IB Update
Year 12
The Year 12 Cohort have just finished their Trial Examinations in preparation for their external exams which begin in October. These Trials should have helped them fine-tune any time management issues they may have and give them an indication of which areas of each subject they need to work on. It has been a very busy term for the cohort finalising CAS, Internal Assessment and final drafts of their Extended and TOK Essays. The students should now be focused on revision and finalising their UAC applications for next year.
Year 11’s
We trialled an Extended Essay writing day for the first time on Friday 19 August and this gave the students an opportunity to spend the day researching and writing as well as defending their research question and meeting with their supervisor. Our EE Coordinator – Susan Lombardo has shared more information about the day below. The Year 11’s are preparing for their first major exam block beginning on Monday. They are a motivated and inquisitive group and we wish them good luck. During this exam block, they will also undertake their Group 4 Project which we are looking forward to watching reporting on this in the next Veritas Voice.
Year 10
The Year 10 subject selection interviews have been completed and 34 students have elected to complete the Diploma for 2023-24, they will be Santa’s 6th cohort.
Julie Harris
Dean of IB
IBDP Extended Essay Writing Day
The Extended Essay is a 4000-word, independent investigation into an issue of personal interest that is completed by our IBDP students. Completing the essay provides our students with practical preparation for undergraduate research tasks and assists students to develop skills in formulating an appropriate research question, engaging in sustained, in-depth inquiry in a topic, communicating their ideas using formal, academic writing and developing an argument.
On Friday 19 August, the Year 11 IBDP cohort participated in their DDay and EE Writing day, where they presented their progress to date. Students were required to present to their supervisors and peers an oral defence of their research question, identifying why their investigation was a worthy addition to the existing body of knowledge surrounding their topic, as well as identifying challenges and strategies used to overcome obstacles to their research.
The students embodied the attributes of successful IB learners demonstrating passion and personal connection to their research and proving themselves to be knowledgeable and risk-takers.
Some of the wide range of questions our students are investigating include:
- To what extent do contemporary ethics surrounding personhood and the definition of being influence the prospect of embryonic stem cell research?
- To what extent does Plutarch’s Parallel Lives (2 CE) portray an accurate comparison of the influential political figures Demosthenes (384-322 BC) and Cicero (106-43 BC) in Ancient Greek and Ancient Roman history?
- To what extent does the film, Get Out (2017) utilise an antithetical approach to the White saviour trope to expose the disadvantaged reality of the ‘African American experience’ in the United States of America?
- How do texts such as Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion reflect the changing perceptions and ethical representations of autism and neurodiversity during their differing contexts?
- To what extent are schools in NSW, Australia secured against potential cyber-attacks, and how can they use knowledge and learnings from larger organisations’ security protocols/processes to better protect themselves against cyber threats?
It was exciting to witness the collaboration as students supported each other throughout the day, sharing ideas and understanding, challenging their thinking and planning the next steps in their investigation.
Susan Lombardo
Extended Essay Coordinator (Acting)
