Leighton Park School – Coding, Communicating and Connecting!
18 May 2017
Facing a Dragon’s Den style panel of judges of IT experts at Cisco, the world leader in IT and networking, might not be everyone’s ideal day out but for 25 girls from Leighton Park School it opened the gates to their dreams. On Thursday 27th April, thousands of girls worldwide were inspired by leading global companies in communication technologies as International Girls in IT Day took place, an initiative backed by International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
Twenty-five girls from Year 9 and 10 from Leighton Park, Shinfield Road, Reading, travelled to Cisco, the worldwide leader in IT and networking, also based in Reading, to celebrate the day that encourages girls and young women to consider careers in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).
Alongside Leighton Park School, girls from Westgate School, Slough, Springwest Academy, Feltham and Rivers Academy Hounslow, also took part in the event at Cisco. Girls spoke to a variety of employees at Cisco about their job roles, as well as getting a greater insight into the world of IT, as they learnt how to write code, plan how to connect everyday items to the internet, create their own in-school app and present it Dragon’s Den style!
Girls were empowered and encouraged to work within the ICT field, as they were shown the numerous roles available and addressed stereotypes associated with the
field. “Attending Cisco’s Girls in IT Day has enabled us to identify our full potential, to open the gates of our dreams, to know that we can excel and achieve whatever we put our minds to; from public speaking in front of a crowd of unknown faces, to recognising the evolution of our everyday devices.” commented Letitia.
Girls left feeling more motivated and inspired to pursue careers within ICT fields. “We gained a meaningful insight into the growth of technology and the future of the internet that overrules our lives as human beings. At the end of the day, each of us were able to realise the abilities and strengths we possessed throughout public speaking, as well as recognising our unique confidence shining through against other schools! As females, we are now strong, proud and independent women!” affirms Emma.
Leighton Park School’s ambition is to become a STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) centre of excellence and is hoping to host similar events in the future that inspire young people to see the opportunities available to them. We are in collaboration with UTC Reading who are working with the Institute of Engineering and Technology to host a series of talks on women that work in STEM. The next two talks are on the 8th May and 5th June, with speakers from UK Space Agency, Institute for Environmental Analytics and Culham Centre for Fusion Energy.