Reflecting back to a wonderful day spent at Osmani Primary School, Tower Hamlets, on our 5th Bupa Coding Day, which ran on Wednesday 13th March!
It was a complete delight to visit the school in person with AL the Robot, our wonderful Get with the Program team, and volunteers from our fabulous sponsors Bupa. Thank you to Remi Atoyebi, Asma Hassan and your teaching and support staff for a warm welcome to Osmani Primary, and for accommodating our extended team including videographer and photographer!
The excitement was already palpable after the intros, a practice round of 'Robot, robot go, go, go, follow your algorithm, don't be slow', and the children attentively watching the main video before embarking on their coding activities ... BUT, when the real-life 'Professor' Trice announced AL the Robot was waiting to make her appearance, it moved up another level - such is the joy of presenting to Years 1 & 2 (5-7 year olds)!
It's always so wonderful to see the children interacting with the coding activities and being able to visit in person also enables us to hear the terms that they have learnt being put into practice.
One highlight was overhearing a Year 2 child explain that “an algorithm is a code, a program, a step-by-step." Precious moments which keeps us doing what we do!
Present on the day were members of the Bupa Global Technology senior leadership team who had come to see their sponsorship in action. But more than just observing, they gave their time as volunteers to help support the children with the activities, whilst wholeheartedly joining in with numerous rounds of our robot algorithm chant! It's an earworm!
"It’s clear that early engagement with technology fosters not only innovative thinking but also empowers children with the essential skills needed for the future. At Bupa we’ve seen the transformative impact technology has had in enabling us to deliver on our mission of helping people live longer, healthier, happier lives and make a better world. By supporting initiatives like Get with the Program, we hope to cultivate a generation that are empowered to harness technology for positive change." Roddy Barnes, Director of Strategy & Modernisation, Bupa.
Osmani Primary School were one of more than 100 primary schools who accessed our Healthy Lunch-Bot Coding Adventure as part of Bupa Coding Day during British Science Week. Which means that we reached an estimated 12,480 KS1 and KS2 children (Years 1-6, ages 5-11), in just one day!
In total, through the generosity of the sponsorship programme from Bupa, approximately 32,500 children have had free learning enrichment which may well have been the spark for many to progress further with an interest in STEM based subjects, and help us deliver on our mission to inclusively inspire the tech innovators of the future.
Our next Bupa Coding Day is scheduled for 13th June 2024. This is a great activity to run during the summer term and tick off key parts in the computing curriculum before the end of the school year! It's open to all UK schools and free to join. We can't guarantee that 'Professor' Trice and AL the Robot can visit your school on June 13th but we've been known to make a few surprise appearances so you never know....!
To learn more about our next Bupa Coding Day and to sign up, please visit: https://www.getwiththeprogram.org.uk/bupa
'Professor' Trice