In light of the States’ recent drive to get more women into the IT industry, First Tower Primary School are doing their bit for the digital industry.
To date over 100 students, both boys and girls in Key Stage 1, have completed the basic Scratch programming language course, with many of them going further to complete the extended advanced course.
Currently, the advanced course has 6 pupils (3 girls and 3 boys). Amongst those on the advanced course is Patrik Bator who first joined the program back in 2016, aged 6. Patrik is now a helper at the club and aspiring to become a club leader. Patrik has built his own game called “dash and jump” which has 4 levels to complete as well as an intro, music, and changing graphics.
Molly Boschat, aged 7, joined the Scratch club back in January 2018. Molly is enthusiastic about Scratch, a programming language that enables students to make basic computer games with moving graphics, sounds, and colours by using simple colour coded blocks. She has sailed through the course, often asking for more challenging games to complete! Molly is now a Scratch helper and is keen to assist the next generation of year 1 and 2 basic Scratch coding students starting in January 2019.
The club run at First Tower Primary School is open to year 1 and 2 students, is free of charge to existing students, and run by volunteer Scratch leader Elaine Feltham. The project is supported by local software development company XRM.
Written By: Zachery Walsh O'Brien
Zachery is a Web Developer with a great eye for front end web development. He has studied Graphic Design, received a Higher National Diploma in Visual Communications, and interned as a Graphic Designer upon leaving college in a digital design agency in Ireland. Zachery originally focused on WordPress web design but has now diversified his skillset towards a web development role being able to leverage many front end languages and frameworks.
