125 of our A Level Computer Science students recently participated in the Elite Bebras UK Challenge, competing against 14,570 students nationally.

The challenge is designed with a focus on computational and logical thinking, and all students who score in the top 10% nationally then qualify to participate in the Oxford University Computing Challenge (OUCC) and receive a gold award.

We are delighted that 16 of our students placed within the top 10% and were invited to take part in the OUCC in January 2024. Competing against 1457 students nationally, our students achieved some outstanding scores!

Some notable achievements include:

Thomas Cooper, who was graded a Merit in the OUCC and was the highest scoring Greenhead College student overall. Thomas scored in the top 10% of the OUCC and in the top 1% of original Bebras cohort.

Jessica Burton, who was the highest scoring A1 student from Greehead College and placed in the top 15% of the OUCC and in the top 2% of the original Bebras cohort).

Congratulations to all 16 students who qualified for the OUCC. To achieve qualification is an outstanding achievement as this competition is designed to specifically put the best problem solvers and programmers to the test!

Names as follows: Thomas Cooper, Jessica Burton, Luke Barraclough, Aaron Crosbie, Ayush Gautam, Jeremy Stocks, James Garfield, Kacper Struziak, Mayon Gupta, Toby Stringer, Ethan Bajulaiye, Nikash Shinde, Logan Bullett, Adlan Albakov, Sai Pallavajjala and Chloe Tancinco.

Well done to all 125 students who participated in the competition.

A bespoke app, created for the RSPCA by A2 student Nick Marshall, has been commended by the charity and will be launched to the public later this spring.

Nick, who is hoping to go into a career in Software Engineering, developed the majority of the ideas for the app during the College’s Step Into Your Future week in June 2023, alongside his peers, but has since taken the development of the app further, working closely with the RSPCA representatives to get a full understanding of what features they required. After months of hard work (alongside his studies), Nick reached the final goal, a point where the local RSPCA have now taken delivery of the app and are now in the stages of rebranding it for an official release.

When asked about the features the app has, Nick said “The app has been designed to allow for better and easier communication between the local RSPCA and its supporters and volunteers. It features an updates tab, where users can be notified of things happening within the local RSPCA, an events tap where users can view upcoming events and all the event information, a maps tab to allow users to see nearby RSPCA branches, and an animals tab where the RSPCA can post photos of animals that either need a home or are being rehomed.”

Fay Gibbons and Lauren Moore from the RSPCA have both showered the app with praise, stating “We’ve launched it in-house with our staff and volunteers who think it’s amazing and you’ve really opened up our eyes to this new communication tool that can seriously benefit our charity!”

They have even published an article on their website publicly thanking Nick for his hard work on the app – https://www.rspcahalifaxhuddersfieldbradford.org.uk/news/thank-you-nick-greenhead-college-huddersfield/

A very worthwhile use of Computer Science skills and a great way of networking with a local business and the community, all while building up a portfolio. Excellent work Nick!