CQE delivers software engineering workshop at Thornbury Primary Leadership Academy

In 2022, Corecom Quality Engineering launched ‘Gearing Up’, an educational programme of talks and interactive workshops at local Primary Schools, aimed at quashing negative misconceptions and raise aspirations around Software Engineering.

Director Phil Stead, Quality Consultant Peter Singh, Junior Performance Tester Gunes Cole and Senior Marketing Executive, Kelly Newton attended Thornbury Primary Leadership Academy on the last day of October term to deliver an insightful workshop on design, build and test careers in tech.

All of Year Six were included in one of two sessions, morning and afternoon. The students were split up into three groups:

·      the designers

·      the builders

·      the testers

They were given an assignment which consisted of building a zoo and a vehicle using specific requirements set by the customer. These included:

·      a vehicle that could transport two zookeepers, their tools, and a trailer

·      a trailer that could be pulled by the vehicle above that can also transport two animals to the Zoo

·      a building that could comfortably house the pulling vehicle, the trailer, the animals, the staff, and the tools

After identifying the soft skills needed and the importance of each role, the students worked collaboratively to complete the task and meet the brief, being encouraged to ask each other questions and get creative, which yielded some incredible results. Phil said:

“The aim of the session was to inspire the children to consider a career in technology and recognise the skills they already have to be designers, builders and testers. The children really listened to the brief given to them, asked plenty of questions and worked together as a team to get the best result for the customer.”

CQE feel it’s vital to educate young children on the opportunities that are open to them in the world of tech, especially young girls. Statistics, for example, show that:

·      78% of pre-university students can’t name a famous female in tech

·      only 16% of females have had a career in tech suggested to them compared to 33% of males

Source: PwC, 2022

The Principal of Thornbury Primary School, Clare Daddy, said:

“Having the team from CQE deliver these workshops has been very beneficial to our year six students, who are going into the next stage of their education and may not have had the exposure to careers in this industry before. It’s in our best interests to give the children at Thornbury the opportunities, and after the success of the first workshops we’re excited to be able to provide it to more of our students.”

CQE will be rolling out this workshop to future students and schools across the Yorkshire region in the hope of inspiring young people toward a career in technology.