IBM helped us to deliver another fantastic Ada Lovelace day yesterday. Ada Lovelace Day is annual event to celebrate and raise awareness of the contributions of women to STEM fields. We mark this day by providing the students with a full timetable of workshops, keynote speeches and events - many of which were delivered by IBM.

IBM delivered an Agile Thinking workshop to our Year 7s. They ensured it was a fun session by briefing them to make as many paper aeroplanes as they could to a certain spec. Judging by the excitement coming from the classrooms, we know they had a brilliant time and learnt some valuable skills.

IBM delivered meaningful career panels to our Year 10 students giving them insight into their career paths and route to industry. They then got them set up on SkillsBuild and started on the Fundamentals of AI badge. Year 11 were introduced to IBM's Design Thinking workshop. Enterprise Design Thinking is a technique used by IBM to understand the customer’s problem and create a tailored solution that tackles the root cause of the problem. The students were encouraged to ideate around a client brief and then present their ideas back to the group. The T Level students were also set some SkillsBuild activities by the IBMers.

All students also attended a Keynote speech delivered by Ella Ovenden – an AI & Analytics Consultant at IBM. At just 22 years old, Ella is one to watch, already being the youngest ever awardee of the Top 20 Women in Data 2024 series! Ella shared her route into IBM, candidly reflecting what she would tell her younger self – Be Curious, gain Skills for the future and to Make the Leap. We hope that our students feel encouraged to Be Curious and Make the Leap themselves after such an inspiring day! Thank you to IBM for help making the day possible.