PM Turns IT On: David Cameron’s Hour of Code at our Oxford office

During his constituency visits today Prime Minister David Cameron attended our Oxford office to discuss schools’ licensing rights and to see how teachers are being trained to deliver Michael Gove’s new computing curriculum.

During his speech at the January Bett Show, Michael Gove highlighted his vision for a new “ambitious, stretching and exciting” computing curriculum designed to “equip every child with the computing skills they need to succeed in the 21st century.” Recently, particular emphasis has been placed on developing pupil’s coding skills. The Hour of Code scheme was launched to help encourage children to start coding and to raise awareness of its importance in modern life.

Enabling teachers to be able to provide these skills to their pupils is something that staff at Turn IT On feel passionately about. As Turn IT On founder Tom Welch explains, “Turn IT On keeps schools’ equipment running smoothly and makes sure that teachers can confidently deliver the computing curriculum. It means that teachers can get on with what really counts: teaching and learning.”

Today, Mr Cameron began his ‘Hour of Code’ by attending a demonstration of Turn IT On’s Decoding the Computing Curriculum training sessions that hundreds of teachers in Oxfordshire and surrounding counties have attended this year. There was even a chance for the Prime Minister to turn his hand to some Scratch programming to test his own aptitude for the skill!

We enjoyed meeting the Prime Minister and hope that he found the visit insightful. We also hope he enjoyed our newly designed office!

Check back soon to see some photos of the event.