Getting RPi started at a Junior School

[nicksoph]

I have been following the RPi for some time and have bought a couple along the way. I recently visited my cousin who is the head teacher at a primary school in the poorer bit of Islington in London and picked up on a conversation that I had had with her some months ago. The gist of that conversation was that the rate of change in computing led to a reduction in disadvantage for children whose parents were not in the professional classes and that computer engineers were much more easily made from from children from poor backgrounds than say doctors who often had parents who themselves were doctors and likewise for most other professions. The school itself is quite well supplied with IT - most of the classrooms seem to have Computer Whiteboards and they have a Mac based IT lab but it seems that the focus is on using the IT for other things rather than on an understanding of the technology itself and I suggested that some of the pupils may benefit from being given RPi's and becoming part of the educational project based around them.

I am not a teacher and wonder if someone might be able to give some guidance on how the school might go about both getting the PI's and most importantly how they might start the sort of schooling that would start the pupils off on the right foot? I think the school might be persuaded to allocate funds for the project but any advice on how they might either obtain the RPi's or the tuition through charitable channels would also be appreciated.

Best wishes
Nicksoph

[DeeJay]

A couple of organisations that you might like to take an interest in -

Computing at School http://www.computingatschool.org.uk/

Code Club https://www.codeclub.org.uk/

[nicksoph]

Thanks DeeJay
Code club looks to be promising.