Students from St Peter and Paul Catholic Primary School have won their category at the prestigious Tournaments of Minds, winning the NSW South Coast Regional title in the Primary STEM category.

Three groups of students from Ss Peter and Paul’s took part in the tournament held at Wollongong University on 20 August, which saw primary and secondary students compete to solve authentic, open-ended challenges that foster creativity, divergent thinking and teamwork.

Ss Peter and Paul’s STEM team, dubbed ‘The Black Cockatoos’ won first place in its category by constructing a bird from recycled parts that could fly unaided. The bird was able to perform two different manoeuvres in the air completely unassisted.

The team had another spontaneous challenge set by judges on the day. The team had just ten minutes to present a story and script for their creation.

The team consisted of Jacob and Hayden from Year Six, Nicolas from Year Four, Eden and Evelyn from Year Three, and Noah and Hugo from Year Two.

Head of Diverse Learning Needs Mrs Bec Burbs congratulated the teams on a fantastic job on their final presentations.

“It was our first time entering the competition since the early 90’s, so we weren’t sure what to expect. Our goal was to do our best and learn from others. To see The Black Cockatoos win was amazing. I’m so proud of all the students that took part in the Tournament for challenging themselves with something new.”

Jacob from Year Six said he’d never seen anything like the tasks at Tournament of Minds. “Working as a team was really good. It opened up a lot of new experiences. We learnt about people’s talents, and we got to be friends with, and work with, people from different years. I was very shocked when we won. Our team worked really well together and I was so proud of us all. It was a great opportunity and I am so glad I got to be a part of it.”

The Black Cockatoos will move on to the NSW Final of Tournament of Minds held on 10 September at the University of NSW.