78 students across The Abbey School are celebrating this week having achieved Gold status in the international computational thinking competition, Bebras.
Gold certificates are awarded to students who achieve scores that put them in the top 10% of participating students across the country. This year 467,190 students took part in the competition around the UK and across the Senior and Junior Schools around 400 students from The Abbey took part.
Robert Bradley, Head of Computer Science at the Senior School explains why we enter such competitions.
“Computational thinking is a mix of important problem solving skills that are useful both in Computer Science and a range of other subjects. Skills like abstraction, decomposition, pattern recognition and algorithmic thinking are essential skills for the modern world. We are so proud of all the students across both the Junior School and Senior School who took part in the challenges and we congratulate those students who achieved Gold.”
Across the school, Gold certificates were awarded to;
1 student in the Kits age category (for 6-8 year olds),
10 students in the Castors category (for 8-10 year olds),
22 students in the Juniors category (for 10-12 year olds),
35 students in the Inters category (for 12-14 year olds),
8 students in the Seniors category (for 14-16 year olds),
And 1 students in the Elite category (for 16-18 year olds)
James Stevens, Head of Computing at the Junior School, was equally proud of our students’ achievements.
“We’re incredibly proud of our students who took part in the Bebras Challenge. By participating in this international competition, our students have an opportunity to showcase their skills in problem-solving, logical thinking, and creativity. Building outstanding foundations for our pupils, especially in traditionally male-dominated STEM subject areas, is really exciting and I look forward to seeing where it takes them in the future.“
Dr Sarah Tullis, Head of Senior School, said of the results:
“These stellar results are fantastic reflections not only of our excellent students but of all the fabulous work of our teachers at the Junior and Senior Schools who are preparing our students so well not only for this competition but for life in the modern world”.
Students in the Senior School achieving their Gold Certificates will be invited to take part in the next round which is a Coding Challenge which will happen sometime in January. Details for this will be announced soon but in order for it not to interfere with lessons it is likely that it will have to take place over a lunchtime or after school one day.
Robert Bradley finished by stating:
“I think these results, and the improvement year on year, show the importance The Abbey School places on Computing and Computer Science. It is wonderful to see girls thrive in a subject where, in a mixed school, they can sometimes feel out of place. This shows the benefits of a school culture where girls are encouraged and nurtured in STEM subjects.”
