St Mary's Junior School is the rising star in the Bebras Computing Challenge
In the second week of November, all of the girls in Years 2, 4 and 6 took part in the ‘Bebras Computational Thinking Challenge 2023' during their Computer Science lessons, the results for which have just been released. This is an online competition run by Oxford University, which involves solving complex problems against the clock, using computational thinking skills such as algorithm design, pattern recognition, logic and abstraction. Our girls competed in their respective age categories against schools from all over the UK (over 408,000 students in total) and the competition also ran in over 50 other countries across the world.
This is the fourth year that St. Mary’s Junior School has taken part in the competition, and we are absolutely delighted with the results that our girls have achieved and how well they compare against other schools across the country.
Our Year 2 girls' average scores were 59% higher than other National schools' averages, the Year 4's averages were 25% higher, and the Year 6's up by 22% compared to the regional average scores.
Here's a breakdown of the stats:
| Year 2 results |
Minimum Score Achieved |
Average Score Achieved |
| St Mary's Junior School |
55 |
89.6 |
| Cambridgeshire |
21 |
57.1 |
| National |
21 |
56.6 |
| Year 4 results |
Minimum Score Achieved |
Average Score Achieved |
| St Mary's Junior School |
60 |
115.0 |
| Cambridgeshire |
20 |
96.7 |
| National |
20 |
91.8 |
| Year 6 results |
Minimum Score Achieved |
Average Score Achieved |
| St Mary's Junior School |
47 |
99.3 |
| Cambridgeshire |
8 |
90.5 |
| National |
2 |
81.1 |
In addition to results at a whole school level, the girls have also received certificates for their individual achievements compared to national performance data, with the ‘Merit’ and ‘Distinction’ categories for exceptional performances being achieved by over ¾ of the girls in Year 4 and Year 6, and all of the girls in Year 2, as follows:
| Age Group |
Merit |
Distinction |
Above Mean National Score |
| Year 2 |
9% |
91% |
91% |
| Year 4 |
32% |
52% |
84% |
| Year 6 |
50% |
35% |
83% |
Mr Severy, their teacher and Computer Science Coordinator for the Junior school, was delighted for all the girls, highlighting just a few of the outstanding results by saying:
"Many congratulations to Anna D-P. (100%), Cecilia O'D. and Heidi S-H. (100%) and Emma H. (81%) for achieving the highest scores in their age groups and being awarded ‘Best In School’ certificates. In addition, Anna, Cecilia and Heidi achieved the joint highest scores in their age groups in the whole UK!"
We are also delighted to announce that six of our Year 6 girls, Emma H., Molly S., Anthea E., Anati L., Amy B., and Grace W. achieved scores in the top 10% nationally and have been invited to participate in the online ‘Oxford University Computing Challenge 2024’ in January next year. Eight girls now in Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9 have also been invited to participate as a result of their exceptional performances in last year’s OUCC competition.
"The girls worked extremely hard during the challenge and demonstrated not just their computational thinking skills, but also enthusiasm, determination and perseverance. They should all be extremely proud of what they have achieved."