Year 7 da Vinci Decathlon

On Monday 8 of May, eight selected students from Year 7 competed in the da Vinci Decathlon at St Leonard’s College. This event is an academic competition across 10 disciplines: Engineering, Mathematics and Chess, Code Breaking, Art and Poetry, Science, English, Ideation, Creative Producers, Cartography and Legacy.

The team began their preparation for this event in Term 1. They devoted their own time during lunchtime meetings and their Easter holidays to collaborate on papers and performances. They encouraged each other as they each lead a team and utilised questioning, communication skills, reasoning and kindness to come together as a cohesive team. The theme of the event this year was Chaos.

Shelford placed 2nd overall on the day. Category placements as follows:

Art and Poetry –1st
Creative Producers – 1st
Code Breaking – 1st
English – 2nd
Engineering – 2nd
Cartography – 3rd

Congratulations to all of you for the success of your team. It is a testament to your hard work that such talented minds came together for what is a truly challenging event and succeeded to such a level.

The Year 7 Team reflects on the preparation and competition day:

I liked da Vinci because it was a great opportunity to learn about Leonardo da Vinci and about the other disciplines. I also really enjoyed spending time with my team members. The competition itself was very well organised, and it was wonderful to have a go at problem-solving – LINA A

The da Vinci Decathlon was such a wonderful experience. We had the opportunity to learn more and compete with others. I would like to have this chance again next year – JIYOON (JENNY) C

The da Vinci Decathlon definitely matched this year's theme 'Chaos'.  Our table was covered in pencil cases, pieces of paper and most importantly the test booklets. In the end, it was all worth it since we came 2nd overall! We were all so excited and so proud of ourselves. We had a blast! – INDIANNA W

The da Vinci Decathlon was really fun, and we enjoyed working with each other as a team, whether it was Maths, English or Science. But although it was fun, it left my brain hurting for about a whole other week – ISABELLA S

I loved experiencing the competitive and academic environment because normally competitions are reserved for sports. The whole day was filled with things to do, and I was never not thinking from 7:30am until 3:00pm. We all learnt how to collaborate with people who aren't our closest friends and I definitely made friends from the day. If anyone asked me if I would do it again, I would reply with "100 percent". I have so many positive memories from the day and after hard work we placed second overall! – PHOEBE M

We had an amazing opportunity to compete in the annual regional Da Vinci Decathlon last Monday. The whole room had this excited/nervous vibe and all the schools looked really daunting. I won’t lie, it was really challenging! It forced you to think and to focus, it made my head hurt a bit. But I enjoyed every moment and I loved standing up and winning different categories. It felt great to come second, we were up there representing Shelford and girls of our generation! – MYLIE F

Overall, the da Vinci Decathlon was a wonderful opportunity to bond with other schools and your own teammates. We did find some difficulties with the questions, but we pushed on together as a group – SAMAIRA R

To me, the da Vinci Decathlon is a tiring, intensive, yet fun experience. We got to work on questions we would never learn at school, and practiced teamwork in reality. It was very chaotic, but we managed to finish most of the questions. We all enjoyed the day very much and look forward to doing it again – LEYI (BELLA) X

Joanna Kane

Head of Student Enrichment and Support