2011 in Review

For the number crunching boffins of the Maths Department, 2011 has been a year of challenges. The biggest of these has been operating without Head of Faculty, Stuart McLennan, who has been absent through illness. We wish Stuart a speedy recovery and look forward to his return. In his absence Ruth Kaniuk has worked extremely hard to ensure that the Faculty has run smoothly. We all appreciate the huge commitment she has made. Other challenges have included implementing the new Level 1 Standards in Year 11 and coming to terms with the new model of assessment required for internally assessed standards.  For a full list of this year’s maths related achievement, flick along to the Achievers' page.    
 
Staff News:
With John Tham on a well-deserved leave of absence and Vishnu Nath retiring from teaching, there were three new appointments made for 2011. Sheree Nanduri, Esther Dantra and Peter Stanton joined our ranks, and their cheerful, positive approach and enthusiasm for the subject has been clear to see. At the end of Term 1 Bill Lindner decided he had had enough of travelling to and from Glen Innes and decided to retire and take on relief teaching. His good sense of humour, problem solving skills and wide knowledge will be sorely missed, and the Faculty thanks him for his positive contributions over the years. Bill was replaced by Jeff Thompson who stayed one term before taking up a permanent position at Avondale College. Rona Keith has proven to be a more than able replacement for Jeff and we value her contributions.

Among all the comings and goings, John Tham kindly put his leave on hold and took over Stuart’s classes for Terms 1 and 2. We were very fortunate to appoint ex-Head of the Mathematics Faculty at Massey High School, Jan Triggs for Term 3 and 4. The experience she brings is invaluable.
Peter Stanton was selected for the Jet Programme, which means he is now in Japan helping with oral English in Japanese schools. His departure at the end of Term 2 resulted in Plamen Dimitrov being appointed.
 

Casio Mathex Competition In the Quiz Competition, Lynfield entered two teams at each year level. All teams participated with enthusiasm, determination and moxie: Year 9 Team 1:Jake Krishnamurti; Josh Davenport;Brad Rodler; Harsham Choksi ( Kieran van Leeuwen was selected for the team but he was sick on the day) Year 9 Team2:George Qiao; Pyongkang Her; Meryl Saldanha;Aiden Moffatt Year10 Team 1:Steven Ling; David Wu; Simon Yang; Jessica Yao Year 10 Team 2: Dayna Jackson; Logan Small; Rohan Botica; Guan Hong Li The Year 10 Team 1 did really well, gaining a final score of 80, but did not get a placing. Thanks goes to Pam Isdale for her hard work getting our teams well prepared and organised for this event.

                                                                                                                              
Notoriously Wry Maths Humour 
 
Q: Why do you rarely find mathematicians spending time at the beach?
A: Because they have sine and cosine to get a tan and don't need the sun! 
 
Q: How do mathematicians induce good behavior in their children? 
A: 'If I've told you n times, I've told you n+1 times...'
 
Life is complex: it has both real and imaginary components.