Published on: 5 December 2014



An impressive total of 10 Christ Church boys were invited to attend Schools of Excellence in Mathematics and Informatics during December and the Australian Science Olympiad Summer School for Chemistry in January.

Next month, Samuel Thompson (Year 11) will attend the Chemistry Olympiad Summer School at the ANU in Canberra after his outstanding results in the Science Olympiad Qualifying Examinations held in August.

Samuel won a Gold Medal for Chemistry and was presented with his prestigious white lab coat at a recent assembly by Chemistry Olympiad Director Dr Mark Ellison, from ANU, and Christ Church’s Dr Monica Mackay, who has been involved in successfully training students for the Chemistry Olympiads over a number of years.

Congratulations also to Year 11 students Nicholas O’Callaghan (Bronze Medals in Chemistry and Physics); Kenneth MacPherson (Bronze Medal in Biology); and Joseph Brough (Bronze Medal in Physics, Silver Medal in Chemistry).

Leo Li (Year 10) and William Hu (Year 8) are currently attending the Mathematics School of Excellence in Melbourne as a result of their performances in the Senior Mathematics Contest, which also serves as the qualifying exam for the summer school.

Assistant Head of Mathematics (Extension) Jan Honnens said this year, 87 students in Australia were invited to sit the contest including seven students from Christ Church. Only 25 students from across Australia are then invited to attend the School of Excellence.

Also held this month is the Informatics School of Excellence. Seven Christ Church boys have been invited to attend, including Jason Chu (Year 10), Tom Copcutt (Year 10), Lumina Gajanayake (Year 9), Thomas Waring (Year 10), Albert Smith (Year 8), Devin He (Year 10) and Samuel Thompson (Year 11), who all received invitations based on their Gold and Silver Medal performances in the Australian Informatics Olympiad (AIO).

Five of the boys have accepted their invitation to attend the intensive 10-day training school at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra, along with 20 other students from around Australia.