Science Department

Specialist Science Events (School Year 2010-2011)

(Overview of Key Events)

Specialist Science Events that have taken place during September 2010

• 5 Year 11 pupils attended the Seagate Summer School in July '10. All had an excellent experience.
• Sentinus STEM morning for Year 8 pupils and their parents took place on Saturday 11 th September. Over 80 people took part and thoroughly enjoyed the activities which included bridge building, producing working model fairground rides and many others.
• 'A case of identity' science Forensic work-shop took place for all Year 8 pupils as well as year 11 OCR science pupils and Year 13 BTEC science pupils. Pupils had to solve a murder using forensic techniques. All involved had a great time!
• Clara Hegarty (B54) was awarded with a certificate from the University of Ulster 'Forward Thinking in science' programme and a new 'iPod' for her award winning essay on 'Genetics and Cloning'. Thanks to Lynda Dunlop from the U.U for organizing the project in which all of A54 took part in during last year.
• A meeting took place on Thursday 16 th September and a follow-up meeting on Thursday 23 rd September with June Coates from Seagate and Mildred Gill from Lumen Christi College regarding the forthcoming Seagate Real World Science fair which is, this year, being hosted by St. Mary's College' on the 12 th November.
• One Year 8 pupil was awarded with an MP4 player as a result of winning the questionnaire competition after the Step-Up science Engagement lecture in June of last academic year.

Specialist Science Events that have taken place during October 2010

• 28 th Oct – Meeting took place with Mildred Gill from Lumen Christi and June Coates from Seagate regarding the Seagate Real World Science Conference in November. Preparations are at an advanced stage.
• Classes continued for Year 12 OCR science pupils looking to re-submit their Year 11 Science coursework to improve their grade. 18 pupils attended every Thursday after school from 3.15pm until 5.00pm.
• After-school Revision Classes began for Year 11 OCR pupils, Year 12 OCR pupils, Year 13 and year 14 Advanced Science pupils in preparation for their exam modules in January.
• Upper Sixth science students presented the findings of their Summer School projects in front of an audience of parents, teachers University staff and their peers on 21 st October. All girls spoke extremely well and did the school proud.
• News came through that St. Mary's had 4 projects accepted for the BT Young Scientists competition in Dublin in January.
• Entries were submitted for 4 UU Step-Up engagement competitions and for 2 engagement lectures.
• Dates were booked for 4 visits of the STEM module (STEM bus), two for the Technology Department and two for the Science Department.

Specialist Science Events that have taken place during November 2010

• 12th Nov – St. Mary's College hosted the Seagate Real World Science Conference. Over 370 pupils from 20 schools in the North-West visited the school for the day to attend a series of Science (STEM) workshops ranging from the Armagh Planetarium, Seagate, Queen's University, Police, Fire and Ambulance service and many more. All pupils and staff reported that the experience was excellent and we look forward to hosting the event again in the future.
• 60 Lower Sixth and Upper Sixth science pupils acted as mentors for the Seagate Real World Science Conference on the 12 th Nov. These girls will now be officially recognized as STEM ambassadors fot ehri work and will also receive BA Bronze CREST awards.
• Lower Sixth science students presented their work based on their first Industrial visit on the evening of the 18 th November. This was in front of an audience of parents, school staff, University staff and sixth years from partner schools. All our pupils spoke extremely well, especially considering this was their first experience of a presentation like this.
• 23 rd Nov – St. Mary's College Science Department hosted the Institute of Physics Van de Graff Generator Workshop for local teachers. Teachers from Lumen Christi College, Thornhill College, Immaculate Conception College and St. Mary's attended and the experience was very worthwhile for all with some innovative experiments demonstrated.
• 30 th Nov - 24 Year 11 and Year 12 pupils represented St. Mary's College at the annual Step-Up Science Challenge Quiz held in U.U. Magee.
• 12 pupils from the school traveled to Stormont for a reception to celebrate their qualification for the finals of the BT Young Scientist competition in Dublin in January. Pupils from St. Mary's make up almost one third of the total number of entrants qualified for the finals from N. Ireland.
• BT contacted St. Mary's Science Department to ask the Chemistry club to participate in a video diary exercise of their preparation for the BT Young Scientist's Competition in Dublin in January

Specialist Science Events that have taken place during December 2010

• 1 st December: 65 Students from St. Mary's and the other 4 Step-Up partner schools (St. Brigid's, St. Joseph's, St. Cecelia's and Lisneal College) attended a First Aid Workshop as part of the AQA Applied A-Level Science course in St. Mary's.
• 1 st December: 6 pupils from Lower Sixth BTEC Science attended the 50 th Anniversary celebrations for DuPont in Derry, participating in a practical science competition. All enjoyed the experience thoroughly.
• 8 th December: 6 pupils from year 9 represented St. Mary's College at the IET Faraday Engineering Challenge day held in Lumen Christi College.