KERRY students are invited to take part in a National Scratch Competition for Ireland’s young coders from Junior Infants all the way up to sixth year.

Scratch is a visual programming language that encourages children to develop essential coding skills through fun and interactive learning.

The competition, which is run by Irish Computer Society (ICS), will take place during Tech Week 2017, April 23 to 29. Registration is now open and will close on Friday, February 17.

Now in its seventh year, and rapidly growing, the National Scratch Competition has established itself among teachers and students as a leading platform and showcase for Ireland’s aspiring digital creators. Interest and participation has been increasing every year. In 2016, the national competition attracted over 700 young entrants, with 25 projects making it to the national finals.

The long term goal of Scratch is to promote STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) subjects.

Scratch is open to individual students, classes and groups from Junior Infants right up to Sixth Year in secondary and after-school coding clubs, such as Coderdojo. This year there is also a pilot Special Needs category.

Further information and registration details can be found on scratch.ics.ie or www.scratch.ie