Entries for Step-Up science engagement activity – Lights, Camera, Action Movie Making competition were submitted.
• 20 pupils from the Astronomy Club (which meets each Wednesday) attended the lecture at the Millenium Forum given by Professor Carl Murray of the NASA Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn. (Astronomy Club members have recently made telescopes, researched the Cassini-Huygens Mission and carried out investigations into the impact craters of meteors)
• Ash McFadden from Greencastle Planetarium has been enlisted to help with the Astronomy Club. He will attend meetings and help with Rocket building/launching etc. Final details still to be arranged.
• Mr. Logue and Mr. Goddard visited the Millennium Forum to meet with Conference and Events Manager Aidan Brennan to discuss details for the up-coming Science Fair for Primary and Secondary Schools.
• Ms. Blanking was nominated by the school for a National Teaching Award for her work with the Junior Chemistry Club.

Specialist Science Events that have taken place during March 2009

• Entries for Step-Up engagement activity: Jenny Bristow Can’t Cook, Won’t Cook were submitted by Ms. A Kelly of theHome Economics Dept.
• Ms. A. Blanking was short-listed for the National Teaching Awards: Teacher of the Year. There was a visit to the school by her assessors – Shiela McFaul (last year’s winner of the award) and Maggie Taggart on the 30 th March regarding this. We are now waiting on feedback from the assessors.
• Ash McFadden began his work with the Astronomy club giving a talk about rocketry and helping the pupils to build and launch rockets.
• The science department received news that the bid for a free telescope for the school from the Society for Popular Astronomy was successful. We received the 70mm telescope on the 23 rd of March.
• Feedback from primary schools re. Science Fair at the Millennium Forum – St. Eithne’s P.S., Hollybush P.S. and Holy Child P.S. have indicated that they will be participating.
• 19 th March - Video Conference took place between St. Mary’s College and Carndonagh Community School re. Dissolving Boundaries. 20 Year 8 pupils were involved to discuss their projects/wikis with their counterparts in Carndonagh
• National Science Week: 6 th – 15 th March: 55 pupils from Hollybush P.S. attended a science ‘Kitchen Chemistry’ workshop to learn innovative science experiments to repeat for their parents during their own science show for national Science Week. W5 Road-shows took place for 150 Primary school pupils and for all St. Mary’s College Year 9 pupils (150 pupils) All Year 8 pupils (145 pupils) attended a Table Quiz in community centre for National Science week. (Partner Primary and Secondary schools were encouraged to use the 1 1/ 2 weeks to work on projects for St. Mary’s College Science Fair to be held in Millennium Forum on May 21 st. All Year 10 and 11 pupils took part in science quizzes in science lessons (300 pupils) All Year 8 pupils and all Year 9 pupils attended ‘Science 2 life’ science shows on Friday 20 th March (300 pupils)
• Meeting with Keelin Hammill and staff from Ward design regarding Green Space initiative through Business in the community Adopt a school

Specialist Science Events that have taken place during April 2009

• Feedback from primary schools re. Science Fair at the Millennium Forum: St. John’s PS, Holy Family PS have indicated that they have been participating. In the secondary school section St. Peter’s, Oakgrove, St. Cecelia’s have indicated that they will be participating.
• Results from two of the University of Ulster Engagement Competitions organized by Step-Up were announced. We received the news that St. Mary’s College pupils had won both of these competitions – Danielle McGlinchey, Johanna Mae Munoz and Maria McHugh won the Science Movie making competition and Rachael E Doherty, Kirsty Hegarty, Beth McCafferty and Elsha Smith won the Scrapheap Challenge competition.
• Revision Classes for Year 11 and Year 12 Science OCR and AQA pupils took place.
• Pupils from St. Annes’ PS took part in a workshop to do with the dangers of alcohol at St. Mary’s College
• Pupils from Balloughry PS, Holy Child PS and Ebrington visited the Millennium Forum for a workshop on light and Sound.

Specialist Science Events that have taken place during May 2009

• ‘Dissolving Boundaries’ Face to Face meeting for pupils of St. Mary’s and Carndonagh Community School at Letterkenny Bowling Alley on 12 th May. A great day was had by all involved.
• STEM Maths Roadshow for St. Mary’s Year 10 pupils took place.
• Pupils who won the Step-Up Science Movie making competition received their prizes (MP4 players) at a ceremony during school assembly.
• Pupils who won the Step-Up Science Scxrapheap Challenge competition received their prizes (a day out to the Foyle Hov Activity centre for activities and then lunch at the Radisson Hotel in Limavady and a ceremony to present them with MP4 players)
• St. Mary’s College (along with Lumen Christi College) hosted the North West Schools Festival of Science at the Millennium Forum on the 21 st May. Around 20 schools from the city and the north-west in general submitted projects making a total of 50 projects along with 10 industry stands from local industries. A very successful and enjoyable day was had by all. Pupils from St. Mary’s College won the ‘Scifest’ sponsored ‘Use of data logging award’ as a result of which their science teacher received a new lap-top computer and they received £150 between them. The overall Primary School award was won by St. Patrick’s PS for their project on skeletons and the overall Secondary School project was won by St. Cecelia’s College for their project entitled ‘Energy Values in Foods’. Congratulations to both schools. We have already had further expressions of interest for next year’s festival from schools which did not participate this year including Limavady Grammar School and Carndonagh Community School. All those schools which did participate intend to return next year.
• Revision Classes for Year 11 and Year 12 Science OCR and AQA pupils took place throughout the month on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
• St. Mary’s College has 14 projects entered in the N. Ireland Yong Scientists Competition on the 18 th June in Belfast (30 pupils)
• A meeting took place with Linda Dunlop from the University of Ulster – Science in Society with a view to having one Year 8 class involved with the ‘Forward Thinking in Science’ project next year.
• A meeting took place to arrange a new aquarium for the science department to be ready in September ’09.
• Planning began for the St. Mary’s College Internal Science Fair for Year 10 pupils. They will showcase their science work in the last week of term in the school assembly hall.

Specialist Science Events that have taken place during June 2009

• Carbon Challenge took place for all year 9 pupils (circa 150 pupils)
• 14 Science projects from St. Mary’s College were presented at the SENTINUS Young Innovators Final in Belfast (over 30 pupils) Two pupils from St. Mary’s (Nicole Lynch and Aoife White) won the overall main prize and were announced as N. Ireland Young Innovators 2009. As part of their prize they travel to Kildare in March 2010 to prepare for an all expenses paid trip to San Jose in California to represent Ireland at the Intel World Wide Science fair competing against over 1000 projects from over 50 countries from across the world.
• St. Mary’s held its internal Science Fair. The overall winning project was ‘Recycling in St. Mary’s’ by Nicole Doherty, Mairead Parke and Leonia Ratajczak.