This year has certainly been a very busy one for everyone. However, with exceptional dedication and extraordinary effort the Science Department has pulled off a remarkable feat.
We have welcomed three new team members, developed remote teaching and learning programs and prepared our students with amazing on-site practical experiences. This year we have started a Robotics Club, developed a Biotechnology Lab for our VCE Biology students and ran an extraordinary number of practical activities for our students once they returned from lockdown V2.0. Casey Grammar students also had the opportunity to challenge themselves and participate in numerous national Science competitions.

Science Olympiads

This year during the second lockdown some of our Casey Grammar students took part in a remote two-hour long Biology, Physics and Junior Science Australian Science Olympiad exam.
The Biology, Physics and Chemistry Olympiads are a national enrichment program for secondary science students. Australian Science Olympiads are a staged enrichment program where students receive support and recognition for their efforts. They provide rewarding opportunities for students to extend themselves way beyond school science through challenging exams, stimulating extensions and enrichment programs and international competitions.

Year 11 Biology students that performed exceptionally well included:

• Distinction – Alexia Gherghiceanu; Samantha Rhodes and Georgia Schelfhout
• Credit – Alastair McKearney; Isabella O’Keeffe and Ellen Streat

Congratulations to all other Year 11 Biology students who were awarded a certificate of Participation.

Georgia Schelfhout was also awarded a Credit for the Physics Olympiad Exam.
Congratulations to all other Year 11 Physics students who were awarded a certificate of Participation.

Junior Science Olympiads

The Junior Science Olympiad Exam was It was designed to take science students in years 7 to 10 to the next level. For those who don’t know, the exam was based on general science content (biology, chemistry and physics) and assumes students have a good knowledge of the Science Curriculum. Some questions in the exam really tested our students as they included higher-level content (such as might be encountered by an extended Year 10 student).
Students that performed exceptionally well included:

• High Distinction - Patrick Kleverlaan and Ijaz Koya of Year 10
• Distinction – Jack Witterick of Year 8
• Credit – Kyan Whitehead-Bell and Christian Radu of Year 7
  Annabella Woo, Tiyanie Fernando, Emily O’Keeffe and Nicholas Riet of Year 8
  Diya Gulati, Gurleen Kaur, Isabella Anastassiou and Jashneel Nand of Year 9
  Mustifa Kezraj and Shannan Bardou of Year 10

Congratulations to all other students who were awarded a certificate of Participation.

World-renowned ICAS Science Exam

Students from Casey Grammar achieved outstanding results in this year’s ICAS Assessments. This year 22 students from Casey Grammar participated, with outstanding performers receiving certificates of Merit, Credit and Distinction.

Every year thousands of schools participate in ICAS in over 20 countries, providing participating schools with a robust international benchmark of student achievement. ICAS is developed by UNSW Global Pty Limited and has had more than 9 million students participate since 2002.
Developed for students in primary and secondary school years, ICAS assesses the higher order thinking and problem-solving skills needed for success in not only Science but also English, Mathematics, Writing, Spelling and Digital Technologies.

ICAS independently evaluates students’ skills and knowledge in core learning areas and provides insight into students’ understanding. The skills tested are important indicators of success in school and beyond. We congratulate the following students on this fantastic result.

Year 7 Awards

• Merit - Nick Schweden
• Credit - Christian Radu
• Participation - Jackson Kai, Anushka Abbott and Sahasra Tadavarthi

Year 8 Awards

• Distinction - Tiyanie Fernando and Jack Witterick
• Credit - James Dawson, Emily O’Keeffe and Anirudh Sharma
• articipation - Naheed Jafary, Hetvi Gandhi and Karthik Rejimon

Year 9 Awards

• Credit - Joshua Reeve and Alex Chey
• Participation - Gurlee Kaur, Ameer Karim, Quba Ah Tong-Pereira and Elvis Mathew

Year 10 Awards

• Distinction - Patrick Kleverlaan
• Participation - Ijaz Koya and Bansari Patel

Science Talent Search Award Ceremony

On Monday 16th of November four of our students participated in an online personalised school based presentation ceremony for the Science Talent Search. During the presentation Alexandra Abela (STAV President) announced the winners. Families watched the virtual ceremony remotely as bursary award winners were presented with certificates, cheques and medallions.
Once again congratulations to the following 2020 STS bursary award winners:
Major Bursary - Emily O’Keeffe
Minor Bursary - Geordie Batten, Kiarah Coliphus and Jugal Anish
To celebrate student achievements this year, a photo of our winners have been published on a dedicated STS Exhibition webpage. Special thankyou to Mrs Gina Upward for supervising the STS and organising the award ceremony this year.

CGS Robotics Club

The Casey Grammar Science Department has provided our students with yet another exciting opportunity to take on the world!
Our STEM program is currently offering robotics as a lunchtime activity. Students interested in joining our new Robotics Team will become involved in the construction of two VEX V5 Competition Robots. Not only will the acquisition of such state of the art technology educate our students and encourage collaboration, it will also provide them with the opportunity to participate in the Australian VEX robotics competition. Teams that receive an award for excellence at the completion may be selected to represent Australia at the VEX World Championship. This is the largest STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) event in the world with 500 teams from over 30 countries competing over four days.

2020 Senior School Science Awards

This year saw the inaugural VCE Science Awards. Four of our top performing Science students were awarded trophies in recognition for their academic excellence and dedication towards their studies in science. Congratulations to this year’s recipients:

• Anmol Singh (Gold award)
• Robert Kuzek (Silver award)
• Swetha Kumar (Bronze award)
• Krishna Kunnummal (Conatus award)

The Casey Grammar Science Department will continue to strive for excellence in science education and provide each and every one of our students with amazing STEM opportunities in 2021.

Mr Daniel Isgro
Head of Science