On Saturday 4 March 2017, 8 pupils from Teesdale School and Sixth Form in Barnard Castle took part in the UK’s third ‘CodeWars’ programming event in Newcastle.
CodeWars is an international competition ran by Hewlett Packard that sets computer programming challenges to teams of students in cities across the world. It describes itself as the ultimate high school computer programming competition, pushing students to their limits in an energetic atmosphere.
Teesdale School’s Head of Computing, Ian Bain said that “We have a several very talented programmers at Teesdale and I wanted them to put their knowledge against that of the wider area and give some of them the opportunity to really stretch themselves and get a real feel for how important programming is. This is the third that CodeWars has been held in the UK and it is really great that we have been able to be a strong supporter from the outset.” 26 teams were present on the day from schools and colleges throughout the North East of England. Despite not winning a trophy on the day, all teams performed well and were able to demonstrate how good they are at solving problems.
All the pupils present really enjoyed themselves. One Year 11 pupil, Heather McLachlan, commented that, “It was a great experience that really helped put what we learn into context and it was a friendly and fun environment.” Another Year 11 pupil, Maclaren Wharton said that, “Code Wars was a fun and exciting event of programming and provided an insight into the world of programming.” Jake Knight, Year 10 also said, “Code Wars was great because the tasks weren’t your usual programming questions – they were much more challenging! But there was a good sense of reward when you got one right.”
Head of Computing, Ian Bain, passed on his thanks to all involved at HP, saying “I would like to thank everyone at HP for making CodeWars 2017 happen in the UK, especially those who gave up their time voluntarily both before, during and after the day to make it such a success.”
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