Da Vinci Decathlon State Competition

The da Vinci Decathlon is an academic competition designed to challenge and stimulate the minds of school students. Students compete in teams of eight across 10 disciplines: Engineering, Mathematics, Code breaking, Art and Poetry, Science, English, Ideation, Creative Production, Cartography and Legacy.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was one of the world’s great polymaths. Thus, the Decathlon competition places a particular emphasis on higher order thinking skills, problem solving and creativity. This year’s theme was Light. The competition was hosted by Brisbane Boys’ College, and attended by over 60 teams on the day. The College was represented by the following students who are members of the Gifted and Talented Enrichment (G.A.T.E.) classes:

Our Year 7 team earned second place in Engineering for their design and construction of a concept representing light providing life. Our Year 8 team earned second place in the complex discipline of Cartography. Both categories demanded a very high level of analytical and interpretive skill, as well as abstraction and inferential thinking. Team members were asked to reflect on What Went Well. Responses included, “…we all were chipping in; if one subject was running out of time someone would help out”, “…we all decided what we were going to do and made specialist teams for each category” and “…if anyone had a question, we would all listen and help…”.  When asked for Three Things Learned, responses included “…That it is fun to be challenged”, “…It is better to collaborate than do it by yourself”, and “…working with different personalities and how to approach that in the right way”.

The Year 7 and 8 students were impeccable representatives of the College, from being prepared with the perfectly stocked pencil case, to their faultless behaviour, uniform and excellent collaboration. Congratulations to our 2025 academic decathletes!

Bebras Computational Thinking Challenge

Lithuanian for beaver, Bebras was the name chosen by the founder of this challenge, Professor Valentina Dagiene from the University of Vilnius, in honour of the animal’s collaborative nature and strong work ethic. The Bebras competition is designed to help students explore their talents and passion for informatics and computational thinking with engaging challenges, including higher order thinking skills such as pattern recognition, algorithm design, data analysis or abstraction.

EXCELLENCE (100%)

Noah Karan (Yrs 5 & 6)

Brady Burt (Yrs 5 & 6)

HIGH DISTINCTION

Xavier Richardson (Yrs 3&4)

Christopher Meuleners (Yrs 3 & 4)

Alice Waller (Yrs 3 & 4)

DISTINCTION

Akshitha Akkineni (Yrs 5 & 6)

Josie Robin (Yrs 5 & 6)

Laura Smith (Yrs 5&6)

CREDIT

Abby Christensen (Yr 8)

Max Cornwall (Yr 9)

MERIT

Lacey Frost (Yr 8)

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Sharee Verdon 

Learning Enrichment Teacher