School of CS newsletter

Royal Society Computing Education Report.

Steve Furber has chaired a committee for the Royal Society that has produced a report "After the Reboot – Computing Education in UK Schools". The report was launched at the Museum of science and Industry in Manchester last Friday. the report identifies computing education across the UK as “patchy and fragile” and says "Invest tenfold in computing in schools to prepare students for digital world". There is a press release at https://royalsociety.org/news/2017/11/invest-tenfold-in-computing-at-schools/ and the report can be found via https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/computing-education/

Key findings from the report include: - 54% of English schools do not offer Computer Science GCSE - 30% of English GCSE pupils attend a school that does not offer Computer Science GCSE – the equivalent of 175,000 pupils each year - Bournemouth leads England with the highest uptake of Computer Science GCSE (23% of all pupils), with Kensington & Chelsea (5%), Blackburn (5%) and City of London coming last (4%) - England meets only 68% of its recruitment target for entries into computing teacher training courses, lower than Physics and Classics - Only 1 in 5 Computer Science GCSE pupils are female Computer Science education at schools is very important and we all hope, I'm sure, that the general picture will improve.

Robert. (article based on a message to the CPHC list sent by Ursula Martin)

Welcome to Su Smith who joins the School from Monday 13th November as lead Research Support Manager, covering Sarah Chatwin's secondment to FBMH. Su was previously a Research Support Officer within the Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences hub.

Su can be contacted at su.smith@manchester.ac.uk 

Please note the new SSO listserv email address – compsci-sso@listserv.manchester.ac.uk

Please use this one going forward.....

The fifth NewMind Network Sandpit workshop will take place on 27th & 28th November in Nottingham. Funded by the EPSRC, NewMind aims to bring together clinicians, EPS researchers, clinicians, charities, industry and service users to develop proposals for technologies to support and transform the management and treatment of mental health. Register here here

This week is Manchester Recycling Week (13 – 17 November) - The University would like to increase our recycling rate – we need to beat 30%!

For more information and guidance contact the ES team or visit the ES website