With the arrival of the second annual Dorset Coding Day, Luke Longden from Enhanced IT paid a visit to pupils at Heatherlands Primary School in Poole.

The Dorset Council initiative is all about sharing the opportunities of coding in an increasingly digital world with students in Years 5, 6 and 7, aged 9–12.

It covers elements of the programming topics featured in the Key Stage 2 and 3 computing curriculum.

Luke found himself speaking to a 180-strong audience of youngsters about potential careers in IT.

“As more and more of the world goes online, children see digital on a daily basis”, he said.

“But they don’t necessarily see it as an option for their future careers, especially in Dorset.

“The purpose of the afternoon was to inspire those children and to remove any misconceptions.

“I talked about how coding is used in areas that children use every day – games, apps and websites.

“I wanted to show how coding can be applied in the real world to hopefully ignite careers.

“I hope my session inspired the children to explore and learn more about a career in IT. It was a pleasure to be invited to talk about my journey so far in the tech industry.”

Luke’s visit was warmly welcomed by Kim Edwards, Year 4 Leader at Heatherlands.

“It was a brilliant afternoon”, she added.

“It was fantastic to welcome Enhanced to Heatherlands for an inspiring and motivating session that certainly captured the young childrens’ minds.

“It was particularly pleasing to see so many questions being asked, which really showed how engaged they were in the subject.

“We’d like to offer huge thanks to Luke for attending and would love to welcome Enhanced back next year!”

• enhanced.co.uk

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