News, Week 6, Term 3, 2025

This issue

1. Principal’s Message
2. Important Dates
3. Learning Conversations
4. Enrichment News
5. Open Night August
6. Pathways Information
7. Sports Update
8. PMEG Session 2
9. X and Why?
10. Sustainable Futures
11. MASA Quiz Night
12. Cyber Bullying Information Session – Hosted by Educators SA
13. Library News – Book Week

Principal’s Message

Today, the Honourable Blair Boyer MP, Minister for Education, Training and Skills, visited the Australian Science & Mathematics School to help us celebrate Wear It Purple Day. This annual event, held on the last Friday of August, aims to foster supportive, safe, empowering, and inclusive environments for LGBTQIA+ young people. It encourages individuals to wear purple to show solidarity and support, promoting acceptance and challenging societal attitudes that can lead to bullying and discrimination. Our students presented the minister with a portfolio of their stories and experiences. They were enthusiastic about this opportunity, seeing it as a way to inform policymakers about the importance of respecting identity and embracing diversity. This ensures that future students have better experiences than those in past years.

Next week, we are excited to welcome visitors from overseas, as well as from interstate and intrastate, to the 21st ASMS International Science Fair (ISF). This year’s theme, “Challenging Your Perspective” provides a unique opportunity for us to come together and delve into these inspiring concepts. The ISF offers students from around the world a full week of opportunities to question, reflect, plan, and explore potential innovations through the perspectives of Science and Mathematics, all while enhancing their Learner Attributes and building friendships that will form the foundation of their future world-leading careers. We hope that this week will ignite a passion for further exploration in the years ahead.

Our Year 12 students are approaching the final phase of their schooling. Next week, they will have the chance to practice taking exams, which will help them prepare for the end-of-year assessments. Year 12s, make the most of this opportunity to assess your strengths, identify areas for growth, and fine-tune your study strategies—don’t hesitate to seek our help and guidance along the way!

Supporting Safe Choices: Last Wednesday, ASMS welcomed parents to a session on Supporting Safer Choices, exploring ways to understand and guide teenagers through the risks they may encounter. The discussion highlighted common risk-taking behaviours in adolescence, current trends, and how parents can respond using a harm minimisation approach. Harm minimisation recognises that while risk-taking cannot always be avoided, young people can be supported to make safer and more informed choices. Key principles include recognising that some risk-taking is normal during adolescence, prioritising safety, providing accurate information, and fostering open, non-judgmental conversations. Parents also learned about a range of strategies – from prevention and risk reduction to support if harm occurs – that can help empower young people to navigate challenges more safely.

SSO Week: Last week, we celebrated SSO Week to express our appreciation for the invaluable contributions of our School Services Officers (SSOs). Many of our Learning Studies groups ‘adopted’ an SSO for the week, presenting them with small gifts to recognise their work. These celebrations fostered a sense of community and highlighted the essential role SSOs play in supporting the educational environment at ASMS.

STEMM Educator of the Year Finalists: We are proud to share that ASMS has once again been named a finalist in the STEMM Educator of the Year – Primary/Secondary School Level category at the 2025 SA Science Excellence and Innovation Awards. This recognition celebrates the outstanding work of our educators, namely – Andrew Stone, Marcus Roberts, Lisa Pope, Sarah Hollinshead, and Sam Moyle – who lead some of the innovative and imaginative approaches to teaching STEMM at the ASMS. Winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony on 14 November 2025.

Reminder: Monday September 8th – School Closure (no staff or students will be on site).

Important Dates

Learning Conversations

Bookings for Learning Conversations are now open. Learning Conversations are available on Wednesday 17 September and Tuesday 23 September 2025. Some teachers may have extra times available, and you will see this once you are logged in.

Learning Conversations are an important aspect of the learning culture at the ASMS. It is an opportunity for your child to reflect and celebrate their growth in their Learning Attributes across the year. It is an expectation that all ASMS students will lead a Learning Conversation with their Learning Studies teacher and a caregiver.

If your child’s Learning Studies class has two teachers, please only book in with one teacher.

