Tournament of Minds
The students at St Thomas School in year 4-6 have the opportunity to participate in the Tournament of Minds. St Thomas school has been very successful in this competition, averaging on five participating teams with at least one team per year for the last five years winning the state competition and competing at a international level. The Tournament of Minds (TOM) is an Australian educational program developed especially, but not exclusively, for talented and creative students across all sectors of primary and secondary school education. It provides a dynamic approach to learning, whilst developing students’ enthusiasm for experimentation, problem finding and problem-solving. TOM is dedicated to increasing the chances of success that, as a society, we capture and grow the gifts and talents of as many students as possible. The Tournament of Minds committee believe that the first requirement for achieving such an outcome is that we value, reward and celebrate intellectual excellence, creativity and originality. The second requirement is the recognition that this is a team endeavour - the enormous challenges facing our world require us to learn how to work in teams.
The tournament of minds objectives are:
- To promote the stimulation of real, open-ended challenges;
- To develop creative problem-solving approaches and techniques;
- To foster cooperative learning and teamwork;
- To promote knowledge and appreciation of self and others;
- To encourage experimentation and risk-taking;
- To expand and reward creative and divergent thinking;
- To stimulate a spirit of inquiry and a love of learning;
- To develop enterprise; and
- To celebrate excellence.