Careers Corner, Term 1, Week 8 2025

With Activity Week over and the end of Term 1 fast approaching, it is now assessment time for most Secondary year groups. This can be a great time for students to see where they are at regarding their studies, what is going well and what they may need to improve upon.  

Speaking of the upcoming holidays, this is a wonderful opportunity for students to undertake research into what they may like to do post school. This should include accommodation choices. Many of the Australian residential colleges, especially those in NSW/ACT, will be accepting applications for 2026, from early April. Part of the application process would include a personal statement, which should mention extra and co-curricular activities and what the college would gain from accepting a student into their ‘family’. Many colleges will accept students studying at different universities. For example, Women’s College is situated on the grounds of the University of Sydney. However, they will also accept students from University of Notre Dame, Australian Catholic University, Macquarie University, UTS and UNSW.  

AISHK has developed a close relationship with our neighbouring school Yew Chung International School (YCIS). For those students wishing to apply to the United States and need to sit the SATs, YCIS is a registered testing centre. Just notify your careers advisor, and we will let YCIS know of your intention. They will then give us a series of dates and include AISHK student names under their umbrella. Students will need to register, using YCIS as their testing centre. 

On Wednesday 26 March, we, along with the Head of Year 10 and respective homeroom teachers, attended some professional learning conducted by Become Education. They presented to us ‘Become Your Own Careers Advisor’, a series of lessons to be delivered to Year 10 students during Term 2. This will assist the students when making their decisions for senior study; IB/HSC, Science or humanities based, or a more rounded course of study, and to look at the world beyond school. The premise is for the students to have a future designed by themselves, rather than defined for them.  

We often advertise competitions and events that are held by local universities. On Saturday 22 March, Hubert Yu 12E and Avery Leung 10W attended science workshops at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). As part of the Junior Science Institute, the workshops offered fun filled science workshops and science rich experiences. Through a variety of inspiring workshops, laboratory exercises, lectures and interactive activities, participants were able to embark on a journey of science exploration.  

Hubert said 

The workshop which I attended was called ‘Mathematics Around Us II’.  

In the morning session, I attended a lecture on the basics of group theory held by Dr Yat Ming Chan, delving into its real-world applications in scenarios such as symmetries of objects and card shuffling. Did you know that for some methods of shuffling (the Faro Out-Shuffle), a standard 52-card deck can return to its original arrangement after only 8 shuffles?  

In the afternoon session, I attended a workshop on the applications of mathematics in more abstract ways – we discussed mathematical proof, combinatorics, and other areas of maths that aren’t covered at school.  

This program was an amazing experience, through which I made new friends from other schools, learnt about new and fascinating fields of maths, and experienced what it was like at a lecture in a university setting! I can’t encourage Y10-12s enough, to check the Careers Information teams for new posts and opportunities like this.  

 As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. 

Anthony Murphy | Secondary Teacher, Careers Advisor

Damian Bailey | Secondary Teacher, Head of House Waratah