Coding crazy - Year 9 success at the University of Sheffield

Year 9 girls invited to the Regional finals of a National STEM challenge (Whole School - 11/01/2017)

Danice Bowles and Milly Cunningham-Siddall boarded an early morning train from Nottingham to Sheffield on Tuesday 10th January 2017. Their destination was the Diamond Building at the University of Sheffield, where they had been invited to take part in the Regional finals of a STEM competition. In June 2016, the two girls had worked alongside two students from Nottingham Academy on a STEM project and had gone on to win the Nottingham heats. They were subsequently invited to Sheffield to participate alongside 15 teams from across the whole of the East of England. The students were given an introduction to the building and then given their challenge. This involved coding a Lego robot to navigate it's way around a complex track, identifying colours and making sounds as it traveled. There was no teaching of Java, the coding programme used, and the girls had to show resilience and determination to get the robot to move. They were absolutely fantastic and did not give up. At the end of the challenge time, the robots were tested. The judges commented on the complexity of the code that the girls had chosen to use and were impressed with the angle at which the robot traveled. Although Danica and Milly did not go on to win the challenge, we are immensely proud of their representation of the school and their determination. Well done girls!