St Mary’s take out the DaVinci Decathlon

On Tuesday 2 and Wednesday 3 May, two teams from Years 8 and 10 of St Mary’s Catholic College, Gateshead, competed in the first inaugural Hunter Region DaVinci Decathlon at Bishop Tyrell Anglican Collage, Fletcher.

The Decathlon required students to exhibit teamwork, problem solving and critical thinking skills in order to compete against 8 other regional schools in 10 categories: English, Science, Maths, Engineering, Art, Drama, Cartography, General Knowledge, Code-Breaking and Ideation.

Year 8 students, Jack Ollerton and Jacob Armit, took out the ‘Creative Producers’ (drama) section of the day with a skit about Donald Trump and his imaginary friend. Despite not winning any of the other sections, the team managed to place second overall – proving the importance of determination and consistency.

Working in collaboration, the Year 10 team demonstrated tremendous spirit and intensity, placing first in 5 disciplines: Science, General Knowledge, English, Ideation and Maths. To top it off, they were the overall winners of the day in the Year 10 category and have a large trophy and big grins to prove it.

Principal Larry Keating said, “This was our first year competing in the Decathlon where the students showcased a higher order of thinking skills in analysis, synthesis and creativity, bringing home outstanding success.

“The students involved deserve every accolade which comes their way.”

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