Pupils Impress With Their Creativity, Innovation And Teamwork At 2nd hack:jam

Last Tuesday, 46 pupils in Years 7-10 took part in the second Kingswood hack:jam.

Pupils started the event with a game of consequences which helped to develop the initial concept which they were to build.

Westwood pupils designed and programmed solutions using a micro:bit whereas students from Years 9 and 10 also made use of a kitronics prototyping kit.

All of the staff were extremely impressed with the enthusiasm and creativity that was on show throughout the event.

A wide range of ideas were generated throughout the event from an alarm which could alert the police when you were being attacked, a game which you could play to amuse yourself when you were in a lift all the way through to a prototype for a giant fan which would solve global warming by blowing all of the hot air into space.

Once students had developed their prototypes they presented a two minute pitch to the judges.

Creativity, innovation, teamwork and the quality of the pitch were all assessed by the judges.

In Years 7 and 8 two teams were unable to be separated so the joint winners are Team 1101 and Logic 2.0.

Team 1101 produced an item to help Lady Gaga escape from a prison in the middle of the sea and were made up of Leyla, Freddie and Izzy.

Team Logic 2.0 who were Charles, Oscar, Jago, Oliver and Jerry produced a device to aid escapes from Nigeria into the ocean during an apocalypse.

In Years 9 and 10, the competition was again very close.

The winners were White Hat Hackers who produced a working temperature gauge which illuminated different LEDs depending upon the ambient temperature.

All of the staff were extremely impressed with how the team managed to fully wire up and program the breadboard.

The team comprised Yuma, Lola, Olivia, Sienna, Dasha and Grace.

All three teams were recognised in Monday’s Whole School Assembly and were congratulated by Mr Morris.

Mr Edgell, Head of Computer Science, has thanked Dr Wood and Mr Snell for judging the event, and Mr Shah, Mrs Sergeant and Mrs Gardner for their assistance throughout.