Last week, we shared the inspiring return of Nour Abunada and Rehman Khan Tasawar, now thriving as degree apprentices with Barclays. Today, we’re excited to provide an update following their talk and the successful launch of our T-Level competition.
Competition Judges - Rehman Khan Tasawar (Barclays Apprentice), Charlotte Jacklin (Y2 Student Rep), Nour Abunada (Barclays Apprentice), Charlie Bainbridge (Y2 Student Rep)Nour and Rehman, along with our incredible Year 2 student reps, Charlotte Jacklin and Charlie Bainbridge, judged the results of the weeklong challenge.
The task? Develop a Python-based application for providing quotes on bulk smartphone purchases. The competition tested key skills:
✅ Planning: Students crafted Gantt charts to manage their time.
✅ Design: They developed decomposition models, pseudocode, and flowcharts.
✅ Coding: Teams built working Python programs, following PEP8 guidelines.
This was more than just a challenge – it was a fantastic learning experience, offering our students a taste of real-world industry practices and boosting the skills they’ll need for their coursework.
Judges with the winners - Adrian Mazur, Dante Toole (Outstanding Individual for showcasing excellent Project Management skills), Sakib Chowdhury, and Maxwell Odia.
Our T Level Digital Production, Design, and Development (DPDD) students also joined to offer guidance and feedback to first-year students on their projects. Here’s what Nour and Rehman had to say:
💬 "The technical knowledge students have now is beyond what we had in Year 1!" – Rehman
💬 "The students did incredibly well—every team went above and beyond. Very impressive!" – Nour
Judges with Taylor Madden, who won the Outstanding Individual award for showcasing excellent Coding skills.
It’s clear that the bar keeps rising, and we couldn’t be prouder of all the teams involved!
