11 October is Ada Lovelace Day – a remarkable female mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on a proposed mechanical general-purpose computer known as the Analytical Engine.To mark this day, a number of our Year 9 students joined other schools participating in a series of challenges run by renowned science facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) in Abingdon who mark the occasion by inviting teams of students to take on space-themed tasks.

The students were challenged to mend a stricken spacecraft that was on a mission to Mars. They used an online Arduino simulator to make a coded electrical solution to allow the spacecraft to land, to communicate back to Earth and to monitor the inside temperature. The girls collaborated to make the day enjoyable, even though the challenges were pretty tough to complete. We had an online mentor to hand who helped to navigate the solution. This was then followed by a short tour of the computer facilities at RAL and a careers talk.

Well done to all who bravely chose to do this and make it a fun experience.

~ Ms K Lycett, Head of ICT and Computing