Primary pupils excel at Catalyst taster day
The first Catalyst STEM Stream taster day took place on Saturday 10th July. Year 5 pupils from nine different primary schools faced a series of challenging mathematical and coding tasks. The standard of work from the pupils was excellent and they threw themselves into the challenges with enthusiasm. Working in teams, they worked together to solve the first set of problems and the winning team was presented with prizes and certificates.
After break, the pupils returned to the classroom for the second set of challenges of the day, where they had to try to work out a series of passwords to break into the school’s computer system! Unfortunately for us, all the teams managed to work out the codes and it took them less than an hour to pass all the coding challenges.
The sessions were run by Mr Watkins and Mrs Malik, who were both extremely impressed with the pupils’ ability, the speed at which they were able to understand the instructions and their drive and determination to complete the challenges correctly. Although many of the students hadn’t met before, they all worked really well in their teams and supported each other in their problem solving.
Dr Clapp, Assistant Principal at Nova, said: “it was wonderful to see how engaged the pupils were with the topics and how much they enjoyed the challenges. We are excited about the next session and the possibility that this group of students could be part of our first Catalyst STEM Stream in September 2022.”
Catalyst STEM Stream starts in September 2022; 30 places are available for students in Year 7. The next taster day is on 25th September.
To register for Catalyst, please visit www.novahreodacademy.org.uk/catalyst-stream.
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