CURRICULUM// KUDO & MATHS
KODU KING huge programming skill as well as being
fun to play.
The creative programming skills of 1st
Year pupils produced an impressive
range of computer games in a
competition voted on by the Pocklington
School pupils across all year-groups. Mrs Wilson, Teacher of Computing
and English, said: “The students have
shown real talent over the weeks and
the output has been staggering in terms
of ideas and gameplay.
All 1st year students spent Lent term
computing lessons learning how to code
in a visual programming language called
Kodu, which allows them to create
PC games by encouraging creativity,
problem solving, storytelling, as well as
programming. “Computer games are a huge growth
industry, as reflected by the fact more
than 140 students of all ages joined us to
try out the games and vote in the Kodu
final. The atmosphere was vibrant and
high-spirited and I was the proudest
Computing teacher as everyone
clearly found the games engaging and
enjoyable.”
Pupils followed the key processes of
design, implementation and testing, and
each class chose a competition finalist
through peer assessment. Two wildcard
entries were also selected by teachers
Mr Charles and Mrs Wilson.
The finalists were Belle Yeomans,
James Burton, Ethan Pym, Bella Foley,
Layton Loftus and Ruby Wells – all
chosen because their games showed
Games designed by the finalists included
mazes, races, capture the flag, football
and hunt the treasure – all great themes
with two player options.
Once the lunchtime session was over
the votes were counted and the winners
were announced: Ethan and his game
“Kick Off” nudged out rival Layton by
only two votes to take the top spot as
Kodu King 2018!
Mrs Wilson said: “I have been delighted
with the success of this programming
tournament and the interest it has
generated in my subject. Well done to
all students who have shown creativity,
understanding
of
computational
concepts and had fun in my lessons.”
MATHS
CHALLENGE
The Maths department had a team in
London earlier in the year completing
at the National Final of the Senior
Team Maths Challenge, finishing
28th out of the 86 schools there. The
team consisted of Louisa Cullen, Peter
Wu, Tom Bean and Peter Massey,
accompanied and coached by Mrs
Holly Shand.
We also had a team at Winfred Holtby
Academy, Hull in the regional final of
this UKMT competition. We finished
2nd behind Hull Collegiate and ahead
of Beverley Grammar in 3rd. There
were 15 teams in the competition.
The team was Harry Chacksfield, Ewan Robson, Zac Stewart, Adam Barnes; coached and accompanied by Mrs Holly Shand.
THE POCKLINGTONIAN
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