Pupils from a south Bucks school beat thousands of people to make it to the second stage of a global computer science competition.

Hannah Ali and Gracie Kunicki from Beaconsfield High School (BHS) finished in the top tenth of the top one per cent of entrants from around the country, achieving scores of 178 out of a possible 200 in the intermediate category of the 2017 UK Bebras Computational Thinking Challenge, which involves solving problems using computational thinking skills.

They competed against more than 70,000 candidates nationwide.

The pupils will now join just 30 other students from around the country at Oxford University in the second stage of the competition, designed to raise awareness of computer science in a “fun and rewarding” way.

Hannah and Gracie will take part in academic lectures at the top university, and be given the chance to explore an Oxford College, as well as take part in round two of the Bebras challenge and an awards ceremony.

BHS head teacher Rachel Smith said: “We are delighted that from the thousands of entrants we will have two representatives to take the challenge further.”

The Bebras challenges are made up of a set of short problems called Bebras tasks and are delivered online. 

The tasks are based on problems that computer scientists often meet and enjoy solving.

They can be solved without prior knowledge but require logical thinking.