Please see instructions at the link here for booking through Daymap.

Please log on to our portal here and click on ‘My Child’ which will take you to Daymap.

If you are having issues logging in, please email ICT@asms.sa.edu.au or call the school.

Enrichment News

Winter Conversations

“On Friday of Week 2, Attending the Winter Conversation at Government House was an inspiring and unforgettable experience. Meeting the Governor and Australia’s first qualified astronaut under our national flag was absolutely amazing. Katherine Bennell Peg was incredibly impressive not just because of her achievements, but because of how genuinely she encouraged everyone to follow their dreams. She spoke about how the journey, including the setbacks and sacrifices, can be just as important as the end goal. Her message really stuck with me: even if things don’t go exactly as planned, the learning along the way will guide you to where you’re meant to be.

I found it really interesting to hear how Australia is beginning to grow and innovate in the space sector. It’s exciting to think that our country is becoming more involved in global space exploration and science. One future challenge that stood out to me is how we, as young Australians, can prepare ourselves to contribute to these fields whether through science, technology, engineering, or even policy and education. Hopefully more young people get to hear stories like hers.” – Agrima

“I think the Winter Conversation was an amazing experience, I think Katherine’s journey towards becoming an astronaut was extremely inspiring and motivating, it was amazing to see how determined she was to pursue this career. I got to learn a lot about the significance of space exploration, not just for scientific advancement, but its impact on addressing climate change. It was also really interesting to see how astronauts adapt to the unique environment in space as well as how nations collaborate with each other to enhance missions and make them successful. A major future challenge, in my opinion, would be making space exploration more sustainable, especially as we look to farther and longer missions.” – Meharbir

“The excursion to hear from Australian Astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg in conversation with the Governor was an eye-opening experience, both in terms of hearing about her personal journey, and hearing about future outlooks of the space industry in Australia and globally. I would say there were three key takeaways for me from this experience:

1. Space is a BROAD industry – Katherine made it very clear very quickly that the space industry is broad, both in regards to its applications and its opportunities. Of course, I knew that space was involved with many fields of science, such as engineering, scientific research and analysis of earth systems (e.g. satellites), but I didn’t quite realise just how expansive its applications were. For example, the International Space Station (ISS) performs many biological and medical experiments, and conducts much research in those fields, the extent to which I hadn’t realised. Naturally, this creates many opportunities for virtually anyone to join the industry. In Katherine’s words, ‘Stick the word space in front of any other career title and it probably exists.’

2. Anyone with a passion can work in Space – Linking in with the previous point, Katherine emphasised that ANYONE with an interest in space can work in the industry. She told us all about how she wasn’t just some ‘academic prodigy’ or utter genius (at least in school), but instead how she started off with a passion, which led to her joining the military and doing flight training, as well as completing four university degrees and a Phd (over many years). Ultimately, she applied for an astronaut training program internationally, as there was not yet much of an industry in Australia, and got to where she is now.

3. The Space industry is changing – Finally, Katherine made a clear point that the space industry is changing, both in Australia and globally. I hadn’t realised, but the Australian Space Agency was only launched in 2018, so within Australia there is massive growth in opportunity for space enthusiasts. There is also a global shift, where the industry is no longer just governmental, but there is a huge move towards commercial ownership, where companies are creating their own space aircraft, whether that be for data collection or exploration.

This was overall an absolutely amazing experience, and I would highly recommend similar opportunities to anyone who is passionate about space or STEM.” – Matthew

“When we first arrived, we were greeted and brought to our seat. We learned, asked questions, and learnt even more. Did you know what the ISS is split in two halves – one half you must speak English, and the other half you must speak Russian? After we had talked and learned, we got to go up and personally meet the governor and astronaut, and it was truly so amazing to see how they got to where they were, and how they got their love for what they do.” – Isabella

“Attending one of the Winter Conversations at Government House with the ASMS was an opportunity for which I am very grateful. It was extremely interesting and helpful to learn about Katherine Bennell-Peg’s journey whilst she was talking with her excellency, the Governor, and how she got to where she is today. Listening to her advice and concerns about the future was empowering. This talk made me very excited to start on a career path in the space industry because of the potential growth in the space field.” – Ren

Active Citizenship Convention – Adelaide Oval

The Active Citizenship Convention which was announced earlier in the year by the Premier, the Hon Peter Malinauskas MP, is part of nation-leading reforms in civics education aimed at strengthening students’ understanding, trust and confidence in our democratic system.

