PITLOCHRY Primary School's coding team was placed first in the junior level and first as the overall winners of the National Coding Tournament held earlier this month.
The winning team comprised pupils Shay Hardavnarain, Amiran Pillay, Caleb Munsamy, Adhir Sarawan and Shuver Sadapal.
The coaching team comprised Mohammed Ameer Sheik, Fathima Zahra Khan and Le Ann Chinsamy.
Chinsamy, the school's team manager and coding departmental head, said the first leg of the competition was held on Mandela Day, where the pupils had 67 minutes to complete some coding tasks.
“The Mandela Day Unplugged Coding Tournament for primary and secondary schools (Grades 6 to 9) took place at 28 sites throughout different regions in KwaZulu-Natal with almost 5 000 pupils competing in a coding tournament. The pupils had to code using the Rangers and Tanks games powered by Tangible Africa,” said Chinsamy.
She added that the school's Grade 7 team was the overall winners at the regional tournament in which 20 teams from the Kranskloof Circuit competed and moved on to the provincial tournament.
“The winners from the different regions then participated in a provincial tournament. Tangible Africa raised the challenge in which 165 pupils from Grades 6 to 9 participated using the Du Toit Agri Juicy Gems App. KwaZulu-Natal was the first and only province in which the app was used for competitive coding. Pitlochry Primary School won the provincial tournament and were the proud representative of KZN at the national virtual tournament on September 4,” she added.
"Twenty unseen levels had to be completed in 60 minutes; the criteria being the number of levels completed, the number of attempts, and the time taken to complete the game. Our school completed the 20 levels with single attempts in 14 minutes and 46 seconds, placing us first in South Africa."
The principal, Jayce Padayachee, said a shift in curriculum planning and implementation were instrumental for the school's success.
“I wish team Pitlochry all the best as they progress to represent South Africa in the international tournament on December 5. The future seems bright as these pupils steam ahead in the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” he said.