Senior School
International Baccalaureate Diploma News
Sravan Renjith – Chess Olympiad
Year 11 IB student Sravan Renjith recently returned from two weeks in Budapest, Hungary, where he competed in the Chess Olympiad, a biennial event where the best players from each nation represent their country in teams of five players. This year, there were a record-breaking 193 teams in the Open section and 181 teams in the Women’s section.
Sravan represented New Zealand, playing on board three, with results as follows:
- Round 1: vs Macau, won 3.5–0.5
- Round 2: vs Argentina, lost 2.5–1.5
- Round 3: vs Afghanistan, won 3–1
- Round 4: vs Australia, lost 2.5–1.5
- Round 5: vs Puerto Rico, lost 2.5–1.5
- Round 6: vs Malawi, won 3.5–1.5
- Round 7: vs Malta, won 3–1
- Round 8: vs Canada, lost 3–1
- Round 9: vs Nicaragua, won 3.5–1.5
- Round 10: vs Hungary Team 3, lost 3.5–0.5
- Round 11: vs Guatemala, won 3–1
Overall, Sravan finished with 6.5/9 with five wins, one loss and three draws. Based on his live rating, Sravan is now New Zealand’s highest-rated player. A personal highlight for Sravan was an interview he conducted for Lichess, one of the biggest chess websites in the world, which is currently featured on their social media.
Well done, Sravan!
Year 12 IB Extended Essay presentations
A central part of the IB Diploma Programme is the extended essay – one of three elements known as the core and the heart of the IB philosophy. The extended essay offers students the opportunity to research and investigate a topic of their own choice that interests them, using the independent research and writing skills they will need at university. Over a nine-month period, students design and research a question, working both independently and with a supervisor to craft a 4,000-word essay.
Year 12 IB students have chosen a wide variety of subject areas, from literature to philosophy, economics, business management and history; biology, computer science, mathematics, film, music, theatre and visual arts. The research questions have been equally diverse, such as the ethics around the measures Woolworths has taken to increase its profit margin since the COVID-19 pandemic, an analysis of how successful The Last of Us has been in employing traditional narrative elements to craft complex modern video game storytelling, an exploration of Tom Stoppard’s portrayal of different types of deterministic systems in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and Arcadia, and the extent to which German and Wilhelm II’s foreign policy were to blame for the start of the First World War.
On Monday, the Year 12s were presented with a bound copy of their extended essay to celebrate the completion of this significant task. These essays have now been sent to the IB for marking.
Thank you to Brian Bodell, who coordinated the extended essay process, as well as to the supervisors who worked closely with students and the library staff who assisted with referencing. Congratulations to the Year 12s, who have demonstrated resilience, determination and perseverance over the past year to produce pieces of work of which they should be proud.
Samuel Armstrong
Film
How have directors Sylvester Stallone (Rocky IV) and Steven Caple Jr (Creed II) influenced the character of Ivan Drago?
Charlie Auchter
Computer Science
To what extent do BERT and checking for perplexity and burstiness differ in their accuracy and efficiency in detecting text?
Samuel Blackburn
Business Management
How ethical are the measures that Woolworths has taken to increase its profit margin since the COVID-19 pandemic?
Bentley Burke
Theatre
To what extent does the National Theatre’s production of Frankenstein use the elements of performance and production to effectively portray the odyssey of the Creature?
Henry Capp
Film
How do Jordan Peele’s films, Get Out and Us, correct the representation of African Americans in horror films?
Oscar Cooke
Business Management
To what extent has the Qantas brand been negatively impacted by the decisions made by Alan Joyce as CEO and what can be done to address the consequences?
Tom Crooke
Film
How does lighting in film noir change emotion and meaning and how has it developed from German Expressionism?
Finbar Curran
Literature
How does Kazuo Ishiguro’s construction of memory develop identity in Never Let Me Go and The Buried Giant?
Alex Davies
Philosophy
Should members of a social contract be allowed by the state to freely leave the social contract?
Harry Deefholts
Literature
How successfully has The Last of Us employed traditional narrative elements to craft complex modern video game storytelling?
Thomas Dwyer
FilmHow has the American interpretation of the horror genre evolved from classic horror in the 1930’s to modern-day psychological horror (2017) through different film techniques and cultural contexts?
Henry Grosser
Literature
To what extent does Tolkien employ various literary devices to connect industrialism to corruption and evil within The Lord of the Rings trilogy?
