Christmas_Edition_2018

ICT and Computer
Science
Department
2017/18
The Computing Department have been involved in a number of competitions and
events this term.
In November, 350 students were entered into the Bebras® Computing International
Competition. The Bebras® Computing Challenge is organised in over 40 countries and
designed to get students all over the world excited about computing. The department is
pleased that some of the students achieved Merits and Distinctions.
A further 11 students—who performed in the top 10% in their age group—have been
invited to the TCS Oxford Computing Challenge taking place in March 2019.
The department recently started a Cyber Discovery Club which is open to Years 10–13
and is an integral component of the UK’s National Cyber Security Strategy—providing
young people with an opportunity to begin the journey towards an exciting and
challenging career in a field that is facing a significant shortage of trained professionals.
The Duke of York Inspiring Digital Enterprise Award is still available for all our students
to take part in. The Silver Award was released in Summer 2018 and many of our students
have achieved this award. Students are required to create an account on idea.org.uk and
work through the activities in Computer Science, Digital Literacy and Information
Technology.
Years 7-9 participated in the ‘Hour of Code’ .“The ‘Hour of Code’ is a nationwide
initiative by Computer Science Education Week, December 3rd–9th, 2018 [csedweek.org]
and Code.org [code.org] to introduce millions of students to one hour of computer science
and computer programming.”
A big thank you to the Year 12 Computing Ambassadors for working diligently this term;
running clubs, in class support and talking to parents and students during Open evening.
Mrs N Davis
Subject Leader of Computing
‘Aspiring for ‘Nurturing Academic, young Cultural Catholic and gentlemen Sporting Excellence’
Aspiring for Academic, Cultural and Sporting Excellence’
Senior maths challenge
On Tuesday 31st October, students from
Year 11 and Year 12 took part in the Senior
Mathematics Challenge run by the United
Kingdom Mathematics Trust. We had 90 minutes
to answer as many of the 25 questions as we
could. The questions get progressively harder,
with the last question being the hardest. We
had to be careful though, because any wrong
answers would mean we would lose a point
from our total score. A question, for example,
would be: 2018 can be written as the
product of two primes, what is the sum of
these two primes?
Page-13
I
On Tuesday 31st of October, pupils from year 11 and year 12 took part in the Senior Mathematics
Challenge run by the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust. We had 90 minutes to answer as many of the 25
questions as we could. The questions get
progressively harder, with the last question being the hardest. We had to be careful though, because any
wrong answers would mean we would lose a point from our total score. A question, for example, would be:
2018 can be written as the product of two primes, what is the sum of these two primes?
In that question, you know that 2 has to be one of the primes because 2 is the only even prime. Naturally
1009 has to be the other prime and 1009 + 2 = 1011
The challenge was very enjoyable, and I know that everyone who participated felt the same. We used our
mathematical skills to great effect by answering some very difficult questions. All the students put in a great
effort and they can be extremely proud of themselves, with many students being awarded with either a
bronze or silver certificate! Particular congratulations go to G. Okoma (Year 12) who was awarded ‘Best in
School’ and to D. Chung who was ‘Best in Y11’.
On Tuesday the 27th of November, myself and 3 other Year 12 pupils, G. Okoma, W. Hearne and O. Kingaby,
made the trip to Epsom College to represent the school in the team Senior Maths Challenge. There were
three rounds; a group round, Crossnumber and Shuttle. The group round comprised of ten questions,
which could be answered collectively, and the subsequent two rounds were competed in pairs on
questions that linked together, however the boys were not able to communicate within their pairs.
It was a great experience and saw us perform very well. We not only used our maths skills but we also used
teamwork and communication to our best abilities and it paid dividends. Considering that the majority of
teams there consisted of Year 13 pupils, we can be extremely proud of our performance. As team captain, I
was able to use my leadership skills by assigning people roles eg what questions each student should do as
well as deciding who would work best with whom. It was a great occasion and I thoroughly enjoyed myself
as did everyone else who competed.
B. Evans (Year 12)
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