Wednesday 05 November 2014

Buckley House hosts the G.A.T.E.WAYS Challenge

The first week of this term saw Buckley House once again hosting the G.A.T.E.WAYS Challenge. This Challenge is a team event that is designed to test, extend and excite the participants. On Wednesday 8 October 80 Years 3 and 4 students, from seven local primary schools competed in teams of four. The G.A.T.E.WAYS Challenge stresses teamwork and the Years 3 and 4 teams were required to problem-solve four challenges that involved baffling maths puzzles and brain-bending science tasks, map reading, space travel dilemmas and word based detective skills.

Eighty Years 5 and 6 students competed in their Challenge teams on Thursday 9 October. Their challenges involved creating a pitch to sell the unsellable, namely the smelly rafflesia plant, working with molecular formulas to solve The Great Chocolate Catastrophe, using various forms of communication such as morse code and sign language to communicate in silence, and designing a garden that will grow!

The winners of the Challenge were those teams that worked together as a team, were creative, strategic and clever problem-solvers. Congratulations to the six Buckley House teams and three Plenty primary teams who competed over the two days. They should be proud of their efforts, attitude and enthusiasm. These students had been preparing for the Challenge throughout Term 2 under the capable guidance of Helen Page-Wood, Ann Breteler, Mel Neilson, Jenny Vanderzweep, Les Dahl and Darren Gibson.

The consensus amongst the Ivanhoe Grammar School students was that the 2014 G.A.T.E.WAYS Challenge was exciting, thought provoking and fun!

On Friday 10 October it was the Years 1 and 2's turn to participate in some G.A.T.E.WAYS fun. Twelve Buckley House students were part of the 60 students, from local primary schools, that were involved in the ‘Fantastical’ Program. The students spent a day revelling in a world of fantasy literature, meeting awesome characters and mythical monsters in places found only in the world of the imagination.

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