Durban Girls High are BDO School Quiz champions
Durban Girls' High School beat 54 other schools to come out on top in the BDO School Quiz.
A HIGHLY motivated team from Durban Girls High School beat 54 teams from 27 Durban and Pietermaritzburg schools to become the champions of the 2014 BDO School Quiz in the competition finals at Clifton College on 15 May.
This is the first time that an all girls’ team has come out tops in the five year history of the competition.
The team of four Grade 10 and11 Durban Girls High School learners earned 72 points ahead of a team of Grade10 and 11 boys from Clifton College who took second place with 70 points.
Each member of the winning team won an iPod shuffle. They also earned the right to donate the grand prize of R10 000 worth of books to a disadvantaged school of their choice. As runners-up, the Clifton College team were presented with a R500 gift voucher from Books and Books. A team from Maris Stella High School finished in third position with 69 points.
The quiz mistress, Kath Scott, who is the history teacher at Clifton Preparatory School, devised a challenging set of general knowledge questions incorporating history, geography, science, music, films and cryptic clues.
“It was an extremely close contest,” said Sally Juckes, Audit and Assurance Partner at the Durban office of international accountancy firm, BDO. “After eight rounds there was only one point separating the top three teams.”
She said the aim of the competition was to give local youngsters a thirst for knowledge and to encourage them to widen their horizons and test their boundaries. This is wholly in line with BDO’s belief that inspired thinking brings inspired results and that fun is fundamental and teamwork is everything.
“It was clear that everyone involved thoroughly enjoyed the event and feedback from the participants, their parents and their teachers was overwhelmingly positive,” Juckes said. “They tell us that the quiz is a stimulating and valuable experience. It also provides a forum for non-sporty learners to excel and to prove the maxim that it is cool to be clever.”
A lucky draw prize of a restaurant voucher for the teachers responsible for entering their teams in the competition was won by Anne Seery of Danville Park Girls High School.
Schools from greater Durban and Pietermaritzburg can enter up to six teams of four Grade 10 or 11 learners in the BDO Schools Quiz every year. They compete in four regional rounds ahead of the finals where the champions are named.
The organisers hope to attract even more entries next year.
