CHILDREN from St Gorge CE First School had a chance to programme their own video games last week as part of ‘Programming for Primaries’ awareness week.

As part of a free workshop, the pupils got to design and programme a game with staff from ComputerXplorers to help demystify their new computing curriculum, which is being introduced in September, and get some hands on experience.

Ms Jeanna Weller, ICT co-ordinator at the school, said: “We are delighted to lead the way in programming and coding and to be amongst the first schools to take part in the inaugural Programming for Primaries Week. We are already well prepared for the introduction of the new computing curriculum and welcome the opportunity to give the children a taste of things to come from recognised specialists in this field.”

Fran Greenaway, director of ComputerXplorers Cotswolds & Wyvern, added: “It may be a challenge for non specialist teachers in the Primary sector to deliver the new curriculum for computing and know where to go to find resources.

“We know how hard it is for teachers to find time away from school so we are taking these sessions into local schools and look forward to sharing our knowledge and helping them to get ready for September’s computing challenges.”

The Government’s revised national computing curriculum for 2014 puts emphasis on teaching children how to write code, and pupils aged five to seven will be expected to understand what algorithms are, and to create and debug simple programs.