Computer science education scheme launched for Welsh primary students

The Welsh government has announced the launch of a new national project that aims to provide primary schoolchildren with a grounding in computing skills.

The Barefoot Computing project will be funded and led by BT and will provide free bilingual downloadable resources and lesson plans for the benefit of primary school teachers across Wales, some of whom may not have specialist computing knowledge.

Resources focus on concepts such as algorithms, abstraction, programming and data structures, offering ideas on how they can be used in the classroom. By helping primary school teachers get to grips with computing in this way, it will be easier for them to inspire and excite pupils aged five and above about the world of IT.

Every primary school head teacher in Wales will be contacted by the Barefoot team to explain the benefits of the new resources, which have already been rolled out elsewhere in the UK with great success.

More than one million primary school pupils across the UK have directly benefited from the Barefoot scheme since its launch in 2014. The programme was originally developed by BCS - The Chartered Institute for IT, in association with the Department for Education, Raspberry Pi and BT.

The new version of the resources have been tailored specifically to meet the needs of the Welsh curriculum and will be made available in both English and Welsh.

Bill Mitchell, director of education at BCS - The Chartered Institute for IT, said: "It's essential that all children develop computational thinking skills right from the start of primary school, which is why the Barefoot Computing project is so important as it gives teachers the educational tools they need to develop these skills in their pupils."