News

Pupils at Dartmouth Academy have taken part in some Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) workshops this term.

Children in Years 3 to 6 participated in the EKO Robotics Challenge delivered by Hyett Education. Hyett Education provide a range of school workshops with cross-curricular subject links in computing, design technology, engineering and science.  They hope to ignite a passion for STEM by empowering students and teachers with expert-led, practical education experiences.

During the workshop, pupils followed instructions to build a variety of designs with some taking it a step further by creatively designing and building their own robots.  Once built, they were then guided through programming their creations; which could be made to move.

The group worked together on the tasks which helped to hone their problem solving and cyber skills, whilst also encouraging creative thinking.  The pupils really enjoyed the session with many saying they now want to find out more about a career in coding.

At Dartmouth Academy the primary computing curriculum is designed to provide a high-quality computing education which equips children to apply computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world.  The curriculum teaches children key knowledge about how computers and computer systems work, and how they are designed and programmed.

Jen Tierney, Primary Principal at Dartmouth Academy, said:

“I am so proud of our pupils and how much they achieved in this brilliant robotics workshop.  It was brilliant to have one of the facilitator’s feed back on the excellent teamwork, courage and resilience demonstrated by Dartmouth pupils.”

Matthew Shanks, CEO at Education South West, said:

“At Education South West we know that young people need to be modelled into versatile, independent, safe and respectful users of technology.  STEM professions are widely regarded as central to the economy and crucial to tackling some of the challenges of the modern world, from climate change, to improving healthcare.  STEM skills will be vital in many of the jobs of the future and it’s great that Dartmouth Academy is taking steps to introduce children to key concepts, like coding, in such a fun and educational way.”