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Woodhill Primary School, Scotland, is awarded first prize in the 'Made IT Happen' challenge

Woodhill Primary School in Bishopbriggs, Scotland, was awarded joint first prize with Thomas' Battersea School, London, in the Made IT Happen competition. The winners were announced by the Speaker of the House of Commons at a special awards ceremony with MPs in Westminster on Monday 15th October.

Made IT Happen is aimed at primary school pupils aged nine to eleven years who are using technology to help their school or local community.  Students at Woodhill Primary School in Scotland used technology to develop podcasts and blogs for use as creative learning materials.  The new materials were then shared with partner schools in Scotland, England, France, Trinidad, Tobago and China.

Susan Buchanan, Principal Teacher, Woodhill Primary School said:  

"The aim of using blogs and podcasts was to motivate the students and get their work out of the school context and into the wider world.  It is amazing how motivated and engaged the students are about using these technologies, and the wide range of skills they develop in addition to technical skills."

The runner-up was St Nicholas CE Primary School in Crosby, North West England. The three overall winners were chosen from twelve winners representing Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and each of the nine English regions.   

The judging panel included Lord Toby Harris of Haringey as Chair, Stephen Darvill, Government Relations Director, LogicaCMG, Steve Head, Education Consultant, M.G.L, Andrea Kalavsky, Systems Magician, Innocent Drinks, Liwei Lee, Software Engineer, Google, Karen Price OBE, CEO, e-skills UK and Emily Taylor, Director of Legal and Policy, Nominet.

Made IT Happen is organised by the Parliamentary Information Technology Committee, PITCOM, and e-skills UK, the Sector Skills Council for IT and Telecoms.

For further information visit the Made IT Happen website at www.e-skills.com/madeithappen

Posted on 30 Oct 2007