Ladies College pupils game for tech challenge

The school has founded a version of the computer and coding clubs which have sprung up in the island's high schools, all supported by the CGi and member firms, with up to a dozen girls involved on Wednesday lunchtimes.

Linking in with a few Elizabeth College students, the college has teams developing a computer game for the competition, which has given the club a focus for the term.

Sessions are informal, with Andy Wade, the college's long-serving head of IT, on hand for advice and guidance.

The students are using multimedia authoring tool Scratch for their projects, which Mr Wade said was appropriate for their learning levels. It enables the students to produce simple 2-D '80s-style platform games.

'I have found over the years that the students like to use computers for creative things – they are not so interested in how stuff actually works,' he said.

The college offers an AS-level qualification in IT as well as the computer 'driving licence' for younger pupils. But programming is a relatively new opportunity at the school.

'This is engaging young people, which can only be good,' said Mr Wade.