Term 1 always seems to go past so fast – this one even more so with the first week in lockdown and being only 9 weeks long.

ASP was straight underway with our AMAZING criminology crew heading online so the boys did not miss out. A HUGE THANK YOU to Dr David Keatley and Jason Dohle at Murdoch University for enabling the Year 8s and 9s to use the Murdoch Blackboard System to access the Criminology Unit online – the engagement, as usual, was fantastic throughout the unit. Thanks also to the AMAZING Aquinas staff who make ASP possible; Mr Paul West and Mr David White have run units this Term. Also to Matthew Vinci in Year 10 who comes along twice a week and runs the Middle School Academic Extension Club on Monday and Wednesday Lunch - the boys and I greatly enjoy and appreciate this.

• Mrs Monks

Criminology

Dr Dave has been continually impressed by the AC ASP students with their enthusiasm and investigative skills. This term they did not disappoint filling the boards in the SB13 ‘dungeon’ with their theories, which they excitedly presented. Dr Dave and Jason were amazed at their findings and astounded at the amount of work the boys had put in. Both Dr Dave and Jason will be back next term with a new Conspiracy Theory Unit.

• Mrs Monks

Throughout this past term, the ASP has run a criminology program for students eager to learn about the topic, including how to solve a crime mystery, by looking at the behaviour of criminals and their social normalities and abnormalities. Hosted by Dr David Keatley (a behavioural scientist from Murdoch University, who has worked as a criminal profiler for many institutions including the FBI), alongside Jason Dohle, from Murdoch’s education department, this unit has presented the students with challenging tasks and cold cases, which they have attempted to solve. It has seen students creating theories of how they think that a crime has occurred (at a professional level), including the Zodiac Murders, and the CPF-21 Plane bombing. The students have really enjoyed the course and are keen to learn more on the topic moving forward.

• Michael Elhaj

Ancient Architecture

A new unit for ASP this term was invented by resident ASP expert Mr Paul West – Ancient Architecture. This unit has been a resounding success with the boys who have happily come to tell me about the research they have been doing. I am eager to see their presentations in week 9!

• Mrs Monks

This year many of us from the middle school who undertook the Ancient Architecture ASP, learnt about different ancient cultures such as the Mesopotamians or the Greeks, focusing mainly on their construction and meaning of their architecture. Our task, to learn about a chosen civilisation and to construct one of their well-known buildings, presenting both to the class during the final lesson. My group chose to study the Sumerians, known for creating the earliest form of written texts. Mr West helped us, using his extensive knowledge of many of these early cultures, which kept us in the right direction and aided us in the creation of our miniature models. Personally, I found the recreation the best part as we looked closer into these great feats of engineering and took in some of the less notable details, such as our group noticed that the Ziggurat of Ur, the structure we chose to build, was not dedicated to Sumerian Sun God, as would be assumed from a culture that is so focused on farming, but is instead of the moon God known as Nanna. After having done this course for a term now, I truly believe that it has helped increase my knowledge on the history and will definitely choose it again if made an option later.

• Riley Nel

CCT

A favourite of ASP is the CCT course – Creative and Critical Thinking this term has seen the boys work in pairs to research and build a mousetrap racer. This has been a real challenge with our super condensed term thanks to Year 7 Camp, NAPLAN and CATs! Hopefully, we can get a car moving, if not the boys will have an excellent holiday project!

Marble run

A small enthusiastic bunch of boys came together to take part in the Marble run ASP unit this term.

• Mrs Monks

Marble Run has been a fun and creative unit to take part in. In each lesson, all students participate together using teamwork to create a ‘marble run’ which involves trial and error. Every part of the marble run sees students tinkering their different parts to be able to make their run perfectly. Marble Run gives students the ability to use their creative craft skills to be able to compete with other groups in the course at the end of term one. Marble Run is definitely a course I would consider people to take part in if they are into crafting and problem-solving.

• Christian Pecotic

During Term 1 we also have several competitions the Synergy Solar Car, Have Sum Fun Maths, IM2C and Have Sum Fun Maths. The Solar Car Team reached the Semi-Finals which is a great achievement, thanks to all the efforts of Mr David White throughout the term and well done to all the boys who took part!

Have Sum Fun

The Have Sum Fun Maths Year 9 and 10 had 1 team place 3rd in their competition at All Saints on the 19th of March – WELL DONE BOYS!

• Mrs Monks

Have Sum Fun is one of those competitions where it always seems so chaotic right at the start. From the last minute prep to the high energy competition there’s never a moment of quiet but in that djinn of rounds there is a vibrance and electricity of energy in the air that is almost tangible. With multiple of Aquinas’s brightest minds squashed into one team, there was bound to be squabbles and debates but there was also great bonding. I have enjoyed my two years in this competition which has allowed me to learn and grow, I have learnt the value of perseverance, pushing the Aquinas team from outside the top 5 last year to 3rd this year. It has been a great honour to represent Aquinas in Have Sum Fun and I definitely hope there will be more opportunities in future

• Samuel Yeow