For the first time this year, all students from Year 7 up to Year 10 took part in the worldwide BEBRAS competition organised by Oxford University and the Raspberry Pi Foundation. 

Last year 2.5 million students from 56 countries took part in the annual Bebras Challenge, including nearly a quarter of a million from the UK. 

What is it about? 

The Bebras Computing Challenge introduces computational thinking to students in a fun series of puzzles. Computing is all about problem solving and computational thinking and the students got a chance to try their hand at solving interesting problems online under timed conditions. 

For example, a challenging problem for 16 to 18-year-olds could be based on recursion and fractals or coming up with logic rules for setting up a sensor for a farm for irrigation.  

Winning joint prizes for Best in School were Year 10s Danny Cuthell and Daniel Fletcher who are studying GCSE Computer Science, followed closely by William Light. 

An impressive 8 amazing students managed to get a Gold award which means they were in the top 10% of the UK. This also means they were invited to participate in the very prestigious Oxford University Computing Challenge, which takes place in February 2022.  They were Daniel Fletcher, Daniel Cuthell, William Light, Olivia Reynolds, Rebecca Cuthell, Parker Ward, Chloe Habicher and Jenson Tinkler. 

The top 25% participants in our school also received Distinction certificates and the top 50% got Merit certificates. 

I am sure you will all join me in congratulating all the students who took part and wishing the 8 students who got into the Oxford University Computing Challenge good luck!  

Mrs Roberts, Computing Department

Last week we opened our beautiful, new, state of the art Computer Lab. The Lab is part of the next phase of our site redevelopment and contains all brand new, high spec computers for our students. They’ve really enjoyed using the new space since it opened.

The Computer Lab follows the opening of our Creative Hub last year which is a bright, modern, flexible space for our students to use during practical subjects.

We are currently investing over £200,000 in our new Performing Arts Centre which is due to open to students before Christmas and will provide new changing rooms, toilets and practice spaces for dance, drama and music.

#living #loving #learning

Congratulations again to Mrs Dove.

Join us for the 2021 virtual SEND ‘Preparing for Adulthood’ fair

This year’s event will be held online from 18th to 22nd October 

Preparing for adulthood can be an anxious time for families of young people with additional needs and disabilities. In order to help families plan and know what options and support are available, we are pleased to announce Cumbria’s popular ‘Preparing for Adulthood’ fair is back again this year!

Aimed at families of young people with SEND from age 13 to 25, we have a full programme of live webinars across the course of the week, all available on Microsoft Teams. The full list of webinars will be available on the SEND Local Offer website from Wednesday 13th October. Have a look at the webinar timetable and plan which webinars you would like to attend.

+ VISIT THE PREPARING FOR ADULTHOOD FAIR 

We have worked with parents/carers and young people to plan this year’s event. Each webinar will be presented by an expert in their field, who will explain all about their service, who it is for and how to access it. There are webinars on apprenticeships, interview skills, supported living options, day opportunities, health and mental health transition from child to adult services, continuing health care, social and sporting opportunities, as well as presentations with post 16 colleges, drop-in sessions with SEND Alliance Cumbria, the new parent carer forum, and much, much more.

+ VIEW THE WEBINAR TIMETABLE FROM 13TH OCTOBER

The webinars are all ‘open access’, so you don’t need to register or put in any details. Just click the link for the webinar you want to go to at the appointed time and the link will take you straight there.

Also this year, we have an Information and Advice section packed full of resources for families to explore. Again we have worked with parents/carers and young people to plan what resources would be most helpful. There are lots of things, from details of support from disability associations, right through to information on mental capacity, guardianship and deputyship, alongside resources from all of our brilliant webinar presenters.

Please tell your colleagues, friends and family, and we hope to see you there for a very exciting and informative week!

Cumbria SEND

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