THREE pupils from Kingsland Primary School have been selected as the European winners of a global coding competition.

Primary 6 pupils Brodie Sainsbury, Charley King and Zoe Leavy were given the prestigious award as part of the 2021 ‘do your:bit challenge’.

This year’s competition focused on good health and wellbeing and climate action.

Class teacher Emma McGilp said: “We are delighted that Charley, Brodie and Zoe’s design has been chosen and to be crowned winners for Europe is simply amazing. Coding teaches lots of skills including teamwork, problem solving and collaboration as well as technical coding skills so this has been a brilliant opportunity for Kingsland pupils.”

In June Kingsland pupils took part in a hackathon where they learned to code a micro:bit – a credit card sized computer.

Brodie said: “The idea for our ‘healthy micro:bit’ included a timer which tells you when you have been inside or on a screen for a certain amount of time.

“The micro:bit tells you to go outside and get some fresh air, and then you press for some ideas for ‘mindful moments’ like listen to the birds, take deep breaths or go for a short run.”

Charley added: “It came about because of lockdown. It was hard being stuck inside all the time. A lot of people really needed to get outside more and away from screens and this inspired our idea.”

Through the hackathon Kingsland Primary School have partnered with Janakalyan Ma vi-8 school in Nepal as part of Connecting Classrooms through Global Learning, a unique global education programme.

Pupils from both schools are working on their coding skills for a COP26 project.

Headteacher Susan Ward said: “As a school community we are committed to supporting pupils to be creative and thoughtful digital users.

“Winning this competition is a very special achievement for Charley, Brodie and Zoe and we are very proud of them and of all our pupils who lead by example when it comes to being good digital citizens.”