Participating in the Active Citizenship Convention has helped to develop our students’ capacity to engage meaningfully with democracy, build trust and confidence in our systems, and the skills needed to be active, informed and compassionate citizens. The theme for 2025 is ‘Our voice. Our impact’, here is what our students had to say about this opportunity.

“The convention was a great opportunity to meet other likeminded students who wanted to take action in the community. It was very inspiring and insightful” (Levi Year 10)

“I would recommend the active citizenship convention for any young people, as it was inspiring, and you can meet so many inspiring people, such as Charlotte Walker and Tihani Adamson. The convention was run by young people and showed how much of an impact we have on decision makers.” (Luci, Year 10)

“The Active Citizenship Convention was an amazing opportunity for Year 10 students to amplify their voices, connect with leaders, and develop stronger democracy skills. The convention was exploring the theme ‘Our voice. Our impact’ and had different important leaders in South Australia there such as Tony Armstrong, Blair Boyer, and Amber Brock-Fabel the 2025 Young Australian of the Year’.” (Beth, Year 10)

“The convention was truly a moving experience. Hearing from the voices of people like Blair Boyer, Amber Brock-Fabel, and Tony Armstrong changed my perception on democracy and helped me realise that our voice does matter and should be heard. (Angus, Year 10)

NYSF forensic biology 

On 15 July, a group of our ASMS students attended the NYSF forensic biology enrichment opportunity, here is a reflection on this experience.

“Myself and two other students attended a series of STEM related activities/sessions as organised by the NYSF including a Forensic Biology session hosted at Flinders’ University on July 15. This enrichment opportunity allowed me to explore concepts such as gel electrophoresis and evaluation of forensic evidence encouraging me to develop/demonstrate Learner Attributes such as Curiosity, Analytical Thinking and Motivation. The attributes and content relevant to this experience are linked to Central Studies such as Body in Question (BiQ) concerning the spread of disease and investigating the location/origin of disease from shared DNA. The concepts explored within this enrichment opportunity are further linked to BiQ through the separation of DNA to identify different substances or components such as disease. For example, our ‘DNA’ consisted of multiple food colours which then separated through gel electrophoresis.

This opportunity supported my future pathways by exposing me to areas I hold interest in. For example, I aspire to study at Flinders’ University possibly completing a combined degree of Psychology and Criminology. This experience exposed me to common content discussed in a Forensic Biology degree and allowed me to consider new areas I might be passionate about. It further allowed me to expand my network within Flinders’ students and staff. This was an aspect that I really enjoyed about the event. Furthermore, it gave me the opportunity to consider future pathways that might be of interest to me after leaving high school. The overall experience for me individually was the opportunity to step into the introductory content of a Forensic Biology degree, allowing me to envision what my future might contain.

By attending this session, I was able to extend my understanding of the world of Forensic Biology. My knowledge of the field extended to include how individuals within this field formed conclusions from collected data alongside the methods used to effectively and appropriately obtain and further analyse said data. I would highly recommend this experience to other students, specifically if they are interested or passionate about the world of biology and forensics. It was an amazing opportunity to create connections, build my understanding of the degree or general studying at university and to simply be exposed to a new area of science!” – Felix, Year 10

Open Night August

Thank you to all the staff, students and guests who came together to showcase the ASMS for our second annual Open Night of 2025!

On Thursday 14 August, from 6pm to 8pm, we welcomed prospective students and families to join us to explore our unique interdisciplinary curriculum, open plan learning facilities, and hands-on STEM activities. It was a great opportunity for people to meet with our principal, speak with our educators, and hear more about our extraordinary learning environment from our students.

Our cohort had a blast showcasing everything our school has to offer, and welcoming potential families to our school community. 

