A team of Scottish schoolchildren has won an inaugural coding world champions’ trophy. Sponsorship from Brightwork, the Glasgow and Edinburgh based recruitment company, provided the Woodfarm High School pupils with an opportunity to compete in the Jaguar Land Rover 4×4 Challenge at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.
‘Team Docs’, joined more than 150 young people at the world-famous F1 Circuit in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) capital for the competition. There, they took home the Coding Challenge Award, and were shortlisted for the Innovative Thinking Trophy.
Suzanne Mowat, 15, led the team which consisted of Rory Graham, 16, Jake Gibson, 15, Danial Tariq, 16, Rowan Roscher, 15, and Lewis Griffin, 14, The team programmed miniature remote-controlled four-wheel-drive vehicles they had designed and built for the competition, all in their lunch hours and after school.
Shan Saba, Brightwork’s director, added: “When we offered to sponsor the Woodfarm High School team, we wanted to encourage the uptake of science, technology, engineering, and Mathematics in schools.
“We are hugely impressed by the incredible performance of these young people, on the world stage. That they’ve won the first Coding Champions prize in the world is a stellar achievement, and we couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Dr Simon Hadfield, Principal Teacher of Science at Woodfarm High School, added: “We were the only school in Scotland which competed in the JLR 4×4 Challenge, and I’m very proud of Suzanne, Jake, Rowan, Lewis, Rory and Danial. They are a credit to the school, to Scotland’s standing in the world, and to the future of STEM education in the UK.”
The overall competition was won by the K-Evo team from Portugal, with second place taken by the Panthera team from Malaysia, and the bronze going to Fair Dinkum 4×4, from Australia. The competition finalists were from 16 countries, with 4 from the UK, but ‘Team Docs’ was the only Scottish team to make it to the global stages in the UAE.
Related posts
Interviews
Comment
Please mind the gap… or healthcare may fall
Imagine sharing a lengthy train journey with others. From beginning to end, imagine how often you might hear ‘mind the gap’ messages about embarking and disembarking safely. Picture how navigating…
Women Lead: My journey from Dragons’ Den to Silicon Valley
Following her appearance on Dragons’ Den, Sheila Hogan, serial entrepreneur, founder and chief executive of digital legacy vault, Biscuit Tin, shares her experience of her time in the Den and…
Look anywhere – the future is ‘aged tech’. But Scotland needs to be more adventurous
Scottish Care, as the representative body of independent social care providers of care home, care at home and housing support services, has been working over several years with colleagues in…
Women Lead: Engineer turned entrepreneur
We are always fascinated by other people’s stories. It’s how we connect, grow and learn from each other. Until very recently I always felt like I didn’t have a story to tell. Who…
‘Women – together we will change the dynamic in tech’
I was inspired to start a career in technology when personal computers were in their infancy and the internet decades away. My childhood dream of becoming a scientist was shaped by…
It’s time to change the future of tech apprenticeships – and we need your help
In his latest exclusive column for Futurescot, Ross Tuffee, chair of the Skills Development Scotland (SDS) Digital Economy Skills Group, calls on tech employers to get involved in shaping the…
What AI difference a year makes
Amazingly, it’s been one year since the publication of Scotland’s AI Strategy. And what a year it has been. Demanding but rewarding, with good progress made and great foundations laid…
International Women’s Day: It’s time to harness power of women in technology
As we celebrate International Women’s Day, I hope to be part of a future where barriers that prevent women from competing on a level playing field in the work environment…