Tournament of Minds

For the first six weeks of Term 3, three teams of students from Years 7-9 began preparations for their long-form challenges in the regional Tournament of Minds competition. This competition encourages the development of creative, problem-solving skills as students work hard to solve an open-ended challenge from one of four disciplines. We had two teams competing in Language-Literature this year, persuading a Tribunal to select their chosen literary character(s) to symbolise a chosen city, while our STEM team had to design and create an exotic bird that could "fly" freely and unaided.

Students worked tirelessly for six weeks before presenting their challenge solutions at Sturt Public School on Sunday, August 27th. They were given ten minutes in front of the judges before later completing a surprise spontaneous challenge that afternoon. Judging was presented that afternoon with successes all around.

Our STEM team, ‘Happy Feet’, consisting of Sam Seghers, Tom Smythe, Stella Bennett, Taylor Stone, Jordan Nicholls, Tex Stoll and Charlie Malone received second-place Honors, as did our Year 8 Language Literature team, ‘Book Bees’, consisting of Jodi Vinuya, Chloe Barnes, Imogen Patterson, Lea Otten and Maya Otten.

The Year 9 Language-Literature team, ‘Sage and the Herbs’ ultimately came first in the Secondary Language-Literature division, taking them to State in Sydney.

Ned Mackay, Bonnie Miller, Sage Maidment Clark, Jamilah Sawal, Safiah Sawal, Georgie Owen and Lara Whyte headed off to Sydney on Saturday, August 9th, ready to compete on Sunday, August 10th. They were given just three hours to plan and write a reimagining of the story ‘The Velveteen Rabbit’ before presenting it to the judges.

A fantastic effort was given by the team, and while they ultimately didn’t place, they represented the school with pride and their hard work and determination was evident. Congratulations to all involved!

Clementine Patterson | Tournament of Minds Facilitator