Pathways Update

2026 Certificate III Information Technology EOI open for Year 10s

ASMS is looking for expressions of interest from Year 10 students to study a Certificate III in Information Technology in 2026. The course is delivered at ASMS by TAFESA. The program started in 2023 and has now had multiple cohorts of students use the certificate for their SACE completion or entry into further study. There is a time commitment from 1:15-4:15pm each Tuesday and Thursday during the TAFE Term. This would mean Tuesday Tutoring and Passion Project time would be utilised for the Cert III during the students Year 11.

Once students have submitted this expression of interest, ASMS will assess all applicants and make decisions about whether to support the Certificate III as part of each individual SACE Pathway. While there are limited spots available, we encourage any interested students to complete the EOI; it is easier to withdraw later than to apply later. 

There is a financial cost, which ASMS will cover for the TAFE contract amount. International or visa students may be subject to additional cost based on TAFESA registrations.

Please note that a part of the TAFE application process is completing a numeracy and literacy assessment online. This is not pass/fail; it is to assess what support, if any, should be considered to make sure you are successful in completing your Certificate III.

The Expression of Interest Form can be found here. Please fill in by 3:20pm 10^th September 2025.

Year 12 Holiday Revision Seminars

The Adelaide Tuition Centre has opened its bookings for the September/October holiday revision seminars. Virtual Seminars are also available for select subjects. Subjects include: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Math Methods, Spec Maths, Psychology, English Lit and Modern History. Sessions are typically 3 hours and cost $85 per session.

Each seminar summarises important theory, key concepts and practical skills essential to each Year 12 SACE subject. This can be a great way to refresh your memory, get a deeper understanding and prepare for exams. Discuss with your subject teacher the suitability for you personally and which sessions may be most beneficial for you.

Book face to face here.

Virtual Seminars for exam revision are offered as 5 day courses for $350.(Math Methods, Physics, Chemistry and Biology) 

ASMS Mini Career Expo 

During Week 3, ASMS hosted Adelaide University, Flinders University, Academy of Interactive Entertainment, TAFESA and ADF Careers at school. The opportunity was to provide information to all students about upcoming courses, entry pathways and to answer student questions. Course booklets and handouts were available for students, which is ideal when filling in SATAC applications, looking at Year 12 subject selections or completing Career and Pathways activities. Students felt clearer about their chosen pathways and the opportunities available to them moving from school to tertiary studies.

Sports Update

In sport news, our ASMS table tennis team made it through to the finals and came 5^th out of 8 teams. We are so proud of their efforts, and how they have played this term.

Our school’s basketball team made it through to the second round but unfortunately lost by 9 points in a very close game.

Look out for Beach Volleyball starting next term.

PMEG Session 2

In Week 3, the Australian Science and Mathematics School (ASMS) held the second session of our annual Primary Mathematics Extension Group. Students in Years 4-6, representing 20 schools from across South Australia, came together to work with ASMS student mentors to learn new mathematical ideas and develop their own mathematical inquiry projects.

Our students designed and facilitated workshops covering concepts such as the Fibonacci sequence, solving and graphing inequalities, and kinematics. There was a wonderful energy in the building as students across multiple year levels engaged in rich mathematical discussions while exploring new concepts. Thank you to our ASMS volunteers – Felix, Caden, Matthew, Zac, Sara and Carol for all your hard work in preparing for this event, and to our teacher volunteers, Amber and Beth, for supporting us on the night.

We are looking forward to seeing students share their inquiry projects through poster presentations at our International Science Fair in Week 7.

X and Why?

One of the new modules in the X and Why central study is Weathering the Storm. This module aims to provide students with the opportunities to understand the drivers of our weather system as well as the causes and impacts of extreme weather events and the use of technology in measuring and predicting weather. One of our resources is the ASMS weather station which can be accessed here.

We have recently been looking at a range of models of weather, some more accurate and useful than others. This has culminated in students designing their own weather model inquiry in which they collected and analysed data as well as evaluated the quality and use of their model.

Overall, the quality of design was impressive, and while some results were not what as expected, students were able to clearly explain how this was an issue with the model rather than their inquiry skills.  

