2015-02-12 BCS Bedford School Challenge 2015

Press Release

Students from middle schools in Bedford Borough will gather at Cranfield University on Friday 19 June at 2:00pm to find out if they have won the Bedford BCS Challenge, organised by the Bedford branch of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, together with Bedford Borough Council.

Over a hundred Year 7 and 8 students from local schools took part. The 20 teams who took up the challenge were asked to do the following tasks:

  • Year 7: Use Scratch to illustrate the hardware and software components that make up computer systems, how they communicate with one another/ other systems
  • Year 8: Use Alice to produce a game which supports student learning in another curriculum subject. Use a blogger to reflect on highs and lows of the project as it develops

Dr Ip-Shing Fan, Chair of the BCS Bedford Branch, said:

The aim of the competition is to help get schoolchildren interested in computer science and encourage them to use computers creatively. The response had been great and we've had some absolutely superb entries. It's fantastic to be working with local schools and potentially inspiring students to consider careers in the IT profession."

Students have been judged on their creativity; how they selected, used, combined and presented images and text; the appropriate choice and use of programming instructions and software; the clarity of the finished presentation in demonstrating the topic.

Prizes will be presented by Detective Superintendent Jon Gilbert, Force Authorising Officer, Bedfordshire Police, who is responsible for cybersecurity locally.

D/Supt Gilbert said:

"Initiatives like this are absolutely vital to educating young people about computer science and not only the risks, but also the positive benefits, associated with the growing cyber world. At Bedfordshire Police we already work very closely with schools to share knowledge and understanding about the threats posed by cyber-crime so that they can use technology in positive ways, such as those devised by the competition winners today. This kind of work could well inspire the police digital investigators of the future."

Prizes which include trophies, medals and electronic coding kits will be awarded at Cranfield University. The BCS Bedford Challenge is also supported by TNMOC (The National Museum of Computing) and Pilgrim Learning Teaching School Alliance.

Photo opportunity details:

Time: 2:00pm ahead of the announcement at 3:00pm
Location: Forum, Whittle Building (52), Cranfield University, Cranfield, MK43 0AL

The event will showcase the submissions and the winners will be presented with prizes.

Please confirm your attendance in advance with either: Ip-Shing Fan: I.S.Fan@cranfield.ac.uk Lisa.Ryder@mybiddenham.com or Jacqueline.Emkes@mybiddenham

For further information
Amanda Matheson
Press Officer
BCS The Chartered Institute for IT
First Floor, Block D, North Star House, North Star Avenue, Swindon SN2 1FA
Tel: +44 (0) 1793 417 417 | Direct Dial: +44 (0) 1793 417 625 |
amanda.matheson@hq.bcs.org.uk | www.bcs.org


Other News Items


2024-07-04 BCS BBN School Challenge Awards 2024
2024-03-12 BCS BBN School Challenge 2024
2023-03-04 BCS Bedford School Challenge 2023
2022-07-07 BCS Bedford School Challenge Awards 2022
2022-01-31 BCS Bedford School Challenge 2022
2022-01-30 BCS Bedford School Challenge 2021 winners
2021-03-10 BCS Bedford School Challenge 2021 Launch Video
2021-03-10 BCS Bedford School Challenge 2021 Launch
2021-02-15 BCS Bedford School Challenge 2021
2020-12-01 BCS Bedford School Challenge 2020 winners
2020-07-03 BCS Bedford School Challenge 2020
2020-02-11 BCS Bedford School Challenge 2020
2019-11-30 BCS University of Bedfordshire TUI Hackathon
2019-11-27 Review of IBM Blockchain Workshop
2019-11-14 Review of Ransomware Kill Chain and Defence
2019-10-23 Review of Cybercrime Prevention
2019-07-24 University of Bedfordshire Student Prize
2019-01-21 BCS Bedford School Challenge 2019
2018-02-26 BCS Bedford School Challenge 2018
2017-11-11 TUI Hackathon
2017-07-12 BCS Bedford Student Prize
2017-01-19 BCS Bedford School Challenge 2017
2016-01-09 BCS Bedford School Challenge 2016
2015-02-12 BCS Bedford School Challenge 2015
2014-06-25 BCS Bedford School Challenge 2014
2014-06-05 Open University BCS Student Prize
2014-06-05 Cranfield University Student Prize
2013-06-06 University of Cranfield BCS Student Prize
2013-03-15 University of Buckingham BCS Student Prize
2013-03-14 Dr Richard Maddison
2011-11-23 Open University BCS Student Prize
2010-06-10 Cranfield University BCS Student Prize

BBC News