Computing

Year 6 VR experience - Veolia - 04/06/2025

As part of the Year 6 Environmental drop down day, the Year 6 were treated to a VR experience by Veolia staff. Pupils used the headsets to explore a Power Plant and Waste recycle centre to give them access to buildings that are inaccessible to the public. Thank you to Veolia for providing such an amazing experience for our pupils.

           

 

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Hannah Mellor - Movement Day Careers Visit 05/02/2025

Today as part of the PE Department's Movement Day, featuring a variety of dancers and performers, Year 7 were treated to a dancing display and careers chat.

As well as traditional performing Hannah has been a 'Mocap' computer game sprite model. She explained how the technology worked and what moves she performed for her characters in the game Freefire.  

This interesting talk gave children an insight into how the computer games industry is not just career option for programmers
and that there are a variety of roles and responsibilities when making a game. 
 

    

 

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STEM Engineers - 28/01/2025

Recently, a group of our Year 7 and 8 pupils represented our school against the best young STEM engineers from schools across the Midlands. After months of hard work, our children showcased their robot programs and presented their solution to a real world environmental issue. Unfortunately, despite showing excellent problem solving, the children just missed out on progression to the national finals - but did achieve the core value trophy for exemplifying all of the values that Lego hold dear.  These include teamwork, positivity, friendship, resilience and problem solving. Well done to all pupils and good luck for next year's tournament. Special thanks to Megan Clayton and the NSCG team for an outstanding tournament and to Tim Chapman our fantastic STEM Ambassador for supporting us.  

 

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CCA Computing on Tour 10/10/24

This year Computing is joining the CCA on Tour program. We will be visiting schools to study childrens online persona's using Lego. Our school First Lego League Team this week prepared some example models of people's online personalities and wrote the rationale for their character designs.

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History of Gaming Year 7 Day 04/03/24

Today saw our very first History of Gaming Computer Science day with the Core Team. Year 7 pupils and staff had a lesson in the hall to play a huge variety of gaming machines from the past 50 years to study the technological advancements in this sector. These ranged from Pong on a Binatone device from the early 70's to the latest VR race car simulators. The pupils had an amazing day and we are currently arranging another visit for next year. We would like to thank everyone involved in making this special especially Adrian, Theo and the rest of the Core team.

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First Lego League 2024 27/02/24

This week was the annual First Lego League tournament at Newcastle College. Six Key Stage 3 pupils battled against schools from all over the north of Britain. The children had to build and prgram their own Lego robot to complete a variety of puzzles. The second task was to present to an audience about a business idea of their own. the pupils did tremendously well but sadly did not make it to the next round at Harrogate.

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Gamer Girls 26/01/24

Gamer Girls has been a huge hit so far with huge numbers turning up weekly to code games on the Kitronic devices. We had a full room 37 again this week with Mrs Bailey. Gamer Girls club is part of the national iBelong push to get girls into STEM careers. If you enjoy computing or just want to try something new with your lunch break come along next week and bring a friend.

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Gamer Girls 09/01/24

This term we are launching an exciting new project. As part of the national iBelong drive to get girls into STEM activities we are launching Gamer Girls. This is a coding club for girls in Years 5 and 6. It will be held on Friday lunch times 12:40 to 1:05 in Room 37.

Pupils will learn how to program using the MakeCode programming language and create their own games to play on our new Kitronik gaming devices.

If you are interested come along, bring a friend and give it a try.

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Tinkercad 12/12/2023

This term the Computing department have started teaching an exciting new Year 6 unit. Pupils were already learning to use Paint 3D to create 3D graphics but are now using an online software called Tinkercad to develop their understanding.

Pupils follow an online training program and then create their own 3D village.

Some pupils have continued to teach themselves this software outside of school and have printed their designs on a 3D printer. Here is one of our fantastic models.

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Claymation 04/07/2023

Year 8 pupils are creating claymation figures for their end of year project. Here is an amazing Pokemon character by one of our pupils. Amazing work.

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Newcastle College Lego Innovation Centre Visit 16/06/2023

Today the Code Club children from Year 5 and 6 visited Newcastle College to learn how to program the new Lego Spike robots. Children had to use their teamwork skills to build separate parts of a robot and then bring them together to create a complete robot. 

The pupils were then set a variety of challenges where they had to program the robot to travel set paths.

All the children were fantastic representatives and had an amazing day. 

Thank you to Megan and Tara from the centre for providing this amazing opportunity.

