Year 8s Conquer Code in National Competition
You may ask yourself the question, what exactly is code? Â
Well, our Year 8 Robotics & Coding class may be able to tell you a thing or two!
Last week, the girls completed the five-week National Computer Science Schools Challenge (NCSS), tackling 40 coding-based problems in Python programming language. Some of the problems were extremely difficult and required a great deal of persistence, organisation, and determination to solve!
This year, over 15,000 students competed in the Years 7/8 stream, one of the largest numbers ever seen!
We are excited to announce that we had a record seven girls this semester receive Perfection cerftificates, with perfect scores of 400 points and a place on the National Leaderboard! A massive congratulations to the following girls:
- Emily Bleakley
- Lucy Carmody
- Jasmine Collins
- Ruby Marks
- Shanae Maher
- Anahat Singh
- Rachael Wu
We also had one of these students achieve a Perfection score on the National Leaderboard for the Years 9/10 stream! Rachael Wu, completed 80 coding problems in total, double the number of the rest of the class, competing with Year 10 students and besting them.
Some of the problems she solved were mind-bendingly difficult; on par with university-level computer science courses.Â
A special mention must also go to the following girls, who received High Distinction certificates for their efforts:
- Hannah Binns
- Sienna Pitt
- Sophie Windram
Here is what some of the Year 8 Robotics & Coding students had to say about their experience competing in the NCSS:
I could use what I have learned in the future by being a problem solver rather than being someone who always asks for help the second I hit a wall in life. Coding also helps me concentrate better after having to think hard to figure out one of the activities. So, my patience levels as well would have increased so that I can tolerate many hours doing complicated activities or work. Zara De Rossi
Python teaches maths and problem-solving skills. In most jobs, you will need to know and understand certain levels of math, and you need problem-solving in your everyday life, all the time. If you can code, you could also make your own websites, and it makes learning other codes easier, as they often use very similar syntaxes. Shanae Maher
It’s okay to make mistakes. At first, when I started writing my code, I would make sure it was picture perfect. This way I wasn’t learning from my mistakes, I was letting others correct me without me understanding why. It would disappoint me when I would not get it right on the first mark, but it helped me understand my mistakes and learn from them. This way, I knew what was wrong and what needed fixing. Everyone makes mistakes. We just practice for them to not become an issue. Anahat Singh
I can use what I have learned in future Robotics & Coding lessons, but I can also use it to create brand new things online. Today, technology is such a big part of our lifestyle, and it will be very handy in the future if you know how to code! Right now, we have so many resources we can use to create new things, so knowing how to code opens so many new possibilities and opportunities! Gabrielle Ranallo
If you’d like to learn more about the NCSS, click here.
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Author: Santa Maria College
Santa Maria College is a vibrant girls school with a growing local presence and reputation. Our Mission is to educate young Mercy women who act with courage and compassion to enrich our world. Santa Maria College is located in Attadale in Western Australia, 16 km from the Perth CBD. We offer a Catholic education for girls in Years 5 – 12 and have 1300 students, including 152 boarders.
