Elderslie High School played host to the Camden Challenge Cup, a High Potential and Gifted Education (HPGE) event that brought together 120 students for a day of teamwork, creativity and problem-solving.

The competition challenged students from 31 schools across the Camden, Campbelltown, Macarthur and Wollondilly networks to work in teams to tackle a series of inventive and complex design activities.

This year's task asked students to design and build their own amusement park ride, complete with a working prototype powered by a specified type of energy.

Suzanne Bowyer, Principal at The Oaks Public School and coordinator of the High Potential and Gifted Education Committee that runs the event, said the day was designed to push students outside their comfort zone while building connections between schools.

"It's such a great opportunity for schools and children to come together and work on a project that is a bit challenging for them," Ms Bowyer said. “Today they've had the opportunity to build a theme park ride, and there are some amazing creations.”

Teacher Aimey Low was involved in organising the event and has watched the competition grow rapidly since its launch

"In our first year, we had about fifteen schools, just from the Camden area,” Ms Low said. “Since then we've had over thirty schools join, and we've grown across multiple networks as well, including high schools.

Ms Low said the growing partnership between primary and high schools was one of the most rewarding aspects of the event, particularly as students transition into high school.

"The partnership between the high schools and the primary schools working together would be ideal for me, especially with a lot of these kids going on to high school and retaining that connection,” she said.

"I think the future's only bright for events like this, and I look forward to seeing more schools joining … because this is the future for us."

Ben Taylor, a teacher at Oran Park Public School who served as a judge for the design challenge, said he was looking for both creativity and functionality.

“We put it in a real-world context - if you're in an amusement park, you need a ride that everyone's going to want to ride,” Mr Taylor said. “Then we looked at the prototype and whether or not it actually worked.”

Two designs stood out as the strongest of the day.

The winning stage three design was a Ferris wheel with a complicated design that saw its baskets rotate and sway while turning with minimal human input.

Meanwhile, the stage four winner was a SpongeBob-inspired swinging ride that rotated around a central point, complete with a hand-crank mechanism that judges said was solid and reliable.

Gary Graham, Director of the Camden Principals Network said the Challenge Cup is an enriched program that encourages students to develop strategic concepts to solve problems and create outstanding results.

“The Camden, Campbelltown, Macarthur and Wollondilly networks have proudly committed to the HPGE Challenge Cup to enable an outstanding opportunity for our students to ignite their curiosity, creativity and problem-solving skills with diverse talents across these four networks of schools,” Mr Graham said.