20 March 2026
On Wednesday 4 March, 24 boys from Years 7 to 12 participated in Round 1 of OzCLO, the Australian Computational and Linguistics Olympiad. This competition challenges students, working in teams of four, to decipher linguistic problems from rare or even defunct languages from around the world, such as Welsh, using logic. It combines problem solving with elements of code breaking.
The competition, which ran from 2.00pm to 4.00pm, saw our teams work through puzzles covering a wide range of languages. Some were rooted in deep cultural traditions, others were invented to assist children with learning, and many more in between. The problems were far from easy, but every team tried their hardest to complete them under the pressure of the time limit.
It was a great experience, and especially fantastic to see students from such a wide range of year levels come together to take part. I myself worked with a group of Year 12 students, including the two captains. I would like to thank Dr Garcia, as well as our two co-captains, Matthew Liu and Quinn Murphy, for their hard work in organising the event, and Mr Browning, Mr Carter and Dr Roberts-Thomson for stopping by to encourage and support the teams.
Although none of our teams progressed to the second round, everyone had lots of fun and put in a strong effort. It was an amazing afternoon, and we eagerly await both the state competition, SACLO, which will be held at SPSC later in the year.
Tyler Wu
Year 8 student, Short House
Member of the OzCLO Society
