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Pennyman Y6 are straight into their work this morning…

And Green Gates are in full team planning mode

KS2 SEND in Pennyman are using Scratch Jnr to create games

Meanwhile, down the corridor in Y5…

Y5SW have made a fantastic start to the day. All of the children are excited and enthusiastic about their projects. So far, we have been brainstorming ideas, agreeing on a game design and allocating roles and responsibilities. The children have been listening to each other’s ideas and offering suggestions for ways groups can adapt their ideas. Very excited to see how the rest of the day unfolds!

And the Y6’s at Northwood are well into their planning, just look at that character!

Back to Y4 at Green Gates and they are doing proper research

Year 4 now have a basic final idea and are planning it out in drawings etc before they go to their audiences’ class to pitch their games to them and hopefully get some constructive feedback. After this they are going to independently design their own character etc to put into their games on the planning sheets.

Unfortunately Ahlberg Class at Pennyman are being invaded by monsters

Ramshaw are taking on the challenge across the whole of KS2

We have all of KS2 working on the project this morning. We’ve watched the videos for inspiration and we were all really surprised that some of our favourite games were created on our doorstep! 

We are all busy with the planning stage of the project. But the creative juices are certainly flowing!  

Y4 at Reid Street have barely stopped all morning, great work!

Audience research going on at Green Gates

Brilliant to see that Y4 haven’t just relied on what they think is best, they have done an extra bit of research and pitched their ideas to other year groups (Reception, Yr1, 2, 3 & 5) to see what needs tweaking. Brilliant and exactly what real games companies do at every stage of the process.

And are now designing characters to use as sprites in Scratch later today.

Normanby Y4’s are just one of the classes in their school taking part today

Now THAT’S my kind of game!

Ramshaw’s Team Taco have created a game where you have to collect ingredients for a high quality taste sensation as you move through the levels!

And Team Get Home have created all sorts of obstacles to stop you getting to your house

St Joseph’s Loftus may well have future careers in this

Spark is very fortunate to work with lots of companies across all different sectors but one thing they all have in common is that people generally enjoy their work, especially when they work in the more creative or problem solving roles. So when I had this quote from St Joseph’s, ‘Just heard some talking about the challenge as they went outside after lunch!‘ it tells me that these children are really immersed in something that they would love to do in later life.

Designing and testing in teams at Riverdale with the Y1’s

Didn’t believe us that Scratch Jnr can make great looking games? Let a 7 year old show you how…

Northwood have several classes working on this today

Normanby are doing this whole school…with parents!

Sonia (from Spark) has been in Normanby today and got some great quotes from the children:

“I really can’t wait to be creative and design my own characters for my game. I have so many ideas I can use for my inspiration, and I enjoyed listening to the top tips from the real game designers!

Jemina, a Normanby Primary Digital Ambassador

“Today has really inspired me! When I am older, I want to go to Teesside University and learn even more about game design and animation!”

Matthew, Year 5

“I really enjoyed all the videos, especially the one of the little boy and how he explained the challenge. Doesn’t everyone just love gaming? It’s great we get to look at how to create them at school!”

James, Year 5 

“I created a dog sprite and recorded my voice to say I love bananas every time he eats one as part game! I think children would love to play my game because it is something completely different to any other game because dogs don’t normally eat bananas!”

Honey, a Normanby Primary Digital Ambassador

“I can’t wait to bring ‘Doughnut World to life’ I’m developing the characters and the backdrop for my game and planning how to build in some variables.”

Hattie, Year 5

“I’ve just loved everything about today! Can we do this every day?”

Ava, Year 5

More from Northwood with some great design concepts

And some more of the different team ideas from Ramshaw

Team Honey

Help Winnie the Pooh collect his honey and of course … avoid the ants! 

Team Lorax 

Help the Lorax run through the Thneed Factory to find the Once ler and save the trees. A platform game that gets progressively harder as you move through it. 

Team Carrot

Go down the rabbit holes to collect carrots, but be careful … some of the holes are inhabited by evil rabbits. 

Team Floppy Fish 

If you think you’ve seen this game before, no you haven’t! This is Floppy Fish not Flappy bir…! Help the fish collect the ship pieces to complete the boat, while dodging floating obstacles. 

Team Survival 

Get the medicine to the dinosaurs before they get hurt. If you let them get hurt, you lose your inventory. 

Team Phenomenal Free Kick 

Can you get Bob to score a free kick passed the moving goalkeeper? 

Y4 Normanby with some more work to show off

St Joseph’s Loftus have now completed their planning phase

Y2 Normanby now bringing their ideas to life

If you have time, try and make a bit of a game…er….Reid Street on it!

The monsters from Pennyman’s Ahlberg class have now made it into some actual games

St Joseph’s Loftus now putting those plans into action

Great to see where Green Gates in Redcar managed to get to by the end of the day

Year 4 decided scratch junior would be easier to use and have spent the afternoon starting to bring their games to life. They have really enjoyed today.‘ 

“I have enjoyed today, it was fun building my game on scratch” – Elvion 

“It was great making the games and feeling like a true gaming creator” – Ava

“It was good figuring out how to code in scratch” – Katy 

“It’s been fun planning my own game and seeing it start to come to life” – Coby 

Some really interesting and well thought out quotes from Ramshaw Primary

Grace Year 6I didn’t realise that there were companies making such big games so close to us. 

Lucas Year 6 I have loved being creative today and working as a team to mix ideas. I thought that the big games companies were all in America, I’ve been really surprised to learn that they are near here. 

George Year 5I have enjoyed thinking really hard about my ideas. I liked having free reign to plan something too!

Toby Year 6I’ve enjoyed creating concept art – maybe I could do this as a job in the future. 

Chase Year 6I think it’s been interesting to learn that these people have trained to do such an exciting job. I’ve enjoyed working on my project and I feel I have expressed my personality today. 

Y3 at Normanby have clearly not taken their foot off the gas all day

“All our children are completely engaged in the Animex challenge, so much so, they even opted to stay in and continue with their learning over breaktime!”

Mrs Foden

“My class memorised the top tips from the real-life gamers by heart and used them during their designs! We could even recite them fully by the end of the day! “

Mrs Pink

Y3 and 4 at Ramshaw also created some great designs which they aim to build on Scratch soon

And some Y5’s at Normanby planning from earlier in the day

Y2’s at Riverdale creating games in Scratch Jnr – amazing work!