Nine schools shortlisted for PA Consulting's Raspberry Pi Awards Day

17 April 2018 Consultancy.uk

PA Consulting Group is preparing to host its annual Raspberry Pi Awards Day. The yearly contest sees schools from across the UK send teams of children to design innovative solutions for the modern world, and compete for one of three £1,000 prizes.

Now in its sixth year, the Raspberry Pi competition has seen over 100 schools apply for the contest, the strongest ever turnout, for its 2018 edition. PA Consulting Group’s annual contest pits teams of schoolchildren against one another, showcasing their creativity and fostering their skills in computer coding.

In order to address this year’s theme of sustainability, the children will be challenged to utilise the Raspberry Pi – a computer the size of credit-card – to invent something that will help “save the planet.” The Raspberry Pi is a series of small single-board computers which were developed in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation to promote the teaching of basic computer science in schools and in developing countries.

The codes submitted to the contest have reportedly demonstrated a huge array of ingenuity, giving PA’s panel of expert judges a difficult time as they bid to decide the final shortlist for 2018. Just three teams from each category – primary school, secondary school and sixth form/college – could be chosen, with the winners to be announced in mid-April. The shortlisted teams will present their innovations in person at the Raspberry Pi Awards day in London, as well as gaining the opportunity to meet business leaders. The winners of each category will receive £1,000.

The 2018 Raspberry Pi shortlist is as follows:

Category 1 (years 4-6)

Croydon High School, London – created a water flow meter
St Mary’s CofE Primary School, West Sussex – created an educational game to save energy
Ysgol Deganwy, Conwy – created an interactive rubbish bin

Category 2 (years 7-11)

Kenilworth School, Warwickshire – created a power saving system that switches off streetlights
Tanbridge House School, West Sussex – created a smart bin to encourage recycling
Usk Code Club, Newport – created a system for automatically monitoring room temperature

Category 3 (years 12-13)

Collyer’s Sixth Form College, West Sussex – created a portable device that uses wind and light to charge batteries
Felpham Community College, West Sussex – created a dynamic website that raises awareness of pollution caused by planes using live data
King Edwards VI Grammar School, Essex – created a water meter that measures how many litres of water someone uses in the shower