190, Yr 5 Primary students learn about Binary, pixels and coding

7/4/2013

As the warm morning of Wednesday 26th June began, school routine continued normally across most schools in the local area.

However a number of Year 5 Primary School students from a wide range of schools including both those in Thirsk’s immediate vicinity such as Sowerby and Thirsk community, as well as those more further afield such as Dishforth and Baldersby – found themselves taking part in an Enrichment day at Thirsk School and Sixth form college. An experience which for some will have been their first taste of Secondary School!

The focus of the day was to give the Primary School pupils a taste of life in Secondary education whilst also allowing them the opportunity to use new resources. The students were split into groups and the merry Year 5’s were dispatched to take part in either a Computing or a P.E workshop.

The Computing workshop, overseen by the school’s head of Computing, Mr.Aldred with aid from three other staff, placed a focus on binary code and coding images and pixels by means of using a pre-programmed spread sheet with Microsoft Excel. Surprisingly, while some were taken aback by the idea of the tasks given to them at first, with a bit of help, they were able to fulfill the set tasks and also learn about how and why binary is used, whilst enjoying themselves throughout.

Overall the day itself was a great success! The children all found an interest in being part of a Computing day.