What is the Young ICT Explorers Competition?

Young ICT Explorers is a competition for school students to produce their best Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) related project. ICT is constantly evolving and it is considered to be an enabler of different activities and objectives for many areas of societies all over the world. For instance, computer games can be designed to educate people on a topic and websites are widely used to communicate and inform people all over the world. Whilst the simple mobile phone has evolved from being just a telephone to a multipurpose device with features like touch screens, global positioning and mobile apps etc. The Young ICT Explorers competition aims to inspire and encourage school students to consider ICT as a career opportunity and gain a greater understanding of the diverse possibilities available through ICT.

If you’d like to know more please visit this link http://bit.ly/YICTE2015

Our Entrants…

At the beginning of the year, boys in Years 3 to 6 were invited to enter the Young ICT Explorers competition and join the associated lunchtime and after school clubs. Over thirty boys expressed an initial interest in joining the club and entering the competition and after some early conversations the number remained high at 24 boys. Over the past few months, the commitment that the boys have had to demonstrate (together with the support of their parents) has been extensive and it has been truly exciting to see the enthusiasm and collaboration that these boys have demonstrated as they have worked in small groups on developing their projects.

The Projects

In total, 7 groups were formed and their chosen projects relate to a wide variety of issues connected with the environment, wellbeing and safety. The boys are currently working on finishing their projects in preparation for the judging event at the University of NSW on 13 August.

The Judging Event

As a part of the competition each group had to prepare a report outlining their project. Based on their report, preliminary judging was conducted to determine which groups would be invited to the judging event. All our groups were successful in gaining a place at the judging event, which is an excellent result given the number of entries each year. The boys are now eagerly preparing for this final stage of the competition where they will get the opportunity to showcase their projects to experts in the field of technology as well the opportunity to see the many other projects prepared by students across the state.

We wish the boys all the best for the judging event on 13 August and have no doubt that the boys will gain much from this exciting opportunity to share their passion and learning with many others!

Pascal Czerwenka – Deputy Head of Lindfield/Year 5 Teacher

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