Blossom Street Primary hosts innovative robotics competition for students
The winning team from MAQ, from left to right, is Soffiyah Parker, Aabeedah Parker and Saeed Mohamed.
Image: Phiri Cawe
With technology becoming part of everyday life — both at school and at home — it’s essential to start teaching children how to use it from an early age. That’s the view of the coding and robotics coordinator at Blossom Street Primary School in Silvertown
It was the first time Blossom Street Primary hosted the competition.
The school aimed to provide every pupil with the opportunity to learn about and engage with the technologies and skills associated with the 4th Industrial Revolution.
“The mission is to develop the next generation of innovators. We also want to equip our learners to lead and innovate in the future,” said coordinator Ms Nadeem Adams.
She is thrilled with the competitors' achievements during the competition.
The competition took place over two Fridays and was concluded on Friday, June 20.
Teams from Blossom Street Primary, Silverstream Primary, and Madrassa Ahli Quraan took part — and for Madrassa Ahli Quraan, it was their first time being exposed to robotics.
The schools entered different teams of their choice. Blossom Street and Silverstream had one team each, while MAQ entered three teams.
Lego Spike equipment and coding apps were used.
Judges and participants after the coding and robotics showcase at Blossom Street Primary.
Image: Phiri Cawe
“We created missions for the learners to complete and were judged accordingly. Individual awards included best coder, best engineer, and team awards included first, second, best teamwork, and best robot,” Ms Adams said.
She commended the pupils for collaborating and showcasing their skills by tackling the task at hand.
To everybody’s surprise, Ms Adams said the winner was from MAQ as well as the second-place team.
It shows the great potential within faith-based schools. We hope that other faith-based schools will also follow this example and expose their learners to coding and robotics,” she said.
“But also, credit must go to the school principal, Rodney Layman, and staff for hosting the competition,” she added.
She urged other schools to start teaching coding and robotics, saying it is a crucial skill.