Sustainable Futures

In Sustainable Futures, our Cycle Investigations module is off to a cracking start! These first few weeks have seen students investigate:

• Ocean acidification and its affects on calcifying organisms like coral, zooplankton and phytoplankton in The Great Barrier Reef Stream.
• Oyster Reef Regeneration processes including understanding how oysters act as natural water filters and how sound improves the ‘seeding’ of baby oysters (spat) on artificial reefs in the Oyster Reef Restoration Stream.
• How nitrate pollution in our water ways affects the growth and distribution of dinoflagellates like the bioluminescent Noctiluca Scintillans or the Harmful Algal Bloom Karenia Mikimotoi affecting our local coastlines in the Bioluminescent Tourism stream.

All 3 streams have engaged in a number of hands-on practical activities connecting to the carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle or hydrological cycle and acid-base chemistry or water sampling and testing. This has also included a number of excursions including visits to the Marine Discovery Centre, Warraparinga Wetlands and Flinders University’s Museum of Art.

This learning is building towards students undertaking a deconstruction and design process for their own collaborative investigations across the end of Term 3 and 4.

Lots more to come, we’re really excited for what our students will produce in their investigations. 

MASA Quiz Night

The ASMS was again one of the venues for the annual MASA Quiz Night held on 13 August. We hosted teams from 3 other schools, St John’s Grammar, Westminster School and Dara School. Teams of four compete in 4 rounds of questions on mathematics and general knowledge.

There are 4 levels, Primary, Junior, Intermediate, and Senior. The ASMS had two teams in the Intermediate level and four in the Senior level.

Competition at the Intermediate level was strong. Our seniors were more successful with Ryan, Nicole, Nazif and Malachi taking out the overall prize for best team on the night. Thanvanth, Jordan, Alan and Aarav were awarded the best Maths team and Yo, William, Jackson and Sam won the best General Knowledge result.

All teams had an enjoyable evening, and we look forward to repeating the fun next year, maybe even hosting some primary teams as well.

Cyber Bullying Information Session – Hosted by Educators SA

Educators SA is hosting an event about cyber bullying on Tuesday 16 September 2025 online via zoom from 7:00-8:00pm. This event is led by Linda White who is a respected educator and cyber safety advocate, and this interactive session will explore: Why words matter — online and offline, how to be an upstander, not a bystander, cyber safety strategies every family should know, the impact of social media on the developing brain, and standing together to create safer, kinder communities. For more information and to register, check out this link here.

Library News – Book Week 2025

Book Week was filled with fun, creativity and a community spirit. Our activities were brainstormed and run by our Changemakers Group, and they did an amazing job, well done we appreciate all the hard work & effort you put in to make the event memorable and fun!

Emoji Book Quiz was a hit! Running for its second year, our students and staff enjoyed deciphering book titles from a series of emojis. It is a fun and engaging way to test our literary knowledge about the books that are in our collection, particularly the 2025 CBCA notable list of books.

Scavenger Hunt run by Changemakers Emma and June led participants on an adventurous journey around the school with hidden bookmark clues in various locations, with the aim to collect 5 bookmarks to secure a prize one of three prizes.

Preloved Book sale was a great success, offering a diverse range of books for a gold coin donation. Thank you to everyone who contributed and supported the sale with all proceeds going to The Indigenous Literacy Foundation. Thank you Changemakers for coordinating and overseeing this event.

Dress Up Parade is always entertaining and colourful. Students and staff dressed up as their favourite book characters, authors and theme, showcasing a wide array of costumes. Congratulations to our prize winners!

Finally in closing thank you to all our students and staff who took part in the festivities, and on creating a fun and memorable Book Week. We look forward to celebrating books, reading & libraries again next year! The winners across all activities were: Anton, James, Zaya, Mahalia, Elise, Jules, June, Elliot, Laura, Vanessa, Emma, Rosa and Theo.

Need help? Get in touch with ICT

If you are having any issues with the portal, or Daymap, please get in touch with by emailing ict@asms.sa.edu.au.