2024–2025 Highlights: Computing

There have been plenty of activities both inside and outside the syllabus in Computing this year.

Bebras Computational Thinking Challenge

Pupils from Years 7, 8, and 9 took part in the Bebras Computational Thinking Challenge this term. I am delighted to announce some exceptional results and achievements — 460,000 students participated this year!

There were some very impressive statistics in the junior challenge, with 133,476 participants. A Channing student has never before scored full marks in a Bebras challenge, so for six students to achieve this accolade is excellent!

The national average score was 125 compared to Channing’s average of 157. For the first time, 12 Channing students broke the 200-point barrier. Well done to all involved. Twenty-five students were awarded certificates of merit, and 18 received certificates of distinction. Congratulations to the following students who were awarded distinction and gold certificates and have qualified for the newly created “Coding Challenge,” which ran from 24th March to 4th April 2025, organised by The Raspberry Pi Foundation.

There were some equally impressive results in the intermediate challenge, taken by Years 8 and 9 students. A total of 240,618 students participated, with a national average score of 105 points. Congratulations to all Channing pupils who averaged 141 points!

More records were broken as nine students surpassed the previous record of 187 points, and one student exceeded the 200-point barrier with a total of 204 points.

Fifty-two students were awarded certificates of merit, and 52 received certificates of distinction.

Bebras Round 2: The Coding Challenge

Students from Years 7, 8, and 9 participated in the Bebras second round Coding Challenge. Previously, we had not received any awards in this round, so it is very pleasing to see success this year. This round is particularly challenging, especially the Navigator challenges, which require students to solve scenario-based coding problems at GCSE programming level.

In Year 9, congratulations to Marwa for being awarded Gold and Best in School, and to Eve for receiving a Distinction. Additionally, 44 Year 9 students achieved a Merit. Equally impressive were the 50 Year 8 pupils who attained a Merit for the same challenge.

The Year 7 students took part in the Novices Coding Challenge, which also involved programming solutions to a variety of problems. Penelope was awarded Gold, Distinction, and Best in School. Bea, Jasmine, Hattie, Helena, Madison, Valentina, Maia, and Erin all achieved Gold and Distinction awards. In total, 14 Year 7 girls received a Distinction and 31 were awarded Merit certificates.

Henney Computer Graphics Competition 2025

The Henney Prize for computer graphics is an award open to all girls in Year 7 who produce a piece of computer art using a graphics drawing application. There were some impressive entries demonstrating creativity and the ability to use the graphics tools effectively, with Aria B, Grace Ji, and Isi U highly commended. The overall winner was Agatha N.

Robotics and Coding Club

Mr Holmes ran an exciting robotics and coding club where students from St Aloysius’ built and programmed VEX IQ robots to carry bricks through an assorted course.

Gouled and Samuel were the first group to complete their robot build. They tested the functionality of the claw by grabbing and moving bricks from one side of the room to the other. They also competed against each other to see who could move the most bricks in a given time.

Python Coding Clubs

Year 10 pupils from Acland Burghley took part in the Python computing club at Channing. They learned many techniques about Python coding and finally created a hangman-style computer game.

The Computer Science department also ran two Python coding clubs for our pupils—one for beginners and the other for advanced programmers. Pupils in both clubs created basic games and simulations in Python. The Beginners Club, led with enthusiasm and skill by Year 8 student Amandine, saw remarkable success as she used PyCharm to develop a series of impressive games.

Robotics Workshop

On Friday, 24th January, 22 students and 13 staff from eight Hong Kong schools visited Channing to take part in a robotics workshop with Year 7 Channing students.

The students worked together in groups to program Marty robots to navigate an obstacle course. They learned about colour sensors and put their knowledge to the test in the afternoon’s competition.

All the students (and staff) had a great time and enjoyed not only learning about robotics but also about the different learning experiences in other countries.

Marty Robots

Pupils from Years 7 and 8 have been busy developing their programming skills by bringing a robot to life. The exciting project combined creativity and coding as students explored the fundamentals of robotics.

Year 7 pupils used Scratch block-based coding to control the robot, while Year 8 students tackled the challenge using Python. The project began with lessons on using loops and sensors to plan the robot’s route. Pupils then advanced to programming the robot’s arms to move and its facial expressions to change when encountering a person.

As a final challenge, students successfully coded a personalised greeting for the robot to speak upon meeting someone.

Model Network Rail Systems

Year 6 and Year 7 pupils had the opportunity to build their own train network. They wrote their programs in Scratch to move their individual trains along fixed routes. They also figured out the best use of colour sensors to alter the speed and direction of the trains. They wrote code to make the train pull a wagon and make a delivery at a train stop. Some of the tracks they created were so large that they could not loop back to the beginning. In those cases, they had to make the train sense there was no more track and change its route.

A challenging track was set up by Intellino train master Allen Tsui to move the train along a route with slopes, turns, and stations. The pupils used their maths skills to work out the weight of the trains and wagons. They used their physics knowledge to calculate the best speed to climb an incline and make a turn without falling off. Then, they applied their computing skills to program the train to move with those values at the required times. It was a fascinating competition with Sixth Form and Year 7 pupils competing against each other. In the end, they worked together to crack it.

