Robotics is playing an increasingly important role in Primary learning, with students across all year groups engaging in hands-on activities that support creativity, problem solving and digital skills.
Early Years: Foundations of Logic
Our Early Years students are beginning their digital journey through play-based robotics that supports early computational thinking. In Little Ducks and Nursery, children are using Bee-Bots, friendly screen-free robots programmed via directional buttons. Blending technology with creativity, the children have been singing songs and telling stories using the robots as characters. They have also been experimenting with 3D printed pen holders that allow the Bee-Bots to draw shapes as they move, helping them visualise the path created by their inputs.
In Reception, students progress to Cubetto. This introduces a new challenge by separating the controls from the device. Children place physical coding blocks onto a control board to guide the robot, planning routes, testing their algorithms and fixing errors as they refine their thinking.
Key Stage 1: Building Complexity
In Years 1 and 2, students continue their progression using VEX 123 robots. This learning connects with their Enquiry topics of Pirates and Islands, where students have been programming their robots to navigate maps and reach specific coordinates. These year groups have also been developing wider digital skills in the Innovation Hub, combining robotics with activities such as QR scavenger hunts and green screen projects as part of their ongoing enquiries.
Upper Primary: Enquiry and Engineering
In Upper Primary, robotics connects closely with project-based learning. Year 5 students have been working with VEX GO to create Mars rover models as part of their Space unit. Their tasks included programming robots to navigate a simulated Mars landscape, search for water and collect metallic objects using electromagnets, applying both coding and scientific thinking.
The Year 6 robotics team is using our most advanced kits as they prepare for the upcoming VEX IQ competition in Bangkok. Working alongside Secondary students, they have explored complex design options to build a controllable robot capable of grabbing, lifting and stacking pins, demonstrating teamwork, resilience and problem solving.
Developing Skills for the Future
Across Primary, robotics continues to open up meaningful learning opportunities. As students move through the school, they progress from simple sequencing to using sensors and variables, allowing them to design robots that respond intelligently to their environment. This hands-on learning also strengthens collaboration, perseverance and the understanding that trial and error is a natural part of innovation.