News

On Monday 26th June, local primary schools attended The Hewett Academy in Norwich to take part in a Social Hackathon organised by Sir Isaac Newton Sixth Form Outreach team. Pupils were tasked with designing and creating solutions to social issues such as rising energy costs, affordable housing, water conservation and droughts.

In attendance were Norwich Primary Academy, Diamond Academy, Lakenham Primary School, The Free School Norwich and pupils from Hewett Academy. Each school entered two groups and each had the help of current or alumni Computing students from Sir Isaac Newton to help ‘hack’ their social issue.

Dr Trudy Coleman said:

“It was a fantastic day! The children who attended really showed how greater opportunities and interactions with computer science through education could cause real change - greater opportunities at KS2 can increase diversity in STEM careers in the future.”

Throughout the course of the day students had to develop a prototype to their proposed solution. Students were able to use Lego Mindstorm Robots, micro:bits and a range of electronics kits. The fun carried on outside with Dr Thomas North where students were able to launch bottle rockets and work out what would make each bottle go further, as well as an understanding of considerations needed when designing and building a working rocket.

Pupils were also given the chance to engage in a careers treasure hunt, finding out information from Norfolk Constabulary, the University of East Anglia and staff and students from Sir Isaac Newton Sixth Form. They learnt about the types of careers computer science can lead to, as well as an idea of what path they could take to gain more information about computer science and STEM subjects.

Supported by Sir Isaac Newton Sixth Form Outreach students, pupils from the attending schools were given advice and guidance through keynote speeches. Dr Oli Buckley, UEA,  opened the day with a fascinating talk about cybersecurity and John Greenwood, Norfolk Police, closed with a fun and informative talk on cyber crime.  

At the end of the day, there were awards from nor(DEV), the University of East Anglia and Inspiration Trust for different elements of the solutions provided including Innovation, Creativity and Teamwork. 

Mrs Emily Banks, Computer Science Subject Specialist Lead said:

“I was thrilled that students made it very difficult for me to hand out the Inspiration Trust Award which focussed on teamwork and resilience. It was clear that all groups worked very well together and could articulate how they decomposed their problems and delegated tasks among each other. I was impressed by the range of solutions the groups developed."

Diamond Academy came away with the awards for Innovation and Teamwork with The Free School Norwich winning the UEA Creativity award. 

Continuing the hard work and efforts of the Sir Isaac Newton Sixth Form Outreach team, Inspiration Trust is supporting these events to ensure that all pupils can interact and experience Computer Science as part of their curriculum.