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Lego Creative Play Lesson 16/03/23

Today 6LM trialled a new type of lesson. Pupils took part in a creative play lesson to boost imagination, teamwork and engineering skills. Pupils in pairs had 7 minutes to create a build linked to a theme chosen by the wheel of fortune. For each theme they had to choose a mystery box of pieces and try to imagine what could be built from them. The pupils were amazing and builds ranged from Stone Rocks festival, a dual themed castle for a sand princess and a water princess and finally a medeival toilet. All the pupils were amazing and earned a range of privelege points. Here are some of the photo's from the activity.

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First Lego League Regional Tournament 02/03/23

Today 6 Key Stage 3 pupils were selected to represent Christ Church Academy at the prestigious international First Lego League tournament. After 6 months of hard work the pupils competed at the robot game against 20 schools from the Midlands at Newcastle College. They programmed a Lego robot to complete a variety of challenges based around renewable energy sources.

The second part of the tournament is a project presentation of their idea to solve the energy crisis. The pupils created a fantastic presentation around a charging chair which captured the kinetic energy of fidgeting children to charge devices in school and to support pupils with ADHD.

The children were fantastic representatives of the school and once again performed admirably but sadly did not make the national tournament. Well done everyone involved and good luck for next year.

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First Lego League Tournament 17/01/2022

This week, 8 talented pupils from Year 7 and 8 competed in the First Lego League Tournament. In the competition, teams from all over the world are challenged to create and program a robot to complete a variety of challenges. They must also create a solution to a problem in this field and present their ideas to a panel of expert judges.

For the first year since the pandemic, the team from Christ Church Academy were able to attend the regional tournament at Newcastle College. Around 30 schools with pupils aged 11-16 competed, either at the event or virtually, to gain a place at the national tournament.

Despite a Covid-inhibiting term and their comparatively young age, the pupils performed excellently and their smart mail box idea won the Best Project/Presentation Award. The team also secured fourth place in the Robot Games, narrowly missing out on spot at the national tournament by one place! It was an amazing performance by all CCA pupils, who were commended by staff from other schools for their excellent community spirit when meeting and supporting other teams. 

The Academy has already set its sights on a place in the 2023 tournament, giving even more pupils the experience of applying their curriculum knowledge in a competitive and challenging environment. 

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No Screen Day - Alan Turing Project 25/02/2021

As we aware of the physical impact of constant screen time during home learning on the 25th February we had our first no screen day where all pupils had to complete tasks that did not involve computers.

The day before pupils were sent a document about the amazing yet tragic life of the father of computer science Alan Turing. Their task was to create a piece of art about his life using whatever they wanted.

Here are some of the amazing pieces of work.

And this fantastic poem was by one of our Year 8 pupils.

It was a bomb to silence all others, 

It was science over social scenario. 

 

What was acquired by grace of his cryptic art, 

Was what tore the opposition clear apart. 

The war effort came down to a mere office chair, 

But Alan chose to do more than his fair-share.  

 

It was a great challenge to the myth of mind, 

But he must seek the answer, 

And it he shall find. 

 

Due to thought and desire he was frowned upon, 

But the people did not know what they had done. 

Defined by a life choice was what it came down to, 

But this is what left him feeling so blue. 

 

He must have been filed with utter uncertainty, 

But his works shall be remembered forever and eternally. 

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First Lego League 2020 Tournament 24/01/20

This week pupils from Year 7 and 8 visited Newcastle-under-Lyme College to compete in the regionals of the First Lego league. This was the culmination of 6 months hard work during break time and after schools. Pupils had to create and program Lego robots to solve a variety of challenges.

Pupils also had to create and deliver a presentation about how they would develop their local area. The performances of both teams were amazing but unfortunately were not quite high enough to qualify for the national tournament. We did however pick up the Coopertition Award (that is the correct spelling) for showing the Lego values of courtesy, friendliness, fair play and teamwork with other groups. Well done to all pupils involved and thank you to all staff and parents that supported us.

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FLL 2020 Training 14/11/2019

Tonight pupils have been working on their First Lego League projects. Some pupils are creating and programming their robots while others are working on their presentations.  As we are a clay school some team members are working with Miss Fares to create goodwill tokens to give to rival teams and judges.

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Year 8 Claymation Projects

This term pupils in Year 8 are creating their own claymation films using industry standard materials. Here is a selection of photos during the building stage.

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Code Club Newcastle College Trip 22/05/19

Year 5 and 6 Code Club pupils today visited the NULC Lego Innovation Centre to learn about the use of colour sensors to solve problems. All staff at Christ Church Academy would like to give Andy, Megan and Lucy a massive thank you for making another wonderful day possible.

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First Lego League 2019 Tournament ‘Into Orbit’ 23/01/19

After months of preparation our two teams ‘Voyagers’ and ‘Astrotech’ went to Newcastle-under-Lyme College to compete in the First Lego League regional heat. 12 pupils from Year 7 and 8 had spent months in after school clubs and lunchtimes creating and programming a Lego robot to complete a series of space themed tasks. The weather conditions tried their best to disrupt the day but the pupils were determined to succeed.

