Yesterday the whole school celebrated Ada Lovelace Day. This is an 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 are provided by external guests.

Year 7 enjoyed an Agile Thinking workshop delivered by IBM. During the workshop they were introduced to the concept of Agile Thinking, a tool used by IBM based on making iterative improvements to a process until you reach your acceptance criteria. Students got into teams and made lots of paper planes and then had to see whether they could fly them into a marked out box on the carpet, each time refining their process and criteria to get the best result. The excited noises coming from the classrooms told us they really engaged in the process, and a winning team from each tutor group were awarded IBM branded prizes. They also took part in a Maths Computational Thinking workshop and a special MFL workshop on pattern spotting in indigenous and minority languages.

Year 8 enjoyed a Humanities and English workshop, followed by a Computing workshop entitled AI for Oceans, followed by a Science workshop.

Year 9 participated in a Science workshop, Humanities and English workshop, Maths computational thinking workshop and Code Avengers Computing workshop.

Year 10 started the day with a careers panel with IBM. The IBM volunteers were mostly Young Professionals meaning they are not long in the world of work and so they were able to share valuable insights and advice with our students. Students also embarked on an IBM SkillsBuild badge - Fundamentals of AI. The IBM volunteers assisted the students as they worked through the badge process. Our Year 10s then enjoyed a workshop with Amazon volunteers talking to them about Apprenticeships.

Year 11 took part in a Computing workshop and an RE workshop with some lively debate around Ethical Implications of AI. They were also lucky to take part in a workshop delivered by Amazon on Apprenticeships – particularly relevant as they make their Post-16 choices. They then had a Design Thinking workshop delivered by IBM. 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.

Our T Level sixth formers played an integral role during Ada Lovelace Day. As the most senior students in the school, their volunteering included duties such as meeting and greeting our external guests, assisting teachers with science and computing workshops for some of the lower school. They joined the networking session where they chatted with guests from IBM, Deloitte, UWL and Amazon to name a few - his drew on the valuable experience they have gained during their placements in industry over the past year. The Year 12 and 13s also enjoyed an Apprenticeships workshop by Amazon, a Careers Panel with Deloitte and some SkillsBuild workshops delivered by IBM.

We invited some Year 10 Computer Science students from the Twyford CofE Academies Trust schools to Ada Lovelace again this year and they also enjoyed a full programme of events: including an inspiring workshop on Introduction to AI, delivered by YourTomorrow.org, an Amazon Apprenticeship’s journey and an Introduction to SkillsBuild delivered by Vikki Bradney-Spencer from IBM.

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!

We would like to thank all of our friends, colleagues and partners who helped make Ada Lovelace Day such a success.