HE IS the Eastleigh students who is celebrating a 'brilliant' achievement.

Patrick Winter from Barton Peveril Sixth Form College came third in a UK-wide computing competition.

The UK BEBRAS Computational Thinking Challenge was held at the department of computer science at Oxford University.

The college said coming third in the competition is an impressive achievement for Patrick, as 5,174 students entered the first round of the Elite age group category which includes years 12 and 13 and only 43 students took part in the final at Oxford.

Patrick, who is a former Thornden School student, said: " Finishing third in the national competition came as a great surprise; it is an achievement I am incredibly proud of. The whole experience was brilliant, I particularly enjoyed visiting Oxford University and taking a look around. I would like to continue my studies within the STEM disciplines and have ambitions of becoming an Oxbridge student.”

Patrick said he is already looking forward to entering the competition once again next year.

He was presented with his third place certificate at a prize-giving ceremony at Hertford College at the end of January.

Student Samuel Barkes also represented Barton Peveril qualifying as one of the 43 finalists.

The contest is designed to get students excited about computing.