computing

We were invited some months ago by Professor Stephen Heppell to attend the BETT Show, specifically to share our knowledge and understanding of using ICT in school. Our role was to provide support to the Feature Stand on this years theme of Big Data.

Nine children were accompanied by ICT Leader, Claire Snailham and Head Teacher, Jonathan Furness.

The children were demonstrating their knowledge of programming in two languages, Scratch and Python. They also explored how a programmable robot (PiBot) can be operated using a Raspberry Pi controller and motor interface board.

We were very excited to be interviewed by none other than Rory Cellan-Jones who was interested in finding out what children are already doing with programming, but also how well schools across the UK are prepared for teaching Computing and Coding to schools from September.

A rather nice piece was edited and broadcast on the BBC six o'clock news. Here it is:

Oliver G demonstrated tremendous courage when he asked to present on the stand. He had worked on his presentation in his own time using his own robot as his inspiration, having bought it from a recent Raspberry (Pi) Jam event. Wow. I was completely taken aback.

I am so proud of our children. They have certainly earned their place at this event with their continued commitment and enthusiasm.

The children had a brilliant day and have come back to Epping buzzing with ideas for how we can develop ICT further in our school.

Take a look at some of the articles the children have produced on their blog site.