Talent and Enrichment Program

Tania Whitehead, Head of Talent and Enrichment

Mathematics Talent Quest Awards

Well done to all students who entered this year's Mathematics Talent Quest competition. It was certainly a fantastic opportunity to apply mathematical knowledge and skills to a real-life problem-solving and inquiry project.

Congratulations to Ethan Xi (Year 3), Bayan Gornall (Year 3), Ashton McLeod (Year 4) and Thomas Volpe (Year 5), who achieved High Distinctions and were invited to attend the award ceremony at The University of Melbourne on 27 October.

A special commendation goes to Thomas, who received The University of Melbourne Award for his exceptional investigation titled 'Frozen Yoghurt'.

Science Talent Search 

The Science Talent Search (STS) is an annual competition run by the Science Teachers Association of Victoria, attracting around 3,000 primary and secondary student entries each year.

This year’s theme, 'Decoding the Universe: Exploring the Unknown with Nature’s Hidden Language',inspired students to think creatively and critically across a range of project categories, including experimental research, inventions, games, photography, and more.

Congratulations to our Junior School and Year 9 students who participated and received fabulous feedback and results. Their innovative projects showcased outstanding research, problem-solving and creativity.

Junior School winners

• Certificate of Merit – Ivana Prashant, Arya Choksi, Ashton McLeod, Jack Klarin, William Brown
• Certificate of Distinction – Karissa Zhao, Mia Liu, Adam Qu, Lucy Canobie, Elise McGloughlin, Josh Leighton, Jayden Lin, Mona Bachmann
• Minor Bursary – Isaac Pramudya, Ethan Xi, Meenakshi Ashok Varadhan, Louis Allen 
• Major Bursary – Aanya Agarwal 

Senior School – Year 9 winners

• Certificate of Acknowledgement – Miriam Cunliffe
• Certificate of Merit – Ashleigh Harran, Barney Jones, Jack Wiesner
• Certificate of Distinction – Stephanie Verginis, Sofia Karagounis, Zachary Cooper, William Poles, William Walsh
• Minor Bursary – Sarah O’Neill, Josie Clyne, Dustan Lin, Marcus McGloughlin
• Major Bursary – Cameron Leighton, Ayaan Gupta

Invite to Australian Skeptics Conference 

We're delighted to acknowledge and congratulate Aayan Gupta (Year 9), who was invited to be part of a panel at the Australian Skeptics Conference in Melbourne on Saturday, 4 October.

The Australian Skeptics organisation advocates for critical thinking and evidence-based decision-making, with a vision of building a society that makes choices grounded in reason and science. They have also been a long-term sponsor of the Science Talent Search (STS) competition.

Aayan was one of a select few STS students invited to participate in a panel discussion exploring their projects and the critical and creative thinking involved in their work. His project, 'Effects of Different Colours on Short-Term Memory', was a standout in this year’s STS competition.

This is an exceptional achievement. Congratulations, Aayan! We are very proud of you.

Future Problem Solving Program National Conference

Congratulations to the seven Kilvington students who were recently invited to attend the Future Problem Solving (FPS) Program National Conference at Knox Grammar School in NSW. 

Future Problem Solving is a research-based academic program that teaches students problem-solving strategies, collaboration, leadership, critical and creative thinking, and communication skills. 

In the Scenario Writing Competition, Mona Bachmann (Year 5), Jasmine Lee (Year 8) and Akshayini Pritam Wadhwani (Year 9) all qualified for the National Finals, with Jasmine Lee earning an impressive fifth place overall.

The Year 6 Community Problem Solving (CmPS) Team– Harrison Zhou, Max Bi, Alex Ou and Noah Ha – focused their project on supporting younger students with English language development. Their creativity, collaboration and problem-solving skills earned them second place nationally and an invitation to represent Australia at the International Conference in the USA in 2026.

This is an outstanding achievement. Well done to all students involved! 

Here's a reflection from Mona on her experience of the FPS competition.

Mona Bachmann, Year 5 

Recently, Knox Grammar School in Sydney hosted the FPS National Finals, bringing together students from across Australia.

To qualify for the National Finals, I had to write a story on one of four topics, and I chose the Agricultural Industry.

At the Finals, I participated in the on-site Scenario Writing Competition. Dr Dylan Sherman, President of FPS, gave us an overview of the prompt topic, nanotechnology. I joined a team with three students from other schools to write an interconnected story about nanobots in medicine in just 90 minutes. It was a challenging but great learning experience!

During the break, we visited the Community Problem Solving Fair and explored the stalls presented by students tackling community issues. The Kilvington Year 6 team was working with Prep and Year 1 students to support English language development. Congratulations to them for qualifying for the International Conference in America!

Overall, this experience has enriched my writing skills. I learned a lot and made friends from other states. I’d like to thank Ms Whitehead and Ms Chandler for encouraging and supporting me along the way.