The brightest students from various schools around the region come together in Bathurst at the annual activity day to take part in a series of challenges that test their abilities across a range of subjects.

The Scots School was joined by the Assumption School, St Philomena’s Primary School, Holy Family Primary School, All Saints’ College, Blue Mountains Grammar School, Kinross Wolaroi School and St Patrick’s Primary School. 

This is the ninth year Scots has run the Mighty Minds Muster, and this year the school chose an Australiana theme.

Junior school co-ordinator Kerry Robinson, who organised the day, believes students get a lot of value out of the diverse range of activities. 

“It’s a day of enrichment for bright students across the region,” she said. “The whole emphasis is on working as a team.”

The students were placed in small groups with the pupils from their own school, with the majority of schools having two teams, and worked together to complete set tasks.

They participated in seven activities which covered the subjects of persuasive speech, creative and performing arts, design and making, engineering, mathematics, English, and art and poetry.

The activities included creating a dance or series of movements to be performed by sporting teams before a match, reworking the national anthem, and building a model for a new iconic tower similar to Sydney Tower. 

Several activities were handed out in each session and the responsibility fell on the students to organise themselves so they could complete them in the allocated time.

Ms Robinson said the students were not only bright academically, but creatively, and the activities were designed to play to each child’s strengths. 

“It’s all about organisation, being able to delegate and recognising your strengths,” she said.

At the end of the day each team was awarded a bronze, silver, or gold level for their efforts before an overall winner was announced.