The Bundaberg Region’s brains of the future have gone head-to-head in the final Battle of the Schools quiz competition at Stockland.
The Year 5 and 6 students from four local schools were ready to answer questions from quiz master, Bundaberg Region Mayor Jack Dempsey.
In the first 15-minute St Luke’s Anglican School took on Bundaberg Christian College, tackling tricky localised questions to harder subjects that left even the parents scratching their heads.
In round two, Walkervale State School was matched against Moore Park Beach State School and the quiz didn’t get any easier!
It’s the first time Battle of the Schools has been held in the region with 18 local primary schools taking part.
Dressed to impressed in his quiz master gown Mayor Dempsey said it was ejoyable to challenge the minds of the entrepreneurs of tomorrow.
“It’s a fantastic day with young minds here at Stockland; you can see the anticipation in the young people’s faces and their families and teachers,” Mayor Dempsey said.
“We are biased, we know we have the best students in Australia, and this is just another way to bring the talents forward and where else would you rather be on your Sunday morning!”
Mayor Dempsey said the students taking part in Battle of the Schools were the future of the country.
“These are the nation’s future entrepreneurs and while this is just the finals of the Battle of Schools, I know there are many thousands of Bundaberg students who have a great deal of potential to not just add to our community but to the whole of Australia,” he said.
And the Battle of the Schools winner is:
As the competition intensified and students searched for the answers to some very difficult questions, there could only be one champion school to take out the title of Battle of the Schools.
- Round 1
- Quiz 1 – Bundaberg Christian College 14 – St Luke's Anglican School 15
- Quiz 2 – Walkervale State School 15 – Moore Park Beach State School 5
- Round 2
- Quiz 1 – Bundaberg Christian College 18 – Moore Park Beach State School 12
- Quiz 2 – Walkervale State School 16 – St Luke’s Anglican School 18
Final rankings
- St Luke’s Anglican School
- Walkervale State School
- Bundaberg Christian College
- Moore Park State School
St Luke's Year six students Swarnim Dahal, Stephanie Schapiro and Cayley Newton were honoured to take part and win the inaugural Battle of the Schools.
Bundaberg Christian College Year 6 students Isla Gallagher, Richard Sherry and Jonah Rizqullah were also excited to be part of the Battle of the Schools.
Even though they didn't win, Richard said they had worked hard as team and supported each other to the end.
“The thing is to keep calm and concentrate,” Richard said.
“We really worked well as a team.”
Isla said she had to be mindful of buzzing in too early and Richard agreed that she was a little “trigger happy”.
Inaugural event puts the fun in learning
General manager of Hitz 93.9 and host of the competition Corey Pitt said what inspired the idea was he’d seen a lot of support often given to local young sporting organisations and thought it was time to highlight youngsters’ brains.
“We would love to see more support for academia for kids in primary schools in the Bundaberg Region,” Corey said.
“Because this is the inaugural year, we weren’t too sure what type of patronage we would get from the schools, but they came on in mass and more than half of the schools, 18 schools for the inaugural year.”
Corey said by the end of the competition the students would have answered more than 2000 questions.
“When you think about that, that’s a lot of questions and it ranges from English, science, maths, history, geography and some really good general knowledge questions along with some Bundaberg specific questions.
“For example: what is the length of the Burnett River? I know it’s 334km because I typed it up!
“Some of these localised questions have been really fun.”
Local businesses offer support
Corey said the winning schools would receive $1000 and the three students from the winning team would each take home a laptop.
Harvey Norman computer proprietor Harry Schwarz said it was a great community initiative that focused on tomorrow’s leaders and it was hard to say no to helping.
“It was an absolute no brainer for us when Corey approached us – we were in,” Harry said.
“It’s the first time this has ever been done and we expect between 26 to 28 schools to take part next year and we will absolutely be there to support it again.”
Corey said the Battle of the Schools would not have been possible without the support of Crystalgem Trophies and Gifts along with Stockland Bundaberg as they both jumped on board at the start.
“Every single student who participated should feel proud and they will walk away with not only a medal but a sense of pride,” Corey said.
- Earlier report: Students battle for quiz champions title
