53 52 African Mathematics Foundation. Congratulations to the Mathematics Department and the boys who performed magnificently in the SA Mathematics Olympiad. Almost 1,100 schools entered the High Schools competition nationwide, with over 100,000 individual competitors. Mr Marc Ancillotti HOD Mathematics Physical Sciences At the start of the year we welcomed Mr Njabulo Nkabinde to the Science Department. He soon endeared himself to staff and pupils alike with his passion for teaching, positivity, and sincere warmth. We trust that he and his family will have a long association with the College. We were also fortunate to be assisted by Mr Cameron Gordon, a Science and Geography intern. His exceptional work ethic and willingness to get involved wherever needed made him a valuable asset. We are delighted that he was appointed full-time teacher at the College in 2024. 2023 saw the introduction of some exciting new topics for juniors including the physics behind solar panels and inverters, a recent addition to many a South African household. We restructured our junior programme to include more practical work and computer-based animation activities. One such activity involved pupils building virtual electric circuits on the computer and then building the same circuits using real components in the laboratory. We watched relevant, exciting video clips showcasing real-life applications of various scientific principles and then completed clicker quizzes with questions based on the videos, thus ensuring boys watched attentively. With our senior classes, we built on the strong foundations laid in the junior grades and continued developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Changes to the IEB examinable curriculum were implemented, and notes were updated accordingly. At the end of Term 2, we were happy to welcome Professor Megandhren Govender, from UKZN and DUT, back to the College to present another one of his exciting science shows to the Grade 8s. He kept the boys fascinated with various experiments involving liquid nitrogen, flame throwers, and explosions. Working in a well-resourced department with such dedicated colleagues remains a privilege. I sincerely thank Bruce, Steve, Njabulo and Tilly for their consistent support, tireless work ethic and commitment to excellence. Mrs Sue Murray HOD Physical Sciences Innovations/ Curriculum matters This year, our Grade 10 to 12 Information Technology boys were exposed to the throws of the in-depth curriculum and were challenged by the vast theory content and their programming challenges. Each grade ended the year with a programming project that showcased the skills they had acquired throughout the year. The boys are truly creative, coming up with projects such as “Coffee shop orders with delivery,” which require boys to order food using a specially designed app and automatically assign a junior to deliver the order to the senior’s boarding house! Others included customising your Springbok Rugby jersey or an app to help invigilators in the COIN centre know when boys with extra time will finish their examinations. Last year we introduced the BBC micro:bit electronics to the Grade 8 and 9 curriculum. This year in Grade 8, we advanced the curriculum further, focusing on using the BBC micro:bit as a microcontroller to control a robotic car. The boys learnt fundamental robotic skills and programming with the car’s sensors, remotes, object detection and linefollowing abilities. We introduced the Arduino microcontroller to the Grade 9 curriculum. The boys learnt how to simulate electronic circuits using Tinkercad, an online platform for designing and testing circuits. They also learnt the basics of programming the Arduino in C++ to control the circuit and were exposed to various sensors and components, such as RGB LEDs, tilt switches, variable resistors, buttons, piezoelectric buzzers and infrared remotes and sensors. The robotics introduced into the Grade 8 and 9 curriculum was truly a multidisciplinary endeavour, requiring an understanding of the science behind the equipment and programming skills to interact with it. We will continue with this approach in 2024 and are looking forward to fine-tuning and expanding our robotics curriculum further. Our Artificial Intelligence section was enhanced this year by teaching how Large Language Models such as Chat-GPT work and the basics behind text-to-image. We used the Mindjoy platform to allow boys a safe environment to prompt the AI model to generate various texts. We also generated images and saw how the language we used in our prompts affected how the AI system interpreted our prompts. We had prompt engineers in the making! Next year, we will be introducing an AI platform to help learners talk to a chatbot to ask any IEB Information Technology-related questions. Eternal Competitions/ Olympiads Twenty-four Kearsney boys took part in the first round of the IITPSA Computer Programming Olympiad. Luca Mindry, Hayden Dunsdon, Connor Grenfell, Mathieson McGlynn, Raine Scoular and Luke Minne in Grade 10 and Benjamin Hancock (Grade 9) made it through to the second round of the Olympiad, which is quite an achievement. The boys did not make it through to the final round, but gained valuable lessons from the experience. Looking ahead/ future plans for the department We are looking forward to offering Computer Applications Technology (CAT) to the Grade 10 cohort for the first time in 2024. This practical subject will impart advanced computer literacy skills and hardware knowledge to our boys. We are excited to take on this endeavour. We would like to thank Mr Steven Edwards for his contribution to Grade 8, Grade 9 and Grade 10 IT. His interesting lessons and professional resources have added much value to the department. In particular, he took the lead on the Grade 8 Micro:bit car section and was an inspiration to the department. We wish him all the best in Australia. Mrs Charlene Elliott HOD Head of Academics, Mrs Vanessa Govender and Maths HOD, Mr Marc Ancillotti with Kearsney's awards for Top Performing School in KZN for the fourth consecutive year in the SA Mathematics Olympiad. Grade 8s watched and interacted with an exciting Science show in the Henderson Hall Information Technology IT Elective in class
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