News & Headteacher Blogs

On 23 November, Computer Science teacher, Mrs McClure accompanied eight of our Year 8 girls on a trip to the Microsoft Campus in Reading to attend the popular DigiGirlz event.

On arrival we were all overwhelmed with the amazing facilities and ultra-modern buildings.  There were 100 girls in attendance, from all over the country.

The day kicked off with a motivational talk from Cindy Rose (CEO Microsoft UK). Being a woman in tech herself Rose is passionate about inspiring young girls to pursue their interest in STEM subjects: “Women represent just 30% of Europe’s ICT workforce. Simply put, the industry is overlooking an important untapped resource, and the sooner we develop a strategy to empower young UK women in STEM, the better we can prepare for and shape the future.” Rose gave the girls a brief history of industrial revolutions, and the realisation that the 4^th industrial revolution is happening “right now” and that we are all part of it; exciting times!

All fired up, the girls were set to work in groups of four to create a piece of tech to solve a problem for a person with a specific need or difficulty. They were provided with BBC Micro:Bits, along with accessories and craft materials. There were also Microsoft employees on hand to help with coding, pitching and generally offer guidance. The day would culminate in the girls pitching their idea to the panel of judges, which included Cindy Rose!

During the day there was also a talk on Machine Learning, from a female Computer Science graduate, Amy Boyd who is now employed as a Cloud Developer at Microsoft and another Q&A session where the girls could ask questions to a panel of female apprentices and graduates about their jobs and route into tech and Microsoft.

A thoroughly inspirational day!