Computer Science: Micro:bits

Year 7 and 8 pupils used their programming skills to create games such as a maze game and rock, scissors, paper. The pupils also made electronic badges. Year 7 pupil Valentina D created a model of a road speed limit checker. Two parts of the road are connected to the micro:bit and it can detect a car passing through them. The time difference between the two gates helps calculate the car’s speed.

New Scientist Live Festival

Year 10 Computer Science pupils attended the New Scientist Live Festival, where they had the opportunity to speak with scientists, attend lectures, and experience the wonders of science. From learning about sea creatures, nuclear fusion, hospitals of the future, quantum computers, learning CPR, controlling robots, to using VR headsets to fly a plane, there was so much to do. Here’s what the pupils had to say after the event:

“Every stall, workshop, and stage was full of interesting people who loved sharing their science and engaging activities like virtual reality roller coasters and a real RAF plane. There was even a life-sized dinosaur roaming around the stalls.”

“I tried an experiment where we played a card game to try to eliminate the bad variants of mosquitoes. Overall, I had lots of fun and learnt that all sciences are related in some way and have correlations with each other.”

“We learnt how ultrasounds work and how they are used across the body. It was fun to use an ultrasound machine ourselves during the demonstration. We listened to a talk about dog behaviours and learnt a lot. We watched robot displays, which were really interesting, and I particularly liked the robot that you could control the arms of. We also saw a solar display and used a telescope for the first time.”

“We were lucky enough to be taken to the New Scientist Live Festival, where we had the whole day to walk around, attend lectures, and learn new things about the world we live in. My friends and I attended several different talks, which were all very interesting and entertaining. There was a large range of topics, from mosquitoes to nebulae to medicine. There were many fun activities to do, the most popular being a virtual reality roller coaster ride. It was so inspiring to see so many successful people using science to do incredible things and help us progress as a society (while having lots of fun doing their dream jobs). It made me realise just how much I can do thanks to science.”

Year 8 Smart Doctor Activity

Year 8 pupils were given a choice of two Python challenges. The first was to write a Python program to diagnose a patient’s symptoms and suggest a treatment. The second was to train a doctor by creating a quiz with symptoms and asking the doctor for treatments. Congratulations to Holly Ketchell, who completed both options in one lesson. Below is a snippet of code for patient diagnosis by Saisha and the training model by Holly.

Year 9 & 10 Code a Symptom Checker

Year 9 pupils were challenged to code a rule-based system that checked symptoms input by the user via a series of yes/no questions; the program then attempted to diagnose an illness and advise possible treatments. Below is a snippet of code by Annata in Year 10.

Sixth Form Students Explore the Future of Privacy at Royal Society Lecture

Sixth Form pupils had the unique opportunity to attend the prestigious Royal Society Milner Prize Lecture delivered by Professor Artur Ekert, a pioneer in quantum information science. Titled Privacy for the Paranoid Ones: The Ultimate Limits of Secrecy, the lecture explored the role of quantum cryptography in securing communication against even the most powerful adversaries. Professor Ekert discussed how quantum entanglement—a once purely theoretical concept—now underpins cutting-edge methods of protecting privacy. Students were challenged to consider fundamental questions about trust, technology, and human choice while gaining insight into the real-world applications of advanced physics in cybersecurity.

Cyber Explorers Challenge

Pupils from Years 7 to 9 took part in the Cyber Explorers Challenge, a nationwide competition designed to introduce young minds to cybersecurity. Working in teams, pupils competed to solve a series of complex security problems, testing their logical thinking, teamwork, and digital skills.

Following the event, participants shared their thoughts:

Maia, Year 7
“On Wednesday, students from Years 7, 8, and 9 competed in a challenge called Cyber Explorers. It was a fun and educational interactive competition which tested our knowledge of cybernetics, computer security, features, and programs. Both team-building and racing against the clock, Cyber Explorers was an exciting experience for us all.”

Georgina, Year 7
“The Cyber Explorers competition was extremely fun and really difficult. We were put in small teams of four. We had to decode ASCII; it was so hard but also exciting. Even though my team didn’t answer all the questions, we got a taste of it—and also a taste of biscuits afterwards! It is an experience I will remember for a long time and I am glad I was chosen.”

Arina, Year 7
“The Cyber Explorers competition was extremely fun. We were in small teams and had to solve cyber activities. We had to work out how to protect computer networks from hackers. We also had to code and decode ASCII. It was hard but we got to work together and improved our teamwork! I really recommend trying next year.”

The challenge not only sparked interest in digital careers but also highlighted the importance of online safety in today’s world.

Girls in IT Challenge Day – Greenwich University

To celebrate International Girls in IT Day, a vibrant event was hosted by the Faculty of Engineering and Science, University of Greenwich, and Cisco. Year 9 students worked in teams with university pupils and Cisco professionals to tackle exciting challenges and compete for a prize. One pupil said, “We had great fun learning about AI from an industry specialist as well as applying techniques and knowledge into designing an app to solve a young person’s problem. It was very enlightening and taught us a lot about the process of planning and drafting.”

Congratulations to the team of Elizabeth, Roxy, and Alex for winning the prize.

Mr Holmes, Head of Computing