Co-Curricular

All Saints' College highly values the pursuit of academic excellence. Teachers are committed to assisting all students to reach their academic potential through a range of academic endeavours outside of the classroom. These include the Science and Engineering Challenge, Tournament of the Minds, Mock Trial Competition, Public Speaking Competition, the Lions Youth of the Year Competition and Debating. Students are also encouraged to participate in various national competitions including Mathematics, English, Science, Chemistry, Business Studies, Geography and Computers. All of these endeavours, in addition to many others, enhance the academic potential of our students.

Science & Engineering Challenge

St Peter's has competed with distinction in the Science and Engineering Challenge for the past eight years. In 2012 and again in 2015, the school came first in Australia. On both occasions, the school won the National Final competing against schools from New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland. The final was held in Geelong, Victoria, with St Peter's running out winners by 108 points. The school has also placed first in the silver division in 2008, 2009 and 2010, and came second in the silver division in 2011.

The St Peter’s Campus Science Challenge team has had a successful campaign to date in the 2017 Challenge. The team was named Regional Champions after the initial day of competition and have since become the State NSW Champions. The team will now progress to the National Final to be held in Dubbo in November. Teams from each state will compete on Friday 3 November 2017.

The University of Newcastle & NSW DET Gifted and Talented Program

This program is run to provide pathways for exceptional students to undertake first year university courses while attending school. In 2013, courses included Molecules, Cells and Organisms (BIOL1001), Elementary French (FREN1100), Introduction to Engineering Practices (GENG1803), Legal System and Method A (LAW101A) and World Religions (RELI1010).

Through the St Peter’s Gifted and Talented Policy we aim to:

Establish a Gifted and Talented team comprising qualified, experienced and/or interested teachers relating to the provision of Gifted Education
Provide timely training and professional development opportunities for teachers and appropriate personnel
Ensure early and ongoing identification and recognition processes of all students
Provide equity in accessing opportunities and resources for all students
Extend and challenge students at levels appropriate to their ability
Create a flexible curriculum to meet individual needs
Provide the opportunity, where appropriate, for students to advance through school stages (acceleration) at rates suited to ability, personal maturity and learning outcomes
Provide the opportunity for contact with similarly talented or gifted peers through withdrawal, groupings or separate classes
Provide necessary resources to support the teaching and learning of gifted students
Involve parents and the wider community, where appropriate
Provide ongoing support for students, teachers and parents
Explore links within and across the Diocese and other systems.

Tournament of the Minds

Involvement in Tournament of the Minds requires skills in teamwork, organisation and creative thinking as well as significant commitment from the students throughout Term 3. This year, St Peter’s was represented by a team in each of the Language/Literature, Science/Technology, Engineering/Maths and Social Science disciplines of the Tournament of the Minds.

The first part of the competition, the Long-Term Challenge, involves creating costumes, props and creative movement for a 10 minute drama presentation in which the team presents their solution to a set challenge. The second part of the tournament, the Spontaneous Challenge, involves teams creating a solution to a question within a time limit of 4 minutes. For each of the challenges, teams are awarded points for teamwork and creativity. Our Language/Literature team excelled in the spontaneous challenge and were awarded full marks.

In 2016 at Regional level our Science/Technology team was awarded Tournament Honours and our Engineering/Maths and Language/Literature teams were awarded Regional Winners.

In 2017 at Regional level our Social Science team and our Language Literature team were awarded Tournament Honours and we were awarded first place in the Engineering/Maths and Language/Literature and Science/Technology divisions.

At State level we were awarded Honours to our Language Literature team and first place to Science Technology team. The Science Technology team went on to represent NSW at the Australasian Pacific Final in Adelaide.