Last month, students from Years 7 – 11 took part in the Bebras Computing Challenge. Each participant answered questions testing their computational and logical thinking. The following were the top 10 performing students in the school for their respective categories:

 

Juniors (Year 7)

Nila Arulmurugan (Best in School, Junior)

Alice Johnstone

Alex Yazaki-Montes

Jamie Curry

Joseph Hunter

Eddie Read

Brodie McKenzie

Georgina Rushmer-Wilson

Josie Appleton

Alice Kirby

 

Intermediates (Years 8 & 9)

Jamie Fry (Best in School, Intermediate)

Ben Ransom

Eddie Appleton

Penelope Neilson

Oliver Robins

Oliver Comber

Hansika Bolli

Madeline Hall

Sam Goodwin

Florence Chalk

 

Seniors (Years 10 & 11)

Timmy Wraight (Best in School, Senior)

Johan Giaever-Enger

Adam Kateregga

Ollie Steele

Jacob Johnson

Frederick Johnstone

Casper Nolan

James Houghton

Henry Chalk

Clara Zeferino

Congratulations to all participants, with special mention to Jamie Fry, who achieved a perfect score of 200. Only 91 out of 209,744 students nationwide achieved a perfect score in this age group, which makes Jamie’s achievement incredibly impressive!

78 St Bart’s students received a Gold certificate for achieving a top 10% score in their respective categories and therefore are now invited to participate in the Oxford University Computing Challenge (OUCC). The OUCC is taking place between 15 – 19th January 2024. This event encourages students to develop their skills further and produce programmed solutions to computational thinking problems. We wish them all the best!

Last Friday, the Sixth Form hosted its annual Winter Ball. The event is a hugely popular fixture in the Sixth Form social calendar and was a sell-out. The 2023 theme was Winter Wonderland and the hall was dressed in its best sparkly finery, as were the students. Bad Rep and a DJ set from Alleyne provided the tunes. The night raised over £500 for the Sixth Form charity, Sebastian’s Action Trust, and was a brilliant success.

A huge thank you to the Winter Ball Committee led by Sophie Casey, Nya Taank and Bella Warner, and to all the staff, particularly the Sixth Form team, who supported the event.

On Tuesday 31 October, the Economics Department took 30 students to a conference ‘The Post Pandemic, Post Brexit Guide to the UK Economy’ in London. This conference was a fantastic opportunity for students to get an insight into the real world of Economics and the links with the world of politics. Students listened to various examples of how the theory they have learned is being applied in the real world.

They also were able to hear about some new thinking in Economics, which considers the impact of economic growth on the planet.

The speakers at the event were –

• Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP, Shadow Secretary Northern Ireland
• Harriett Baldwin MP, Treasury Committee
• Dr Charles Smith, University of Wales, A Level Chief Examiner
• Professor Alan Manning, LSE
• Professor Kate Raworth, Doughnut Economics
• Mark Littlewood, Institute of Economic Affairs
• Vicky Price, Centre for Economics and Business Research
• Carl Emmerson, Institute of Fiscal Studies

“It was a very enriching experience that gave me a first-hand view of what Economics was like in the real world. Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth was, for me, the most interesting, as she gave a new perspective into how we should define economic growth in the 21st century.”

William Makant (13C6)

“I found the Economics conference to be an eye-opening experience into the applications of Economics in the real world; having the insight into how studying Economics pays off provided an outlook into the subject which we, as a class, would not have seen otherwise. We were given an in-depth explanation of the use of the subject and its many different possible effects on our futures.”

Marco Pricopi (12C4)