You may be aware that over the last 2 years, we have been working with the team at Barefoot Computing to support primary teachers to deliver the Computer Science elements of the new Computing curriculum.
As part of our commitment, we have delivered free workshops to over 2,000 teachers in primary schools across the South-West. Feedback from these sessions suggested that further support was required to increase teacher confidence with practical programming, particularly within Scratch.
We listened to this feedback and worked with two of our most committed Barefoot volunteers, Martin Coath and Wendy Smith to develop a one-day Scratch course for primary teachers that, not only introduces and develops confidence coding in Scratch, but also covers how to plan effective lessons using the software. There is a strong focus on computational thinking and the importance of planning the solution on paper before diving into programming.
The majority of the attendees that came along to our most recent session at Plymouth University had not used or taught using Scratch before, but by the end of the day had made their own Incy Wincy Spider animations, programmed a maths quiz with scores and loops, and debugged a complex water cycle program.
And it has so far been very well received. The feedback from our recent session speaks for itself:
“What a fantastic day. Thank you so much. I feel my confidence in Scratch has done a complete 360 degree spin. I am now full of ideas to take back to school.”
“SO helpful - it will really impact on our school and T&L!”
“Today's course was accessible and thrilling. The trainers were knowledgeable and approachable.”
“Just what I needed. Lots of help and support. Thank you”
If you would like to book onto our next course at Exeter Golf & Country club in September or would like to express interest in attending a future course, please find further information here.
Everyone that comes along will have the following to take away:
- A guide to integrating Computing into the Primary curriculum – examples of how Computer Science, Digital Literacy and IT can be taught through 9 primary themes e.g traditional tales, celebrations, space, keeping fit & healthy
- Building blocks for coding in Scratch – this guide will equip you with the knowledge and confidence to develop bespoke projects in Scratch matching the interests of your pupils
- A collection of Scratch projects for use in the classroom
