Tournament of Minds

TOM is a creative problem-solving competition for students in primary and secondary schools across Australia. It runs over six weeks, where students work collaboratively in teams of seven to solve challenges in one of four disciplines: The Arts, Language Literature, Social Sciences and STEM. On competition day, teams are also given an unseen problem to solve on the spot, which tests their ability to think quickly and creatively.

On the 8th of September, five teams from Blue Mountains Grammar School (two from Junior School and three from Senior School) competed at Mitchell High School in the Regional Tournament of Minds (TOM). All students represented our school with pride, embracing the TOM spirit of growth, collaboration, and the joy of creative problem-solving. It was inspiring to see how, over the six weeks, students strengthened their bonds and developed important personal skills such as teamwork, adaptability and dependability. Their dedication and enthusiasm were truly commendable.

Our two Junior teams (Social Sciences and The Arts) were awarded Honours. Honours means that the teams performed exceptionally well and achieved a high standard in their challenge. It’s a recognition of excellence, indicating that the teams were one of the top performers in the competition, standing out among the many teams that participated.

Two of our Senior teams (Social Sciences and The Arts) were awarded first place and will now represent our school and the Sydney West region at the State competition which will be held at the University of New South Wales on the 22nd September.

We are incredibly proud of all our teams for their dedication and hard work leading up to competition day. A special thanks goes out to the staff and parents who supported our teams and helped make it a memorable experience. We wish our teams the best of luck as they move on to represent us at the State competition.

Danielle Pearson

Mathematics