More than 250 of the best and brightest Year 5 to Year 8 students from across the Central West will compete in the first ever da Vinci Decathlon school team challenge in the region to be hosted at Scots All Saints College in Bathurst on Wednesday 3 April and Thursday 4 April, 2019.
Teams of 8 students represent their school to compete in the academic challenge across 10 different disciplines: arts and poetry, Maths, Science, English, ideation, code breaking, creative producers, cartography, engineering and general knowledge scoring points in real time so at the end of the day the winning school team will be announced.
Da Vinci Decathlon Program Co-ordinator and Knox Grammar School Deputy Head of Teacher and Student Excellence K-12, Mrs Karen Yager will travel to Bathurst to facilitate the challenge at Scots All Saints College Middle School. Mrs Yager said, this is an academic competition designed to challenge and stimulate the minds of school students.
“The da Vinci Decathlon started in 2002 with 240 participants. Today it has grown significantly with 16,000 students participating across Australia, Scotland, England, India and soon to be launched in New Zealand,” Mrs Yager said.
“There is little out there catering to high potential learners and this is a program to propel students into the 21st century, providing an opportunity to use their creativity, critical thinking and innovation in a fun, team environment.”
Headmaster, Mr David Gates welcomed the opportunity to host the da Vinci Decathlon challenge in Bathurst within the Scots All Saints College Middle School.
“Our teachers are delighted to have a number of our Year 5 and 6 students participating on the first day and Year 7 and 8 teams will participate on Day 2. Our students have enthusiastically volunteered to get involved. It should be a fun, yet challenging program for them and other students who are visiting our All Saints Campus in Bathurst from local and regional schools,” Mr Gates said.
“This is a tremendous experience to further knowledge and skills as an individual learner as well as to understand the dynamics of working as a team under the pressure of the challenge. I wish everyone well and encourage all students to make the most of this fabulous opportunity,” he said.
The winning teams will represent the Central West region at Knox Grammar School, Sydney for the state championships. From here, winners take on the best in the Country. This year, the international championships will be held in Italy in October.
