Cyber Skills Triumph

As pupils continue to explore the potential of emerging technologies, our codebreakers have qualified for a national cyber security challenge.

A Year 8 team has achieved an outstanding score in the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) CyberFirst Girls competition, which attracted over 6,500 entrants this year – congratulations to Eleanor, Leila, Chiara and Matilda who are through to next month’s regional semi-finals, with puzzles covering cryptography, logic and networking.  Chris Ensor, NCSC Deputy Director for Cyber Growth, said: “These girls have opened the door to what could one day be an exciting and rewarding career, where more female representation is undoubtedly needed.” 

In Year 7, pupils have been using Python programming, writing algorithms to design products. This term, they have been exploring future applications, and the legal and ethical issues, of robots, creating their own websites to present their research. Next, they will participate in a European Space Agency project to design and write code to be run on the International Space Station.

Beyond the curriculum, A Level Computer Scientists have been developing games for mobile devices, while younger pupils are building virtual reality experiences at lunchtime clubs. Pupils have also excelled in national computational thinking challenges and, during Guided Home Learning, are spending curiosity afternoons off-timetable to take part in the BAFTA Young Game Designers competition. Watch this space.