DAVINCI CHALLENGE WINNERS ANNOUNCED
Written by author on October 10, 2014
A team from St Joseph’s College in Dumfries has won the first Dumfries and Galloway da Vinci Decathlon.
Teams from 9 Dumfries and Galloway secondary schools competed in the da Vinci Decathlon from 7 to 9 October 2014.
St Joseph’s College will now go on to represent Dumfries and Galloway at an international da Vinci Decathlon in Florence, Italy.
In a residential event, held over 2 days on the Crichton Campus, with ovenight stays at the Holiday Inn, in Dumfries, teams of 8 pupils (S2 to S4) faced 10 different challenges covering topics that Leonardo da Vinci excelled at. These included engineering, maths, code breaking, philosophy, science, art and poetry, cartography, literature, and drama. There was also a general knowledge component. Participating schools also had to deal with weekly challenges in the run up to the competition.
The schools that took part in the vigorously contested event were Annan Academy, Dalbeattie High School, Douglas Ewart High School, Dumfries Academy, Dumfries High School, Sanquhar Academy, St Joseph’s College, Stranraer Academy, and Wallacehall Academy.
Councillor Jeff Leaver, chairman of the Education Services Committee, said, “This event has been an outstanding opportunity to really challenge and stretch some of our more able pupils intellectually. The pupils in each team did a massive amount of work over the last few months to prepare and train for this competition, building a high level of knowledge and developing their skills in the challenges they faced. Feedback from judges and sponsors suggests that the experience gained in this project will be invaluable to the young participants for many years to come. Sponsors have even made offers of work placements to participants so impressed were they with the young people involved. The young participants really were a credit to their schools and I congratulate and thank every one of them.”
RESULTS:
OVERALL WINNER: St Joseph’s College, Dumfries
2nd: Dumfries Academy
Challenge Winners:
Maths & Chess: Douglas Ewart High School, Newton Stewart
Art & Poetry: Dumfries Academy
Engineering – Dalbeattie High School
English – Douglas Ewart High School, Newton Stewart
Creative Producers – Douglas Ewart High School, Newton Stewart
Cartography – St Joseph’s College, Dumfries
Philosophy – Dalbeattie High School
Science – Douglas Ewart High School, Newton Stewart
Code Breaking – Douglas Ewart High School, Newton Stewart
General Knowledge – St Joseph’s College, Dumfries
Weekly Challenges – Dumfries Academy
Background:
The da Vinci Decathlon was established by Knox Grammar School in Sydney, Australia. The school wanted a project to challenge students in a creative way, beyond the classroom, without formal assessment. The challenge reached Scotland through a teacher exchange between Dalbeattie High School and Knox Grammar School in 2012. The challenges devised, inspired by Leonardo da Vinci, were seen to be so successful that the concept grew, with the programme spreading throughout the state, across Australia, then internationally with Dalbeattie High School participating in the first international challenge in Milan, Italy, in 2013.
For more info, see: http://www.davincidecathlon.co.uk/
Dumfries and Galloway’s da Vinci challenge has benefitted from sponsorship and financial support from a range of organisations, including:
Dumfries and Galloway Council
University of the West of Scotland (UWS)
Dumfries and Galloway College
University of Glasgow
Bibliographic Data Services
Andy Goldsworthy
Rotary Club
Crichton Foundation
Holywood Trust
Graham Engineers
Hub South West
WeeSleekit Design created a da Vinci challenge website to enable schools and partners to communicate and share ideas and resources
Teams taking part:
Annan Academy – da Invincibles
Dalbeattie High School – da Beatti’s Demons
Douglas Ewart High School – DAspicables
Dumfries Academy – Minerva Minds
Dumfries High School – da High School
Sanquhar Academy – Mechanical Knights
St Joseph’s College – Vini, Vedi, Vinci
Stranraer Academy – Colossus
Wallacehall Academy – The Vitruvians
