Academic successes – August 2024

Brain Bee

Ellie Zhou and Matthew Bluck (both Year 11) achieved entry to Round 2 of the South Island Brain Bee representing St Andrew’s College, along with 34 students from South Island schools.

Chess

At the Interschool Chess Tournament the St Andrew’s A team of Cayden Wang, James Anthony (both Year 12), Owen Menzies and Kian Dharmasena (both Year 13), were second in the A Grade, and the B team of Alex Manson, Luke Manson (both Year 11), Joshua Adams and William Sherborne (both Year 12) were third in the B Grade. The Preparatory School A chess team finished fourth at the Years 7–8 Canterbury Chess Competition.

Creative Writing

Heidi Smith (Year 10) had her poem, A storm, accepted for publication in fingers comma toes. Heidi Smith (Year 10) won first place in poetry in her category of the Never Such Innocence international poetry competition for her poem, The silence of war. Jack Foley (Year 9) received an Honourable Mention in this competition with his poem An active warzone.

da Vinci Decathlon

A group of 24 Secondary School students and eight Preparatory School students competed at the da Vinci Decathlon, a challenging competition celebrating the academic gifts of youth. The students competed in teams of eight across 10 disciplines – engineering, mathematics code breaking, art and poetry, science, English, ideation, creative producers, cartography, and legacy. The Year 10 and 11 teams were both placed third overall amongst some very tough competition.

The Preparatory School team, comprising Chenxiao (Leo) Yang (Year 7), Cong (Zilong) Chen, Baizhen (Tony) Chen, Tasmin Wingfield, Louis Hyland, Juno Park, Benjamin Edward and Emmett Lawler (all Year 8) were the overall winners of the Year 8 division.

Environment Youth Conference

Aaron Moore, Jack Li (both Year 13), Hanxi (Cicy) Chen, Alyssa Huang, and Vanessa Li (all Year 10) participated in the Waitaha Positive Action for the Environment Youth Conference, which was attended by over 300 students and staff from the wider Canterbury region. The event included hearing from keynote speakers, with the students dispersing to many workshops available throughout the day.

Ethics Olympiad

The St Andrew’s College ‘eth-letes’ (ethics athletes), pictured below, entered the South Island Senior Ethics Olympiad, with the Year 13 team of Chantelle Xiong, Jack Li, Aaron Moore, James Hart and Oscar Reed placing third, while the Year 11 team of Matthew Bluck, Ellie Zhou, Sam Foote, Daisy Huang, Jinyang (Yang) Zhang, received an Honourable Mention as well as Most Improved Team.

Informatics Olympiad

Following a selection contest to pick the New Zealand team to compete at the European Girls’ Olympiad in Informatics (EGOI) in the Netherlands in July, Hannah Withers and Ellie Zhou (both Year 11) were selected as two members of the four-person team. Although the competition is intended only for European teams, New Zealand is one of a limited number of countries from outside Europe who are invited to take part.

Mathematics

Year 8 student Cong (Zilong) Chen has achieved some outstanding international achievements in Mathematics in 2024, including gold medals in the Bebras Challenge, UKIMC (UK Intermediate Mathematical Challenge), and the Singapore Mathematics Global Final, along with a silver medal in the AMO (American Maths Olympiad). He also achieved High Distinction with a perfect score in the Australian Maths CAT Competition, which gives students the opportunity to develop their problem- solving skills through algorithmic thinking.

Oxford English Dictionary submission

Class 4T, led by teacher Emily-Jane Ullrich, came up with a collection ofn 21 new words inspired by Roald Dahl’s novel, The BFG, which have been accepted for submission by the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) team, who emphasise the importance of children’s language creativity.

Philosophy Club

Philosophy is a key component of the junior Gifted and Talented Programme at St Andrew’s College, which has launched its first Philosophy Club. Hanxi (Cicy) Chen (Year 10) is the Philosophy Club’s lead student and numbers are increasing weekly. Cicy is creating weekly seminars held during Friday lunchtimes which are rich in content and fun to participate in.

Science Badges

Louis Hyland (Year 8) received a Gold Star Badge for completing his fifteenth Science Badge.

VEX Robotics

At the finals of the VEX Robotics Canterbury Challenge, the Preparatory School team of Oliver Gibb, Alex O’Neill, and Harry Kempthorne (all Year 8) was third in the Junior VEX IQ Challenge, Rise Above. Two Secondary School teams made the semi-finals.