Hurlyvale Pre-School

We hear a lot about 21st century skills and developing these in our children. But what does this mean and how does it fit into our Curriculum?
With the massive increased exposure to technology we are all experiencing, children need the skills to sort, analyse and understand vast amounts of data. Coding prepares them with these skills, allowing them to bring innovative solutions to life and prosper in a career that may seem far in the future, but the future is now! The world we live in requires creativity and innovation, it requires learners who are able to think and above all use technology. Our coding and robotics programme aims at preparing our learners to problem-solve, think critically, work in groups and function in a technologically driven world.

How does coding look in the Pre Primary/Pre School Phase?
Although we will be using devices and systems to programme and build, coding starts way before we get to this stage.
We have started with unplugged coding- that is coding without using any technology. We do this because there are certain concepts that a child needs to master before they can code using devices.

We use these six terms with our children and give them various activities to practise these concepts.
Algorithm: which is giving an instruction to get a specific result.
Sequencing: To complete a task in a specific order
Loop: Something that gets repeated on a loop until the outcome is realised.
Breaking up: Breaking up a problem into more manageable bits
Branching: Following a route based on certain conditions
De-bugging: Looking for problems and then fixing the problem

We always begin teaching any new concepts in a concrete manner and then move on to a semi-concrete manner. Only when we have done a lot of concrete exercises with our little ones, do we move on to actually designing and operating the Robotics sets.

Whatever we are using, we keep it fun and this learning is a two-way street!! Even the teachers are learning something new.

Some photos of our children practising the skills they will need for coding to happen.