On Thursday 24 and Friday 25 May, our Year 5-10 da Vinci Decathlon teams joined over fifty other teams from schools from around the region to compete in an academic decathlon. This competition is usually held in Canberra but was held virtually this year. The da Vinci Decathlon required the teams to draw on each other’s strengths, using teamwork to complete multiple challenges in a given time period. The disciplines covered were English, Mathematics, Science, Engineering, Art & Poetry, Creative Producers, Cartography, Ideation, Code-Breaking and Legacy. Our teams were excellent ambassadors of our school.

The final results for our Year 7-10 students arrived this week for the Canberra Regional Competition:

Year 7 came 3rd in Art & Poetry and 2nd in Legacy

Year 8 came 3rd in English

Year 10 came 1st in Art & Poetry and…

Year 9

3rd in Science

1st in Cartography

1st in Creative Producers

3rd in Engineering

3rd in Mathematics

1st in Codebreaking

2nd in Legacy

and were 1st overall, toping 10 other teams from around the ACT – they have now been invited to compete in the State Competition later this month!

We are still awaiting the Year 5 and 6 results.

Words from students about their learning experience competing in the da Vinci Decathlon:

Olivia, Yr 10 – da Vinci was an incredibly hard but fun day, full of laughs. My favourite part about the day was the challenge of the papers and how it made us all work together.

Hamish, Yr 10 – I enjoyed the da Vinci Decathlon, as I got to work and socialise with many other people in my year group. The challenges throughout the day were challenging, but we all strived to succeed and accomplished every activity. It was certainly stressful, especially the Science paper, but it was an awesome experience!

Willow, Yr 7 – My highlight was definitely doing Poetry. But I also liked doing Legacy and working the answers out with everyone.

Sienna, Yr 7 – My highlight of the day was the Legacy paper (a mix of history and general knowledge) because we all came together as a team and worked together to complete the last section of the decathlon. I would definitely do the decathlon next year.

Lola, Yr 8 – My highlight of the day was collaborating with others and working together to solve problems.

Evie, Yr 8 – My highlight of the da Vinci Decathlon is the feeling after you submit your sessions paper.

Tynan, Yr 6 – I liked the competition even though a lot of the questions were fairly hard. A lot of it was fun as well. I think we did really well and will get good results, and the chocolates, hot chips and lollipops were really good too.

Congratulations to the following students who competed in the Canberra Regional Competition:

From Junior School: Kieren Bell, Axel Lyster, Henry McArthur, Chris Miles, Cohen Page, Willow Philpott, Tynan Plum and Lyla Tarasenko.

From Middle School: Willow Bakogiannis, Koby Downey, Dana Ezra, Zara Hensgen, Ruby Kite, Sienna Moore, Kai Sheppard, Harry Young, Isla Alexander, Lola Brown, Evie Cuthbert, Jack Page, Georgie Philpott, Axel Potocki, Helena Smith and Oscar Whitehead.

From Senior School: James Broe, Will Broe, Aidan Dawson, Kiera Disch, Lani Heginbotham, James Peake, Dempsey Woolf, Elliana Dickerson, Hamish Lindgren, Jesse Logan, Dana Morgan, Elise Philpott, Tom Smith, Alizé Steggall, Olivia Wheeler and Tippi Wieland.

Mrs Vanessa Purcell, Educational Enrichment Extension Teacher