Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (December 18, 2017) –   Repton School Abu Dhabi participated in the global Hour of Code campaign as part of Computer Science Education Week. The annual Hour of Code campaign is organized by code.org, a nonprofit group that is dedicated to computer science and increasing participation by women and underrepresented minorities and is supported by over 400 partners and 200,000 educators worldwide.

A 1 hour session on coding was conducted across both campuses of Repton Abu Dhabi for all pupils with top coding pupils and a Pupil Digital Team being given additional challenging coding sessions. The Pupil Digital Team supported their peers across the school with their coding sessions. The coding projects that the pupils worked on came from the Hour of Code campaign website with block coding for the sessions with projects aimed at guiding pupils to work on their own versions of popular games like Starwars, Minecraft, Flappy Bird etc. 

The participation of the school in this year’s edition of the Hour of Code campaign reinforces the consistent focus on coding as an integral part of the school curriculum over the last few years with classes being conducted even for pupils in FS1. Repton Abu Dhabi has been conducting a 40 minute coding session every week which focuses on “Positive Digital Footprints” which links in with the idea that they are connecting with pupils from all around the world for the coding challenge.  

Pupils also have a 40 minute Information Science lesson in the Library which helps them to use the internet safely while creating an understanding of how to find accurate and specific information for them to use when they are in other lessons. In both lessons pupils are supported in considering how they influence and create in the wider world in a safe, positive and constructive way. 

According to Robert Relton, Principal, Repton School Abu Dhabi, 'Our participation in the Hour of Code Global campaign is a great opportunity to inspire our pupils and help nurture problem-solving skills, innovation and creativity while giving them the foundation for a career options in computer science. These activities are part of our efforts to create unique learning opportunities for our pupils while creating a dynamic environment driven by a commitment to excellence.”