“I wanted to write thank you so much for the generosity and kindness you have shown me and the absolutely fabulous resources you have created. I feel my exams in the subject went rather well and I can only thank you for this; without your support I would have been certain to fail! I have in fact enjoyed the experience so much I am looking to take a Master’s degree in the subject! I visited the University of Bristol on Saturday and fell in love with the Computer Science course there and have booked open days for Cambridge, Bath, Loughborough, and Southampton. I honestly believe that if I did not have your resources and taught myself independently, I would not have fallen in love with the subject so thank you once again!
Unfortunately, my situation within school has worsened and I am unable to take the subject to A2 because there is nobody in my school able to mark the coursework. I am saddened by this as if the situation were any different I would definitely take the subject to A Level, but thankfully I don’t need to the subject to take the degree. However, I don’t want fellow students at my school to be in the same situation and before their exams, I began mentoring some of the Year 11 students in my lunchtimes and after school to prepare them for their exams and they seem incredibly positive about how their exams have been which makes me so proud of them!
Even though my school is not being particularly supportive with A2, using your resources to teach myself has really shown me what I am capable of with the right attitude and I am now taking Open University courses in cybersecurity and data science and an intensive MIT course in Intro to Computer Science with Python. I can’t wait to have more time to put the skills I have gained in the past year to practice! I am also writing a 5,000 word essay-style EPQ on how privacy has been compromised in the war against terror and whether this is ethical, something I wouldn’t be anywhere near as passionate about if I hadn’t researched it through taking the course.
I also don’t want any other young people to be put off computer science because of unsupportive parents or schools not offering the subject. I particularly want to target girls (at Bristol open day there were 5/6 girls and 100+ boys!) and I’ve found previous campaigns to get girls into computer science patronising and sexist so I am hoping to start my own! I am hoping to launch a website or some sort of online magazine featuring articles written by fellow young people to encourage others to take interest in the subject featuring interviews with computer scientists in industry and reviews; I really want it to be an opportunity for young men and women to contribute ideas into something professional that may inspire other young people to join in! I want to eradicate the intimidating factor and stigma of computer science and allow young people from all walks of life to get involved and get inspired. Even my little sister has caught the coding bug (excuse the pun!) and has abandoned her original plans of becoming a doctor to become a computer scientist and she said she, “”didn’t realise how cool the subject was!”” I really want to give others the opportunity to understand what the subject is, whatever their situation. I know you are both incredibly busy, but if you have any ideas for resources/inspiring people who might want to come on board it would be much appreciated!
I honestly believe I would not be this passionate about the subject if it wasn’t for the resources that you so kindly gave me! I really loved working though the tasks and they prepared me very very well for the exam. Thank you once again!”