The competition was fierce with pupils competing against teams of College and High School students from all over the Midlands. The competition was judged on 4 areas; robot challenges, robot design interview, a space travel pupil presentation and a teamwork puzzle.

Our pupils competed admirably and showed excellent teamwork values but unfortunately did not qualify for the national tournament at Bristol. Although disappointed and exhausted our pupils thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. This first taste of the event will aid them throughout next year’s competition.

We would like to thank all the parents, staff and PTA from Christ Church Academy for their constant support and Andy, Megan and Lucy from the Lego Innovation Centre who have made everything possible.

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First Lego League Team Visit to the Lego Innovation Centre 22/11/18

Today our FLL team pupils visited the Lego Innovation Centre at Stafford College for a skills boosting session. Our pupils provided some outstanding and innovative solutions to the various challenges presented. Our pupils were visited by members of Lego Education UK and were described as 'wonderful pupils'.

As well as programming and engineering skills pupils also used Maths skills to overcome problems. Pupils calculated circumference, distance estimation, rotations, algebra and used trial and error.

Thank you again to all the amazing staff at the centre for providing such an inspirational and informative session. Pupils were that excited that on their return to school they spent a further two hours building.

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First Lego League Training

This year Key Stage 3 pupils will compete in the national First Lego League tournament. To prepare for the regional competition pupils have been learning various STEM techniques to improve their designs. Each week they have been learning about models with a different engineering focus. Week 1 was levers, 2 was gears and 3 was using pieces to move objects in a desired direction.

Next step is Stafford College for a days robotics problem solving.

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Claymation Modelling

17 July 2018

To complete their Computing education at Christ Church Academy, Year 8 pupils used industry standard materials and techniques to create their own claymation films. Here are a selection of excellent designs.

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Code Club Rewards

20 June 2018

After another amazing year of Code Club, Tim Chapman rewarded all members with a goodie bag of gadgets and sweets. Thank you Tim for everything this year and we are looking forward to next years projects.

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Designing the New CCA App 04/05/2018

Today 20 pupils from Year 6 and 8 worked with the team from Studentnomic to plan and create a prototype of the new CCA app. The pupils showed outstanding teamwork and innovation to create an exciting first draft. Studentnomic will now develop all designs to create the finished product. Thank you to Tim Collins and Ben Harland for a very productive day.

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Year 5 Computing Trip to the Lego Innovation Centre at Stafford College 19/04/2018

Today 30 Year 5 pupils visited Stafford College to create and program their own Lego robots to complete a series of challenges. Thank you to all staff from CCA and Stafford College who helped to make such a wonderful day possible.

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Year 8 Instagram - Living a Lie? 16/04/2018

This week Year 8 pupils have been learning about the effects of unrealistic celebrity images on social media and points to remember when taking our own images. Pupils will then improve their own celebrity images to show that we cannot believe everything we see.

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Year 6 Stop Motion Animation 01/12/17

This term Year 6 pupils have been learning about different animation techniques. To finish the unit they have been using Zu3D to create animated films of their own toys. They sourced mp3 files to add music and sound effects to their films.

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Year 6 Stafford College Lego Innivation Studio Trip 29/11/17

Year 6 pupils today were asked to attend Stafford College Lego Innovation Studio for two programming sessions during a visit to the college by Professor Brian Cox.

All pupils excelled themselves building robots with a forklift arm and completing a variety of space themed challenges. Professor Cox then visited to chat, build and have photographs with the pupils.

Thank you again to Andy Snape, Megan Clayton and Lucy Hancock for organising another wonderful day.

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Microbots

24 November 2017

Year 7 E-leaders have today been building Microbots that they will be able to program. These pupils will then mentor other pupils to build their own at Code Club.

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Year 7 Stafford College Lego Innivation Studio Trip 05/10/17

Year 7 pupils today had the honour of opening the new Lego Innovation Studio at Stafford College. 30 pupils spent the day creating Lego 'Tank' robots and then programmed them to complete a series of increasingly difficult challenges. The pupils were then treated to a demonstartion of the latest in robotic technology.

Thank you to Andy Snape, Megan Clayton and Lucy Hancock for organising a wonderful event.

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Code Club Certificates 21/07/17

After a very succesful first term of Code Club (the biggest in Staffordshire) all pupils were presented with a certificate and goodie bag at the awards assemblies. Tim Chapman provided each pupil with a goodie bag containing headphones, USB adaptors, pen and lanyard.

Thank you to both Tim and Fujitsu for everything this year.

