Something Different for Something Good: The Primary Coding League

Introduction

I'm Charlie. Primary Computing Specialist Teacher, father to one and the founder of the Primary Coding League. I've been teaching since 2020, have always been passionate and excited about using technology within the classroom but also trying to do things differently. I love pushing the boundaries and trying something new, even if it flops and fails as I see it always a journey of learning. 

I never set out for the Primary Coding League to become what it has done today. I was just trying to provide something exicitng for my students and add to my school's enrichment offering. However, what followed has been beyond my wildest dreams and I feel incredibly lucky and grateful for the position and opportunity I have been given with this.

July 2024: How it all began

It was the summer holidays and like many a teacher I was thinking about new ways and ideas I could bring to my setting. Being a specialist teacher, I ran an afterschool coding club for key stage 2 children. While it was always great to see children coming to my club, they weren't interested in learning something new, but rather "remixing" Scratch projects, changing the colours and making slight adjustments and then claiming them as their own. Most of these were games and it certainly wasn't collaborative or creative.

While I was thinking of new ideas, Chris Lovell (@MrLovellComp) mentioned in his Micro:Bit Gaming Educators Whatsapp Group if anyone would be interested in having a coding competition between their schools. There were a few nods and yeses but after a few days nothing trasnpired, yet I was inspired. This was the type of thing I had always wanted to be a part of, but hadn't always had the time to run or coldn't find for primary age.

However, for the first time I stopped and thought "why not me?". So I took a chance and over the next few days I put together an idea, format and put some feelers out on social media. There was interest for sure and (dare I say it) a need for soemthing like this.

And so, the Primary Coding League was born.

A Quick Run Down

If you're not familair with the basics of the Primary Coding League, here is a quick rundown of how it works.

Primary Schools enter up to 3 teams made up of a maximum of 6 students aged 8 -11 years old. This can mixed as much or as little as schools like in terms of gender, age and ability. They make it work for their setting as they know their children best.

Schools each pay a £15 registration fee which coveres the costs of prizes, certificates, website hosting, emails etc. Every penny goes back into making the competition a success, always has and always will.

Teams will complete a set of 6 challenges (It was origianlly 8, though after feedback from particapants, this was reduced) across the school year where they will be scored out of 5 in 4 key areas for each challenge (Code, Creativity, Theme and Experiece) to recieve a total out of 20 for each challenge. Their total number of points at the end of each challenge determines their league position. The team with the highest number of points after the last challenge, wins the league.

August 2024: Getting Things Running

Apparently the most logical first step was to purchase the domain primarycodingleague.co.uk! Why I did that, I'm not 100% sure but I think it helped everything appear more "official" rather than little 'ol me! I set up a basic google site with all the info and a place for the league tables to displayed and then sent out a registration google form on a few groups chats and facebook forums. What followed next, was beyond my wildest dreams.

In the first week, a few schools hear and there started to sign up. This then turned from week long gaps beween sign ups to a few days and by the end of August it was mere hours. I remember standing in my kitchen starring at my laptop, watching the list of schools increase by itself and thinking surely this wasn't real? I realised it was and I had to do this properly.

This is where James, Henry, Nic, Victoria and Sonya all come in! Our amazing, dedicated volunteer judges who have all given their time to shift through literally HUNDREDS of block based coding projects, score, test and judge them. Without them, this compettiion would not be where it is today and I am so incredibly grateful to them for all inspiring me and believing in the Primary Coding League.

Finally, we needed some prizes. Somehow, I managed to convice Ohbot, Intelino and Twinkl that this would be a brilliant opportunity for them to get behind and they have all provided prizes for the competition and I am so exctiied to continue working with them.

With prizes, judges and teams sorted, it was time for the competition to begin.

September 2024 & Beyond: The Rest is History

The competition started with over 500 students, 97 teams from 47 schools across the UK and Europe.

What. On. Earth.

This year the student shave created a variety of projects. From games and interactive stories, to even getting virtual robots to recite poems and nursrey rhymes, our challneges have strived to challenge and enrich the coding experience of all young people, which remains our main aim: Enrich and postively impact through affordable and flexible methods of delivery.

Back at the beginning of the competition, I still saw the coding league as my little project but since then it has grown and grown. 

From workshops being delivered across the UK to over 100 younf people with our Primary Coding League: LIVE! format, the launch of our Middle East and International Leagues, starting up a new Cup style format, Minecraft Education Online Clubs and collaborating with Multi Academy Trusts and organisations such as CAS.

I've had to learn new skills like setting up a charitable organisation, web-design, pitch and proposal creation, presenting to shareholders and organising CMS systems. Every day really has been a school day and it is one of the things that I love the most about running Primary Coding League.

But what Primary Coding League has really shown me is the meaing of "more than just a teacher". Somehow, through the power of the internet and a few late nights, I've been able to create something that has gone way beyond the four walls of my classroom and (I hope) postivley impacted and enriched the lives of young people.