Raspberry Pi on the menu in Jersey schools

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One of the team behind Raspberry Pi, the pioneering mini-computer, will be visiting Jersey schools next month to help launch the new vision for IT in education.

Clive Beale, Director of Educational Development at the Raspberry Pi Foundation, will be meeting primary and secondary students as well as talking to IT teachers about the latest innovations in classroom computing. Part of Mr Beale’s role at Raspberry Pi is to inspire young people to take up computer programming and learn new IT skills.

He will be here on 10 and 11 October for the official launch of Education, Sport and Culture’s new strategy, which sets out the future of IT education in Jersey schools.

Deputy Rod Bryans, ESC Assistant Minister, said: “We are absolutely delighted to that the Raspberry Pi Foundation are taking part in the launch of this important strategy. This cutting-edge company put excitement back into computing. The Raspberry Pi opened up programming to a new, very young generation and that kind of dynamism is precisely what we want to generate here.”

Children as young as four and five are already learning ‘code crunching’ and other computing skills as part of a pilot scheme launched by ESC last September. This includes using the Raspberry Pi, which is a small, ‘bare bones’ computer that costs less than £30.

Mr Beale said: “Our mission at Raspberry Pi is and always has been an educational one. We want to change how people see computing, to give them access to stuff so that they can create and play and learn. We want kids of all ages to be empowered by computer science, to learn essential life skills and to have fun on the way. I’m looking forward to helping make that happen in Jersey.”

At the official launch of the strategy on Friday 11 October, the Education, Sport and Culture Department will set out its vision for the future direction of computing and IT education in Jersey’s schools. As well as guest speakers, students will be showing their latest IT projects.