GIRLS from four Barry schools have developed their computer literacy in a two-day project over the Easter holidays.

The BT-sponsored first ever all Girls Coding and Programming Olympics, was held at the Urdd Sleepover Centre, Cardiff Bay, on Monday, April 15.

Club Innov8 is the Communities First Poverty Deprivation Grant project run between Bryn Hafren secondary and Cadoxton, Colcot and Jenner Park primaries.

The project, with a full-time co-ordinator, is run in conjunction with the Big Learning Company and aims to enthuse and engage

children and their families in STEM – science, engineering, technology

and maths subjects - to provide inspiration for children to

pursue careers in those disciplines.

The Day two Olympic event was designed to increase the number of girls interested in coding and codingcareers as so few women are currently involved in the industry.

Activities and challenges involved computer programming, coding and App building.

Youngsters designed and coded a working, and created a virtual fish tank, used Kodu - a Microsoft program which teaches children how to code.

They also programmed a cargo bot to react differently when picking up

different colour containers, created an impossible level on the app – Alex - completed a quiz about computers and the coding industryand took part in The MakeyMakey challenge which involved a small piece of

hardware called the MakeyMakey.

This manipulated the keyboard to think that the object that is connected to the MakeyMakey is the key that had been chosen.

Josie, of the B i g L e a r n i n g Company, said: “I think that its important to get girls interested in c o d i n g b e c a u s e t h e

programming industry is huge in nowadays and the girls need to know that it’s not an all male industry.”

Louana, of Cadoxton primary, said: “I liked the workshops because it was something new that I had never done before and I really enjoyed it.”

Mrs Danielson, Club Innov8 coordinator, said: “If we get the girls interested in programming now, while they are still in primary school, then they will hopefully pick computer science or ICT for GCSE and A-levels because we need more women with the qualifications to go into the computer industry.”