Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Bags 2 School project.    Please click the link for more information  https://bag2school.com/  

This week we took some time as a school to reflect on events happening in Ukraine and Europe. Students offered prayers and messages of hope which are now in our reflection room. This was chosen in order to represent that the world may have different leaves, but they are all part of the same tree.

As part of the Henley Youth Festival, Gig Night will be held at the Kenton Theatre in Henley on the evening of Thursday 10 March.

The event is open to all students in years 9-13 who would like to perform live at the Kenton Theatre. Bands, duos and solo performers are all welcome. No backing tracks are permitted. Each act can perform up to 15 minutes of music, depending on how many performances we will accommodate. 

Entry forms are available here: https://www.hyf.org.uk/_files/ugd/2ccb0e_f39c2130df9b4612b69d3a188c6e914c.pdf

Further details of the festival are available here: https://www.hyf.org.uk/

Fifty-two Year 10, 11 and Sixth Form students visited the National Museum of Computing last Friday, home to the world's largest collection of working historic computers.  Students got to follow the development of computing: from the Turing-Welchman Bombe and Colossus of the 1940s through the large systems and mainframes of the 1950s, 60s and 70s, to the rise of personal computing and the rise of mobile computing and the internet.

Year 12 student, Jess said "The Piggott School trip to The National Museum of Computing was a very interesting and educational experience. We were able to see the rebuilt Colossus computer and the WITCH (the world's oldest working digital computer) among many other pieces of technology.

As well as this, we took part in a fun programming workshop where we used a BBC micro-machine to program a game of snake. I enjoyed writing code in a different language using a type of computer that I hadn't used before.

I also thought that the 'Power of Primes' activity was amazing as it highlighted the importance that prime numbers play in cryptography, and it briefly taught us about the other maths involved in creating ciphers.

Overall I thought that the trip was great and the tour guides were very informative."

Other students said the highlights of the trip were:

"Experiencing the minds of computer scientists from the past."

"Programming a snake game with BBC basic."

"Learning about the history behind the enigma machines."

 

Over 500 students from Years 7 – 10 and 12 - 13 took part in the Bebras Computational Thinking Challenge last November for a chance to make it through to the Oxford University Computing Challenge (OUCC), a prestigious event in computational thinking. 

Of that number, 78 Piggott students scored in the top 10% nationally, automatically giving them a place in Oxford University’s ‘invitation-only’ event.

We had 3 students selected from Year 10 & Year 12, 12 students from Year 9, 18 students from Year 8 and a record number of 42 students from Year 7. 

The first round of the annual OUCC challenge is held online in schools and supervised by teachers with participants' solutions auto-marked by the OUCC system.

Following this, the top 20 students in each age group are invited to Oxford University to compete in the final. 

This is our third year participating in the challenge. Last year, Piggott twins Finlay and Oliver (Year 9) remarkably achieved a top 20 place after competing against 3,875 students nationwide in the Year 8 & 9 age OUCC category. 

In 2020, finalist Matthew Sullivan (Year 12 at the time) won the chance to spend the day at Oxford University attending seminars, a prize that inspired him to go on to study at Oxford University.

The OUCC is an invitation-only event which aims to encourage students to develop their skills further and produce programmed solutions to computational thinking problems.

Just before the end of Term 1, students received their certificates.  Take a look at the photos here:

 

Students and their families are usually invited to witness the presentation of A-Level and Level 3 certificates. Unfortunately, in light of the circumstances, we have been unable to hold this presentation evening and would like to invite students to collect their certificates from main reception during the school day. 

On Wednesday 24th November, the Wokingham based charity Soulscape delivered a PSHE workshop to the Year 10 pupils. Soulscape partners with schools in Wokingham and Bracknell to help deliver effective RE and PSHE lessons, and to create a space where pupils can talk about sensitive issues. Soulscape partnered with sixth form pupils from READ College, Reading to deliver their OBJECT Workshop which explored issues around pornography, relationships and self-image.

They delivered a brilliantly choreographed, honest and thought-provoking 20-minute theatre presentation followed by a 25-minute small group discussion, led by the sixth form performers.

It was an excellent opportunity for the pupils to engage with a sensitive topic and to explore follow-up questions with leaders closer in age. The feedback from Year 10 was extremely positive, with most finding the session very helpful, educational and relatable. They appreciated the open environment, honest conversation and theatre performance that highlighted the impact of pornography on relationships in young people.

If you're heading out to by your Christmas tree, local Sheeplands plant nursery, cafe and farm shop is supporting the PTAs of local schools this Christmas.