Da Vinci Decathlon brings bright students to Armidale | See the photos

Over three days about 430 boys and girls from 17 department, independent and Catholic primary and secondary schools worked in teams of eight to complete 10 academic challenges, each challenge falling within the subject areas of engineering, mathematics, code breaking, art and poetry, science, english, ideation, creative producers, cartography and legacy (significant people, inventions and events).

"Every year there is a different overarching theme for all the challenges - and this year it is technology and innovation, which should provide plenty of scope for students to use their creativity about what could be possible," TAS organiser Donella Tutt said.

Devised by Knox Grammar School, da Vinci Decathlons are now held in various centres around Australia and in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. TAS has been partnering Knox in delivering the event to the region for more than a decade and its appeal continues to endure, Mrs Tutt said.

Along the way are general knowledge quizzes and other games to add to the fun. For the first time, Knox alumni will not be running the competition, with quizmaster duties being handled by year 11 TAS students Millie Coupland and Sam Guppy, both da Vinci graduates.

"I really like the way it brings together people as a team and because everyone has different interests, they can work together to solve the challenges," Athena Li, a member of the winning TAS year 6 team, said.

"My favourite was the maths challenge, because we go to do stuff that we don't normally do in class."

Mrs Tutt said TAS was pleased to again be able to offer the unique academic extension event to students from right across the region.

"This year we have had some schools re-join us after a break, including Macquarie Anglican School from Dubbo," Mrs Tutt said.

On Wednesday, April 3, Armidale Secondary College won the year 7 division and Macquarie Anglican Grammar School the year 8 division, while on Thursday, Armidale City Public School took out year 5 while TAS won the trophy for year 6.

The Decathlon culminated on Friday, April 5 with the year 9 and 10 competitions.

Schools attending the 2024 Northern NSW da Vinci Decathlon included: