A team of King’s School Computer Scientists have made it through to the finals of the Barclays National Tech Innovation Challenge.
They will be one of the top 12 teams in the country pitting their wits against each other at the prestigious event at Barclays HQ at Radbroke Hall near Knutsford.
The King’s School’s Technology team from Year 10, known as Spark, designed an app to enable children with disabilities to have wider access to the curriculum.
As pupil and nominated Project Manager Ben O’Donnell recounted: “Our app features automatic subtitle generation, a system to message teachers, a library of video lessons, links to Siri and Google for improved communication and a whole host of features.”
Fellow team member Holly McLellan added: “For the final we are exploring systems to generate brail, but we want to keep the details of that under wraps.”
Ben added: “Our generation is incredibly excited to be at the birth of the digital revolution and to be able to make an impact on an ever-changing world. The digital revolution enables and enhances communication and is essential in a global, interconnected modern world.”
Holly added: “We look forward to becoming really useful members of society who can make a telling contribution to improving the lot of mankind. Classical skills are very important, but learning about modern technology and how we can improve communication and create a better world is essential.”
The King’s School’s Head of Computer Science, Phill McKenzie, said:
“This is a very talented group of young computer scientists full of creativity and, as importantly, the intent to improve society. They are an absolute joy to teach.”