In the fourth year of the Science Specialism the science department enjoyed more pupil success in examinations and in lots of extra-curricular activities.
All of our sixth year students studying Applied GCE science in conjunction with the University of Ulster's 'Step Up' programme gained places in university to study a variety of science related courses including Physiotherapy, Forensic science, Psychology, Bio-medical Science, Environmental Planning and Nursing. There was a 100% pass rate in St. Mary's in this subject this year.
At Key Stage 4 pupils also achieved considerable success with 90% of pupils gaining at least one pass grade in GCSE science. Indeed all pupils did Double Award Science courses meaning that most 85% had 2 GCSEs to show for their efforts.
In 2009/10 many pupils took advantage of the wide range of in-school and after school science club and activities and many could be found working very hard on a variety of projects or competition entries throughout the year including students from the Chemistry club who represented St. Mary's at the N. Ireland Young Scientist Competition, BT Young Scientist (All-Ireland) and the Salter's Chemistry Festival throughout the year.
Many Year 11, Year 12, Year 13 and Year 14 pupils also attended GCSE and GCE A-Level revision clubs throughout the year.
In September '09 our Year 10 pupils visited Magilligan Field Centre to carry out a field study for Biology. All involved enjoyed it thoroughly.
In January '10 pupils from the Chemistry club achieved yet more success in the Young Scientists and Engineer's Fair in Dublin earning commendations in their categories. 7 projects from St. Mary's College made it through to the final in Dublin making up almost a half of all projects from N. Ireland.
In February all Year 8 pupils attended the 'A case of Identity' Murder Mystery where they had to follow forensic clues to solve a murder case!
In March St. Mary's celebrated National Science Week with a series of events for all pupils. All Year 8 pupils took part in a science quiz. Year 9 pupils all attended a science interactive show. Year 9 and 10 pupils were busy working on the Step-Up to Science engagement projects.
In March and April '09 Year 9, 10 and 11 science students participated in the various Step-Up science engagement competitions.These included the Cookery Challenge', the 'Blazing ballistae challenge' and the 'Challenge Quiz'.
Pupils from St. Mary's were place in the top three in each one of these competitions in spite of the huge number of entries form Derry and Belfast.
Their prizes included MP4 players and, in the case of the 'Scrapheap Challenge' winners a day out for the four pupils at an Activity centre for clay pigeon shooting, archery, a hovercraft ride and other activities. These pupils were also provided with lunch before the presentation of their MP4 players. All pupils who participated thoroughly enjoyed their experience.
In May 2010 2 pupils from St. Mary's College won the overall prize at the Letterkenny Scifest winning ahead of over 150 other projects from schools across Ireland. Pupils from St. Mary's also picked up 5 other awards at the Scifest including best use of sensors in science and best Physics project.
Also in May two former pupils Aoife White and Nicole Lynch, who last year won the N. Ireland Young Scientist Competition in Belfast travelled to San Jose in California to represent Ireland at the world wide INTEL Science Fair competing against 1400 projects from 57 countries around the world in the world. Aoife and Nicole were highly praised by the judges and enjoyed the experience immensely.
On the 21st May St. Mary's co-hosted the North-West Schools festival of Science at the Millennium Forum in which over 250 pupils from over 20 schools from across the North-West showcased their science project work. Many local STEM industries were also represented on the day. Thanks to our many sponsors many great prizes were awarded and, this year, pupils from St. Mary's actually picked up the main award for best overall project.
Congratulations to all the pupils who represented their school so well!
Also in the second term all pupils from 1st Year to 4th Year attended the 'Science 2 Life' Shows in the school and enjoyed the experience thoroughly. In addition to these shows our Key Stage 3 pupils had the opportunity to attend the Carbon Challenge.
All Year 9 pupils this year took part in project work in conjunction with the Lough's Agency. Activities included river studies, fishing and fish dissections! Around 65 Year 9 pupils completed the SENTINUS Energy Challenge and received BA Bronze Crest awards for their efforts.
This year our partner primary school pupils enjoyed a series of science workshops including 'Funtastic Science', 'CSI Science' and many others. Over 1000 Primary school pupils attended. As well as this many pupils from Ballougry PS, Ebrington PS and Holy Child Ps worked on projects for the NW Science festival at St. Mary's each Wednesday morning during April and May.
On May 21st 2010 St. Mary's College co-hosted the North-West Schools festival of Science held at the Millennium Forum. Around 20 schools from all over the North-West submitted projects and judges from several local industries selected the winning projects. In addition around ten other local industries with science links provided stalls at the exhibition and the event proved to be a great success to rival the Young Scientist events in Belfast and Dublin. Again pupils from St. Mary's scooped the top prize of Overall Winner.
In June 2010 all Year 10 pupils showcased their science project work in St. Mary's College own Internal Science Fair.
In addition to these events, many other science events took place during the year in the school, involving our own pupils, pupils from Primary schools in the city and pupils from other secondary schools.
These included our 'Year 11 STEM careers day', the 'Big Bug Hunt', the 'Robotics road-shows', 'Electricity and Circuits work-shops' 'the BT Young Scientist Master-class' and many others.
Twice this year in April and again in June St. Mary's Science Department was pleased to host the STEM bus – Year 8 pupils had the opportunity to attend workshops on Rocket building and CSI science.
We look forward to more success in the year ahead as we move into our new school!
|