Ellis Hogan
Music
How has Radiohead used innovative techniques of harmony, modal modulation and rhythm over their early career to create a progressive, emotional and dystopian sound?
Harry James
Film
How does James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy explore the concept of fatherhood?
Henry Jones
Film
How does Studio Ghibli communicate an anti-war perspective through different choices in Grave of the Fireflies and Howl’s Moving Castle?
Charlie Liu
Mathematics
How long will the COVID-19 pandemic last, and what is the peak number of people infected in Queensland, using the SIR model?
Richard Liu
Business Management
To what extent does Build Your Dreams’ internal structure create a reputable brand image despite its poor background?
Bill McCart
Literature
How does Tom Stoppard portray different types of deterministic systems in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and Arcadia?
Jack McGrath
Biology
How does the introduction of a ketogenic diet compared to a mixed diet (70–80% fat, 5–15% carbohydrates, 10–20% protein) affect the performance of male endurance athletes (off-road cyclists and long-distance race walkers), as measured by max (mL/kg/min)
Haris Omar
Business Management
What factors within the release of the online subscription-based streaming service, Disney+, aided in its eventual profitability in comparison to other streaming services on the market?
Tom O’Neill
Literature
How does Netflix’s animated television series Arcane display changing gender roles by breaking and reimagining gender tropes?
Tom Patterson
Business Management
How rewarding would a move from conventional breeding practises to either a combined or a primarily artificial breeding-based program be for independent businesses in Australia?
Ted Perkins
Visual Art
How was Joe Adsett influenced by Newstead House, designed by Andrew Petrie in the design and construction of both Laurent and La Rosa?
Finlay Peterson
Visual Art
How did The Electrician by Boris Eldagsen prompt investigations into the impacts of AI generative art on human creativity, photography, authorship and ethics?
Thatcher Phillips
Business Management
Will the introduction of a Gigafactory in Australia be able to increase Tesla’s EV market share?
Angus Rae
Philosophy
In the context of characters in the manga Berserk, is Jung’s concept of ‘the shadow’ a more prevalent and convincing concept of morality and the unconscious than Nietzsche’s concept of ‘the higher man’?
Will Reading
History
How did different ideologies underpin political terror in Stalin’s USSR and Hitler’s Nazi Germany and did they employ similar mechanisms and have the same effects?
Angus Richards
Economics
Has the Australian Government’s intervention in the aviation sector supported Qantas throughout COVID-19?
Will Shackel
Business Management
To what extent did TEPCO effectively use crisis management in response to the Fukushima Disaster?
Caelan Smith
Philosophy
Is there any legitimate justification to bestow rights to the Whanganui River?
Nicholaus Suchting
Business Management
How does Rolex achieve its strong brand image through the use of its marketing strategies?
Simon Velge
History
To what extent was Germany and Wilhelm II’s foreign policy to blame for the start of the first World War?
Ryan Walker
Business Management
What strategies did Nike use and how successful were these strategies in promoting products for women’s sports?
Vincent Wu
Philosophy
How should social media be used to build the conditions for a revolution?
Fraser Young
Visual Art
What is the impact of childhood trauma on the art of Louise Bourgeois?
Year 12 IB Study Camp
During the second week of the September holidays, Year 12 IB and QCE students attended the annual Study Camp held in The Centenary Library. With students facing external exams worth between 25 and 80 per cent of their final score at the end of October, it was great to see them taking the opportunity to work with their teachers and Old Boys to refine their content knowledge. The very nature of the IB demands a collaborative approach to study and the boys worked well together as they completed past papers and worked through challenging questions. It was wonderful to see the camaraderie amongst the cohort as they worked to prepare for these examinations – the culmination of two years of work.
Thank you to the staff who taught extra classes, the library staff who organised the week and the parents who provided nutritious meals.
Our very best wishes are with the entire Year 12 cohort as they study over these final weeks.
Catherine Prosser
Dean of International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
Year 9 French chefs in action
Bon appétit! Year 9 French students undertook a practical cooking task as part of their food unit.
Using only French language, they selected a recipe, described the ingredients and explained how to prepare it, with a practical demonstration in front of their class.
Presentations included macarons, crêpes, biscuits, toasties, salads and brownies. Well done to each chef!
Sarah Washington
Head of French
