A team of Year 5 creative computing pupils from King Edward’s Junior School, Bath has won the final of the 2022 Raspberry Pi Competition (Years 4-6 category), organised by PA Consulting, after taking part in the final on the 5 May at the Science Museum in London.
Over 300 schools across the UK competed for a spot in the final of the annual Raspberry Pi Competition, which promotes STEM education by challenging schoolchildren aged between 8-18 years to invent systems that could benefit society using their engineering and coding skills, and a Raspberry Pi microcomputer. Celebrating its tenth anniversary, this year’s competition asked participants to invent innovations to help make the world a more sustainable place.
Keen to enter the competition, the Junior School team of seven Year 5 children – Harry, Jasmine, Grace, Lauren, Phoebe, Monty and Theo – worked hard to develop and code a system which helps to educate pupils about environmental and sustainability issues. Part of the team’s initiative is a recycling station which tells pupils which bin they need to put their recycling in and rewards them with house points when they recycle rubbish.
Mrs Sam Cook, ICT Co-ordinator at the Junior School, said, “The final was a fantastic day for everyone involved. Our Year 5 students started off with a tour around the Science Museum’s Wonderlab, where they got to try out lots of different technologies. They then set up their Raspberry Turtle stand with their project using a Raspberry Pi computer.
“The expert judges from Microsoft, Rolls Royce, NHS Digital and other industry leaders then came round to examine their recycling project and ask questions. The students were brilliant and explained how their project would help reduce waste at school, encourage students to recycle – rewarding them with house points – and educate them on environmental and sustainability issues. They also explained how they had adapted their project to help support students with specific learning needs, including a Bluetooth speaker.
“Throughout the day all of our pupils got actively involved in all the activities and I couldn’t have been prouder of them. At the end of all the presentations by different teams, we nervously attended the awards ceremony, which was presented by Ortis Deley, from The Gadget Show. There were 100,000 people viewing the ceremony online and we were told that over 300 teams had entered the competition.
“After a nerve-racking wait, the final three teams in the Year 4-6 age category were called out and the KES Raspberry Turtles were crowned the winners! Everyone was very excited and have had the best opportunity to be involved in a wonderful competition which promotes innovation and STEM opportunities for young people.”