Next year Code Club will be for years 5, 6 and 7.

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Fake News

20 July 2017

Following Tim Berners-Lee's (the founder of the modern internet) warning about fake news, pupils in Year 6 and 8 will be completing a unit on how to identify stereo-typing, extremist views and fake news in the media. They will discuss how to remove fake news and how groups use fake news to promote their views.

Remember not everything you read on the internet is true. Challenge the information;

• Who is the author? Are they biased? Are they knowledgeable about the subject?
• Does it sound realistic?
• Has it got lot's of facts or evidence? Is it full of opinion?
• Do any images look photoshopped?
• Is the web address a professional sounding address?
• Does the website look professional? You are less likely to spend a lot of money on nonsense.
• The most important way of checking is to check it on other sites. If the information is different on other sites, someone is wrong.

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Christ Church Academy Monopoly Game

8 July 2017

To learn graphic design skills pupils in Computing created a personalised Monopoly board based on our school. 5A pupils did a cross-curricular project and in DT lessons created a board and laser cut ther piece designs. Well done 5A.

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Code Club

15 June 2017

Thursday nights 3:30 - 4:30 Tim Chapman from Fujitsu visits to deliver a series of coding challenges using the Scratch website. All children are welcome but places are limited to 30. Our club is currently the biggest Code Club in Staffordshire.

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Year 4 Transition 13/06/17 - 15/06/17

This week pupils from all our feeder schools came to sample middle school life. Pupils took part in robot programming on the Hour of Code website. Pupils completed a series of challenges based on the film series to enhance their logical thinking.

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Year 8 Claymation

24 May 2017

Pupils in Year 8 are currently making claymation cartoons. Pupils will use Zu3D to create professional standard short films with wire skeleton figures.

Here is a selection of characters from 8D.

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Pseudo Code Programmers

27 March 2017

Year 5 pupils enjoyed the first sunshine of the year to learn how to be better programmers. Pupils were set the challenge of witing code to send their group from one chair to the other by following the commands without deviation or improvisation. Pupils wrote their first pseudo code and tested it on the yard. All groups showed an excellent growth-mindset and debugged their code until it was perfect.

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Safer Internet Day 2017

7 February 2017

Christ Church Academy took a new approach to celebrating Safer Internet Day 2017. Instead of teachers showing pupils videos and internet safety rules, this year pupils shared tips and rules that they had found useful. The best were then chosen to educate adults and older teenagers using Twitter.

Featured here with their Tweets are Year 5 pupils; Liberty Bradford, Ashton Williams, Amelia Heath, Molly Thompson, Keelan Hope, Danny Watson, Freddie Hutchison-Perry, Lyla Partridge and Jacob Lovatt.

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British Historical Figures Facebook

21 October 2016

To learn about social media in a safe environment Year 7 pupils are using the Fakebook site to create a profile page for a British historical figure. Choices ranged from Harold Hardrada through to Tudor monarchs and even modern history with Amy Winehouse and Diana Spencer

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The Microbit Has Landed

10 October 2016

As part of a BBC initiative to get British children programming, Christ Church Academy has ordered a BBC Microbit mini computer for all Year 8 pupils.

All pupils will be using this exciting technology in Computing and DT lessons. Pupils will be using the device to program games, music, animations and text.

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Year 6 Newcastle-under-Lyme Lego Innovation Centre Trips 2016

8 June 2016

Following the success of last years’ gifted and talented trip to the state of the art Lego Innovation Centre, this year all Year 6 visited the centre to build a variety of fantastic robots.

Christ Church Academy pupils used the WeDo sets and online instructions to create a Leo crocodile. They then used motion sensors to program the crocodile to bite any stray fingers.

Pupils then used the Mindstorm Education sets to build and program a vehicle to navigate a variety of tracks. These tasks utilised technology, maths and computing skills to complete.

For the second year in a row all Christ Church Academy pupils were a credit to themselves and the school. Lecturers at the college were continuously astounded with the pupils computational problem solving abilities and resilience. Well done Year 6.

Thank you to Lucy Hancock and Andy Snape from Newcastle-under-Lyme College for making this outstanding trip possible.

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The Diana Award 2016

26 May 2016

This year our e-Leaders entered the prestigious ‘Diana Award’ competition. To enter pupils had to research, plan and deliver an online safety lesson with the theme of being strong online.

Jack Caswell, Molly Foster, Lara Tuckwell, Ruby Johnston, Claudia Asprey and Tara Povey used their excellent knowledge to educate Year 5 pupils who aspire to be e-Leaders in 2016/17. They adapted the suggested material to create their own interactive lesson covering: mean ‘Tweets’, being an upstander not a bystander and even a kinaesthetic movement task asking what would you do if?