At the commencement of 2022, Kildare has focused on providing additional enrichment opportunities for high achieving students from across the school.

The first opportunity involved an invitation to students who achieved in the top 10% across NAPLAN, PAT tests and school reports to participate in da Vinci Decathlon activities. It was an optional opportunity and 70 students attended the first session.

The da Vinci Decathlon is an academic competition designed to challenge and stimulate the minds of school students. Students compete in teams of 8

across 10 disciplines: engineering, mathematics and chess, code breaking, art and poetry, science, English, ideation, creative producers, cartography and legacy.

The da Vinci Decathlon began in 2002 as an exciting offshoot of the very successful da Vinci Program for gifted and talented students at Knox Grammar. The Decathlon is designed to celebrate the academic gifts of Australian youth by providing a stimulating and challenging competition run in the spirit of an Olympic Decathlon.

Lunchtime training sessions were held twice a week where critical thinking and problem solving skills were developed. The sessions also allowed for students to socialise with different groups who may have similar interests. The commitment of the students who participated was excellent and the skills they gained are transferable across the curriculum.

From the original group, four teams were chosen. 32 students attended the local level of the da Vinci Decathlon which was held at The Riverina Anglican College on the 4th and 5th of May. Our students competed against schools from across the Riverina, such as Leeton High School, Hennessey College, Young, Moama Anglican Grammar and Wagga High School.

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The 2022 da Vinci Decathlon teams who competed in the events were:

Year 7	Logan Goetsch, Kobe Gustowski, Thomas Smythe, Benedict Byrne, Madeline McDonald, Hamish Crawford, Zara Egan, Sam Seghers
Year 8	Ned Mackay, Charlie Malone, Jamila Sawal, Safia Sawal, Mikaika Edullantes, Antonia Schmidtke, Saige Maidment- Clarke, Ava Sweeney
Years 9-10	Eleanor Crawford, Ruby McRae, Rhys Beer, Isobel Owen, Annalyse Gaiter,Layla Ellis, Madeleine Gaiter, Blake Karhu
Year 11	Lucy Mackay, Ella McCorry, Hamish McRae, Josie Crofts, Rohan Cummins, Bridget Stephens, Eamon Carter, TJ Vatabuli

Our students performed extremely well with all four teams achieving numerous placings across the ten disciplines:

Disciplines	Year 7	Year 8	Year 9/10	Year 11
Science	3rd		2nd	1st
Creative Producers		3rd		3rd
English	2nd	2nd	2nd	2nd
Ideation	3rd			1st
Art and Poetry	1st			3rd
Mathematics and Chess	1st	3rd
Cartography	1st		3rd
Engineering				3rd
Code Breaking			2nd
Legacy	3rd	1st	1st	1st
Overall	3rd	4th	4th	1st

Congratulations to our Year 11 team who were the Overall Winners of their competition. They showed exemplary team work and attention to detail when addressing criteria for each section. They will be competing against the winners of the other regional events via a Zoom hosted by Knox Grammar on Wednesday 25th of May.

We wish them all the best for the next stage of the da Vinci Decathlon.

Jenny Stephens, Jacqueline Galvin, Clementine Patterson & Nicole Goggin | Organisors

Dates for your diary:
23 - 27 May	Laudato Si Week @ Kildare
Tuesday 24 May	Feast of Mary Help of Christians
May 27 - 3 June	National Reconciliation Week Be Brave. Make Change.
Friday 10 June	Staff Spirituality Day (Pupil Free Day)

Prayer

Laudato Si Week