Scratch National Competition

INSPIRING IRELAND'S NEXT GENERATION
OF DIGITAL CREATORS

Who it’s
for

The competition is open to students in primary and second level schools in Ireland, and to students attending after-school coding clubs such as Coderdojo. Projects can be about anything – the only limit is students’ imagination.

Free
resources

Entrants may avail of free downloads, including dozens of download lesson plans, workbooks and other resources for teaching and learning Scratch in the classroom. Separate resources are available for primary and secondary age groups.

Certificates
for all

Every student who submits a completed project will receive a Certificate of Participation in the National Scratch Competition, in recognition of their work and creativity. Projects may be submitted by groups or individuals.

Awards for
top projects

Entries are reviewed by a panel of judges, and the finalists invited to the National Finals as part of Tech Week, Ireland's annual festival of technology. There are six award categories in addition to the prize of Overall Winner.

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What is Scratch?

Scratch is a visual programming language that makes it easy for young people to create their own interactive stories, animations, games, music and art – and share their creations on the web.

           

Scratch is developed by the MIT Media Lab and is available free of charge.

Scratch helps young people learn to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively – essential skills for life in the 21st century.

Scratch teaches computational thinking and problem-solving using a powerful yet simple-to-use building block approach to app creation.

Scratch is a fun and interesting way to introduce software development to students. Using Scratch, students gain a better understanding of a career in IT and can make more informed CAO choices.

Access free resources for teaching and learning Scratch

Our free resources include:

  • For students aged 4-12 years, 10 step-by-step, 45 minute lesson plans, which are integrated with the primary school curriculum. Also for primary teachers we have the course manual Scratch Programming and Numeracy in Senior Primary Classes.
  • For students at second-level, we have 10 modules that were developed as a 45-hour Transition Unit for Transition Year students in accordance with NCCA guidelines. Teachers may pick and choose what to teach from the 10 modules to suit their needs.
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In support of Scratch and the benefits it offers to students, teachers and schools, the following organisations in Ireland work together to sponsor the Scratch National Competition:

Institute of Technology Blanchardstown
University of Limerick
Sligo Institute of Technology
ITT
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