Digital Schoolhouse - weekly workshops for primary schools

We offer weekly Digital Schoolhouse sessions to Primary schools - these workshops continued online during the pandemic and we have been delighted to move back to in-person sessions.

Children learn coding skills and use these skills to programme robots in our computing department classrooms. There is a play-based approach to the curriculum and a careers-pathway element.

Aims

We aim to reach 1,000 young people a year through our Digital Schoolhouse and Esports sessions.

From the digitalschoolhouse.org website:

"Digital Schoolhouse together with Nintendo UK, uses play-based learning to engage the next generation of pupils and teachers with the Computing curriculum. Digital Schoolhouse is delivered by the UK games industry trade body Ukie and is backed by the video games industry and government. Our ingenious computing workshops are aimed at local primary schools across the UK. Delivered by our expert network of Schoolhouses and lead teachers, you can experience our unique approach to play-based learning through innovative activities and free adaptable resources. Underpinned by evidence-based research and combined with groundbreaking careers education, the programme successfully bridges the gap between education and industry."

Background

This partnership project was initiated by Chris Wilde, our Head of Computing and Digital Technology. The sessions have proven extremely popular, with spaces filled well in advance and a working waiting list in place.

Resources

RGS dedicates staff time from the Computing Department to deliver these weekly sessions. We also provide equipment for the robotics element and offer to fund travel to RGS for the workshops.

Impact

Digital Schoolhouse has centrally set targets for each 'schoolhouse' hub, which we are on target to meet.

Pupil Involvement

We invite students from Years 5 and 6.

Frequency

These sessions are ongoing and we hope to continue for the foreseeable future!