Lower School Success this Term
30 October 2023 - Academic
As Head of Lower School I am always amazed at just how much the younger members of the school community get involved in both inside and outside of School. Many pupils take part in both internal and external competitions and pursue hobbies and sports at the highest of levels. We are proud of each and every one of them and their many accolades. I wanted to share with you a couple of the recent achievements of three Lower School pupils this term. You can read more below.
Miss Sally Harbour
Head of Lower School
Avyanna (UIII) – Success in Chess. Avyanna has recently taken part in the South of England Junior Chess Congress in October 2023 being named Best Girl for U13 and has qualified for the U12 Major category of the London Junior Chess Championship in a Berkshire qualifier. Avyanna also competed for the Wycombe Abbey chess team in the School’s first ever national qualifier in October. The team just missed out on qualifying coming joint second.
Avyanna said, ‘My Chess journey started in Pre-Prep when I joined my school’s Chess Club. I was the only girl from my year with three of my closest friends taking part in ballet while I played chess with the boys. I like to study the games of all good chess players and love how Judit Polgar plays the game with her style of attacking. Recently, at the British Chess Championships, I played a man aged 78 who was a great inspiration. Chess is a great mind sport that helps me focus on my studies. Although chess is a hobby, I am aiming to play for my country one day. To train for competitions, I just practice, practice, and practice! I make sure I’m calm before a game because stressing just puts more pressure on me so I make sure to promise myself that I will play the very best I can. I love chess because it involves analysing and strategic thinking; it’s like a big puzzle with lots of tricks and tactics that can be used. I will definitely continue playing chess at university and beyond.’
Sofia (LIV) – Launch of Mathletico. Sofia has recently developed a maths app with a vision of making maths more fun and accessible. The Mathletico App is a learning platform that teaches children aged 8 – 18 core skills mathematics such as BIDMAS, algebra and ratios. Children have access to randomised puzzles with unlimited time to practice and points to be won. Mathletico also includes a variety of practical maths where we use maths in our everyday lives.
Sofia said, ‘Since many children and even some adults believe maths is boring and unimaginative, I wanted to tell people that maths is a diverse and creative subject. So, I decided to create an app to show this. Starting the project from scratch, I developed the backend using Python. We chose Flutter as the front-end language as it allowed us to develop cross-platforms fast with good performance, and this meant that we could save both time and money by being able to use the same code for both iOS and Android platforms. At the end of the first phase, we managed to include over 140 topics and levels. The project was full of challenges as we encountered many software bugs and formatting issues, but these were all eventually resolved. Finally, the glorious day came! During mid-September, we were able to upload our app on both App Store and Play Store for iOS and Android users respectively. It all seemed so worth it in the end.’
Clodagh (UIII) – Young Writers Annual Showcase 2023 merit. Clodagh’s story, The Darkest Days, will be published in the Young Writers Creative Anthology.
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