HAVING just concluded another school year for primary-school children across the Channel Islands, the PwC Hive Hackers team have been busy presenting a string of awards across participating schools to many enthusiastic youngsters, who have been thriving as they learn new digital skills.
Awards ceremonies have taken place at 14 schools across the Channel Islands over the past month, with the first ceremony at St Anne’s in Alderney on 10 June. Next up was d’Auvergne and St Martin schools in Jersey and La Hougette in Guernsey. These were closely followed by Jersey events at Trinity, Plat Douet, St Saviour, First Tower and Springfield, as well as at Castel, Amherst and Capelles in Guernsey.
During the awards ceremonies, these well-deserving children each received their certificates and PwC goodie bags in recognition of their achievements. There were presentations made by the children themselves about what they have learnt and enjoyed the most about the programme, and the parents who could attend had a chance to discover more about their children’s newly acquired digital skills.
By way of background, the purpose of PwC’s Hive Academy is to develop and build trust in society by inspiring, encouraging and preparing children for a world of technology through exposure to innovative digital education and being a real advocate of increased participation in STEM subjects. And the team have been doing just that, under the guidance of PwC’s Narelle Height and Ralf Meijer, who joined PwC Channel Islands as education managers, specifically to deliver on this purpose.
To date, 613 primary students across the Channel Islands have completed the programme this year, including 36 virtual students, and 53 PwC volunteers have had the opportunity to be facilitators, which is hugely rewarding for them. It is never too late to embrace an innovative digital education so PwC staff of all ages who volunteer on the programme simply get stuck in to digitally upskilling themselves, as they help run the creative days, learning about programming, sequencing, looping, debugging, conditionals and everything in between.
Working closely with schools across the Channel Islands, it is clear that businesses can play a key role in equipping young people to succeed in a digital world. This is what PwC’s Hive Academy aims to do. It’s not just about teaching technical skills, but also helping to instil the four Cs of EdTech – curiosity, creativity, collaboration and confidence – needed to make the most of new technology. And, of course, having fun every step of the way.
You could say the PwC Hive Hackers team are eagerly counting the days to the new school term in September already.
