Leeds Rotary Technology Competition

On Tuesday 5th March, 8 of our best Technology students were chosen to take part in the Leeds Rotary Technology competition. The competition has been running since 2007 and is funded by local Rotary clubs and over 130 students from 14 schools across Leeds took part. We spoke to the founder of the competition, Cliff, who said he wanted students to learn hands on skills such as teamwork, problem solving and using tools. Throughout the day there were 80 volunteers from local engineering companies and Leeds University to help the students and promote STEM careers.

Students were given a task on the day to launch a space rocket using limited resources such as sticks and elastic bands. They had to work independently, as teachers were not allowed to help. Students worked well together and came up with different ideas which they tested. Although we did not win, all the students enjoyed taking part and working together.

Bebras and Oxford University Computing Challenge

In November 2023, all students in Years 7 and 8 and those taking Computer Science GCSE in Year 11 took part in the Bebras Computing Challenge. This national competition tested their computational thinking (problem solving) skills and gave each student a score and a position within the school and within the whole country in their age group. The year 7s entered the Junior category where there was a total of 117,539 Year 6 and Year 7 participants. The average score in the country was 81.1 and the average score in our school was 61.9. There were 5 students who scored in the top 10% in the country:

In the intermediate age group, which is made up of Year 8 and Year 9 students, there were 209,813 participants. The average score in the country was 63.9 and the average score in Mount St Mary’s was 48.9. There were 2 students who scored in the top 10% in the country:

In the senior age group, which is made up of Year 10 and Year 11 students, there were 38,427 participants. The average score in the country was 73.3 and the average score in Mount St Mary’s was 59.9. Jakub Kordonski just missed being in the top 10% in the country with a score of 113 and a position of 4,052 in the country.

All the above students were invited to take part in the Oxford University Computing Challenge (OUCC). In addition, Miranda Opilowska, Zofia Wojcik and Dominik Walczak qualified to take part, as they were in the top 10% last year. Sem Zeremariam, Riley Clark, Carla Gunzon, Alissia Johns, Sachin Arunkumar and Gabriela Wierzchon were also invited to take part because they had done better this year than those that qualified last year. Sem and Sachin declined the invitation but everyone else took part in the first round of OUCC on 18th of January.

All students found the OUCC difficult, but they demonstrated great resilience by continuing to try to solve the challenges until every second of their allocated 50 minutes had been used up. In the Junior competition there were 6,400 competitors in the UK and the average score was 10.9 whilst our average score was 13.2. Three of our students scored above average, Timothy and Matthew scored 18 and Patrick scored an amazing 26, which earned him the very first certificate of Merit that anyone from this school has ever achieved. In the Intermediate competition there were 9,735 competitors and the average score was 11.4. We had four students whose score was above average, these were Anvi who scored a very impressive 20, Gabriella and Riley who scored 16 and Dominik who scored 14. In the senior competition there were 3154 competitors, and the average score was 14.2, Jakub Kordonski scored 10 which was very commendable as the competition fell within his GCSE mock exam period.

Approximately 20 students from each age category are invited to take part in the final round of the OUCC. In the Junior competition they needed a score of 54, in the Intermediate 56 and in the Senior competition a score of 66. Whilst none of our students came close to meeting this threshold, they can be extremely proud that they were invited to take part in this competition designed to find the very best
problem-solving brains in the Uk.

Oxford University Computing Challenge

All students in Years 7 and 8, and those taking Computer Science GCSE in Year 10, took part in the Bebras Computing Challenge in November 2022. This national competition tested their computational thinking (problem solving) skills.

Those that scored in the top 10% in the country were invited to take part in the Oxford University Computing Challenge (OUCC) in January 2023. The students invited were Miranda Opilowska, Anvi Patil, Dominik Walczak, Zofia Wojcik, Prananya Sudagar, Jakub Kordonski and Jakub Surowiak, plus 4 Year 8 students that scored in the top 10% in the country in the November 2021 – Bebras – Abigail Gela, Maya Krupa, Lukasz Ksiazek and Reuben O’Brien.

Some Year 8 students that did well in the Bebras competition were asked to be entered in the OUCC. These students were Priscilla Basil, Gabriel Do Vale, Hadija Ibrahim, Gabriel Nyarko and Nathaniel Valdez.

All students found the OUCC exceedingly difficult, but they demonstrated great resilience by continuing to try to solve the challenges until every second of their allocated 45 minutes had been used up.

• • In the Junior (Year 6 and 7) competition there were 6,342 competitors in the UK and the average score was 12.9. Anvi scored 18 and Zofia scored 14, so they both performed above average.

  • In the Intermediate (Year 8 and 9) competition there were 9,565 competitors and the average score was 14.1. Gabriel Do Vale, Maya and Lukasz each scored 18 and were therefore above average.

  • In the Senior competition there were 2,877 competitors and the average score was 8.2. Jakub Kordonski scored 8 and was therefore only just below average in the country.

In the Intermediate competition they needed a score of 60 and in the Junior and Senior competitions a score of 66. Whilst none of our students came close to meeting this threshold, they can be extremely proud that they were invited to take part in this competition designed to find the very best problem-solving brains in the UK.

Year 9 Computing and Business Event

On Thursday 20 October local Entrepreneur and BBC Apprentice winner Sian Gabbidon, visited Mount St Mary’s School to host an Enterprise Workshop for our Year 9 Computing and Business Studies students.

She discussed her journey to success and her time on the BBC Apprentice show. Students were extremely excited to meet a local Entrepreneur. Sian purposely visited during Black History Month, to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Ada Lovelace Day

This year the Creative Arts, Computing and Technologies Faculty spent a week celebrating Ada Lovelace Day (ALD) across Computing, Technology, Art and Hospitality and Catering. Ada Lovelace Day is an international celebration of the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). It aims to increase the profile of women in STEM and, in doing so, create new role models who will encourage more girls into STEM careers and support women already working in STEM.

Students got involved in a range of fun activities such as baking binary inspired biscuits, painting Pop Art inspired artwork of Ada Lovelace and completing computing challenges around cyber security. These activities highlighted to students some of the potential careers available to everyone in these industries and gave them a chance to put their skills to the test.

Since returning to school Year 7 having been making the most of the opportunity to use the computers in the Cyber Café to practice their coding skills using Scratch.

After spending some time learning about the theory of programming they were able to have a go for themselves during lockdown, through remote learning lessons set by the Computing Department, and this is being continued back in lessons.

Scratch is a great programme to start learning the basics and is freely available for anyone wanting to develop their skills further.

In school students are putting together sequences of code to create animations and games, designing their own concepts and having fun seeing their ideas come to life.