Nathan (Year 11) has triumphantly returned to Australia with a silver medal.
He recently travelled to Sucre, Bolivia for the 37th International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI), which sees outstanding students from around the world compete in an algorithmic competition. Students go head-to-head on problem analysis, design of algorithms and data structures, programming, and testing.
Ranking 40th of 329 participants, this result is an incredible step up from the bronze medal earned in Egypt last year. Here are his reflections on the event:
The IOI competition took place over two days. Each day had three problems over five hours – a lot longer than any school exam! Each problem was an algorithmic task where we had to write code that would solve a problem.
For example, a task might provide some cities and the lengths of roads connecting them, and the program would have to find the shortest distance from one city to another.
I particularly enjoyed this year because the problems were more what we call ‘non-standard’ – rather than relying on learnt algorithms, techniques and data structures, they involved more thinking and problem solving than usual.
It was my first time visiting South America, and Sucre has definitely left me a good impression. Although we didn’t really get much of a chance to experience local culture, the locals we encountered, like our team guide, were all really nice. Sucre was also probably the highest city I’ve ever been to, at almost 3,000 metres above sea level! The food was great too; it was very multicultural.
The most memorable thing from the experience was probably not the competition itself but the people from other teams that we met. I made friends with students from teams all over the world, like Canada, China, Japan, the UK and the US. I think the most enjoyable part was being able to spend a week amongst so many like-minded people and develop new relationships.
15 October 2026
On Thursday 15 October, we welcomed parents, students and staff to the Great Hall for our Respectful Relationships Education community event, 'Growing Up in the Age of Algorithms'. The evening reflected the School’s commitment to partnering with families on some of the most significant issues facing young people today, creating space for informed discussion, shared learning and meaningful engagement around the challenges and opportunities of life in an increasingly connected digital world.
15 October 2026
Participants of the Knox Leader Development Program recently gathered in the Bryden Room to present their leadership projects and reflect on their development as leaders. It was an inspiring occasion, with staff sharing their vision and purpose, achievements and future goals, leadership journey, and key learnings gained through the process.
08 October 2026
Year 12 student Nathan represented Australia for the third time in the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI), travelling to Uzbekistan in Term 3 to compete with hundreds of students from dozens of countries across the globe.
