Aldborough pupils, officially Norfolk’s ‘most promising young computing coders,’ rescue kidnapped head teacher…
Judges were dazzled by Aldborough Primary School’s entry at The Norfolk Scratch-Off 2014, the computing competition for pupils aged 9-14. Though they were the only primary children out of thirty school teams, the Aldborough pupils came home crowned ‘most promising young coders.’ The Norfolk Scratch Off, held on 9th July at the UEA, was organised by Norfolk Computing at School (CAS). Competitors had to create a game with Scratch, the software used by many schools to help teach computer programming. The teams came up with a vast variety of ideas, from maze games to shoot ‘em ups. They were also challenged to produce an animation about Morse code using Scratch. Aldborough’s team comprised ten year olds Bruno Reeve and Redmond Shaw, aided and abetted by parent helper Dr David Doak. Their game features the school’s head teacher, Mrs Casburn, being captured by the evil Minoclops. The aim of the game, called The Aldborough Primary Quest, is to rescue the ‘damsel’ in distress. Judges were looking for programming elegance, testing suggestions, creativity, problem solving, team work and communication. Commenting on the boys’ winning the prize for ‘most promising young coders,’ Jerome Thompson of CAS said, “They were outstanding, a credit to their school and an inspiration to many others. They left us all ‘Scratching’ our heads and amazed at their creativity and attitude.” Head teacher Mrs Casburn said, “Bruno and Redmond had a wonderful time and the whole school is very proud of them. I’d also like to thank Dr Doak for his hard work. It just goes to show that you’re never too young to start coding!” If you’d like more information, please call the school office on 01263 761264 or email office@aldborough.norfolk.sch.uk.
