The Bebras Challenge

The Bebras Challenge (Bebras is Lithuaniam for Beaver) is an annual computer science competition for primary and secondary school students around the world. With 54 member countries and more than 2.5 million participating students in 2021, the competition is the largest computer science competition in the world. In the UK, Bebras is organised and ran by the Hertford College of Oxford University supported by UKCT (United Kingdom Computational Thinking Challenges).

Students across the school have the opportunity to take part in this competition as part of their Computer Science lessons in Key Stage 3 (Year 7, 8 and 9). Students who opt to study Information Technology or Computer Science at Key Stage 4, or Computer Science or Digital Business Services T Level in Key Stage 5 also take part. The Bebras Challenge is a series of lateral/computational problem solving challenges. They require no prior learning or knowledge, but provide students with a series of scenario based problems which can be solved by applying different problem solving tactics. Hedingham School is proud to have been a "Bebras" school since 2015 with hundreds of students taking part each year.

Students are given a series of 18 questions (6 Section A, 6 Section B and 6 Section C) with each section being progressively harder. Students start with a score of 38, and can gain a maximum score of 200, and a minimum score of 0 (some questions lose you marks if you attempt them and get them incorrect).

Students are awarded either a Participation, Merit or Distinction based on where their rank within students of their age category. Students who achieve in the Top 10% nationally are invited to take part in the Oxford University Computing Challenge (OUCC). More information about Bebras and the OUCC can be found here: https://www.bebras.uk/.

The overall results for Bebras in each respective year are shown below: