Craig Moss – Coordinator of Gifted & Talented 7-12 Moss-Craig-2020

Excellent results for our teams in a very competitive da Vinci Decathlon event 

Five teams entered this year’s da Vinci Decathlon from High School. All the teams performed very well, placing in the top 15 in a number of disciplines. Most importantly, it was a great opportunity for the students to celebrate their academic gifts and engage in stimulating challenges.

The da Vinci Decathlon is an academic competition where students compete in teams of eight across 10 disciplines: engineering, mathematics and chess, code breaking, art and poetry, science, english, ideation, creative producers, cartography and legacy. The theme for this year was chance.

The Year 8 and Year 11 teams were standout performers. The Year 8 team placed 3rd in Art & Poetry, 3rd in English, 8th in Creative Producers and finished 10th overall. The Year 11 team placed 2nd in Code Breaking, 5th in Cartography, 5th in Science, 14th in Creative Producers and finished 9th overall. The full list of results are below. These results are impressive considering around 70 teams entered the competition for each Year Group. 

Years 9,10 and 11 teams

Results summary:

Student reflections

“The multiple challenges pushed our thinking far outside of the box. It was a day of excitement, intensity, team work, creativity, and learning.” Liberty Waldner and Jessica Linker (Year 8 – helped their team to top three placements in English and Art and Poetry)

“Although the da Vinci Decathlon wasn’t exactly the great atmosphere it always is at Knox Grammar, I still thoroughly enjoyed the experience and had a lot of fun despite having to adapt to our school environment. Da Vinci is always a highlight of the year, and I would highly recommend anybody to sign up whether you want to delve past your natural zone of thinking or strengthen bonds through solving the challenging puzzles the decathlon has to offer.” Jake Sharp (Year 10)