JSV Learners Win First and Second Place in COBIS Digital Creations Competition

Recently, several of our Junior School Vlaskamp (JSV) learners took part in the Just2easy and Council of British International Schools (COBIS) Digital Creations Competition – Adventure In Time Travel Challenge. We are delighted to share that learners Victor (Year 5) and Aaira (Year 6) won first and second place, respectively, in the Coding category thanks to the impressive games they created!

“If you could step back into history, what would you find?”

This was the question posed to learners for this year’s competition. Using the Just2easy Tool Suite, they were challenged to create a picture, animation or game to bring an interesting or exciting story from the past to life: “From the dinosaurs to World War II, where will your curious mind take you?” The competition was split into three categories: Painting for Foundation Stage 2 and Year 1 learners, Animation for Years 2, 3 and 4 and Coding for Years 5 and 6.

Victor, who took first prize for his game about Tutankhamun:

“I wanted to enter this competition because Vivek won it last year and I really like coding. It is so much fun. My game transports players back to the time of Tutankhamun, teaching fascinating facts about the Egyptian king. I designed the game so players become one of Howard Carter’s treasure collectors and have to collect the gems whilst avoiding the mummies.

The biggest challenge was making the maze. At first, the gem collector could walk through the walls in the maze, so he was not following the maze track correctly. I had to really persevere and tried lots of different code blocks, before realizing I could use the ‘is touching colour’ block and colouring a separate layer under the maze that blocks him from going through the walls.

I felt really proud of myself when I found out I had won. But the best bit was getting to play my game when I finally got it working!

– Victor, Year 5, first prize winner

The COBIS judges loved Victor’s game and commented that:

“Tutankhamun's Gem Game was a brilliantly tricky game that was informative, detailed, and great fun to play.”

Second prize winner Aaira’s game was about Henry VIII:

“This was the second time I have entered the COBIS Digital Creations competition. Last year, when I made my trash game for their Climate challenge, I had lots more ideas for another game so I entered this year’s competition to develop my ideas and coding further. At first I didn’t know what historical moment to make my game about, but my dad gave me the idea to create it about King Henry VIII of England.

My game teaches players some gruesome facts about King Henry VIII and his six wives. I built a countdown challenge where players must amass a great fortune for the king by collecting jewellery. Players also must avoid the falling guillotine knife blade to survive the game! It was challenging sometimes finding the right code block, but I tried out blocks that I used before as well as some new ones until my code worked as I wanted.

I most enjoyed playing my game when it was all done, especially level 2 when you get enough points to make the knives start to fall.

I am proud and happy that I won second prize. It makes me want to code more games in the future.

– Aaira, Year 6, second prize winner

The COBIS judges loved Aaira’s complex coding, especially her scoring system and the different levels she created.

JSV Computing Teacher, Fiona Kuijpers:

“Making coding and computational thinking robust and up-to-date is a key part of JSV’s computing curriculum. I aim to ensure that learners gain essential coding fundamentals progressively year on year, enabling them to code, debug, and create programs using a wide variety of software. This approach ensures that learners are engaged and able to transfer their skills confidently. Alongside digital coding platforms, learners also learn to work with a range of physical computing components, starting in Foundation Stage and KS1.

I also look for as many opportunities as possible for learners to apply their coding skills through fun and meaningful competitions. For this year’s COBIS Digital Creations Time Travel challenge, I opened submissions to both Year 5 and Year 6 learners.

It was fantastic to see how much the pupils’ coding has developed and how confidently they applied their learning from computing lessons over the last few years.

Both Victor and Aaira truly embodied the BSN Character Profile throughout their game development. They Persevered through challenges, took risks (Courage), sought innovative solutions to coding problems (Creativity), and even gave up many of their lunchtimes to complete their projects on time.

Well done to both learners for their outstanding efforts and for inspiring others to take part in future competitions.”

A special thank you to Fiona for supporting our learners throughout the process.

Congratulations to you both, Victor and Aaira!