Early Learning Initiative Coding Club to continue expansion thanks to basis.point and Royal Bank of Canada

Good news for children aged 7-12 living near National College of Ireland (NCI); Early Learning Initiative’s (ELI) Coding Club is back and bigger than before!

Thanks to funding and support from basis.point and Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) until May 2020, even more children will learn programming, electronics and robotics in a fun and challenging way.

Coders Harlow Wilson, Reece Kelly, Shannalee Curtis and Mark Hynes with president of National College of Ireland, Gina Quin; Dr Josephine Bleach and Shivonne Heery from NCI’s Early Learning Initiative (ELI); Eimear Cowhey and Tom Coghlan, basis.point; Padraig Kenny and Karen Craig, RBC Investor & Treasury Services, Ireland. Also pictured, robots from ELI’s Coding Club, funded by a basis.point Partner Programme with RBC.

“We are very grateful to basis.point, who are firm supporters of the ELI, and to RBC” said Dr Josephine Bleach, Director of the ELI. “It is particularly lovely that in the year ELI celebrates its 10th birthday, we will be able to expand the programme to engage with even more participants.”

Padraig Kenny, Managing Director, RBC Investor & Treasury Services, Ireland said “We’re thrilled to be able to support the ELI Coding Club so that more young people can learn about how technology and data are revolutionising our lives. This fantastic local initiative not only teaches children about the range of emerging technologies but also equips them with the skills to be leaders of this digital revolution.”

Run by staff of NCI’s School of Computing and volunteers from RBC in NCI and local afterschool settings, students learn to code, build and test mBots, and programme them to take part in a number of games and activities such as ‘mBot says’, musical statues, Snakes & Ladders and more. This allows children to see their coding in action, and enthuses them to acquire new skills.

Coding Club coordinator Lauren Vesey said:

Parents tell us that Coding Club genuinely shows their children that learning can be fun, and so as well as learning about STEM, it leads the children to a more positive attitude to school in general.

Clive Bellows, Chairman of basis.point said “basis.point is delighted to have worked with RBC through our Partner Programme to facilitate the expansion of this great initiative. Our collaborative ‘joinedupgiving’ approach enables the ongoing support and development of this and other exciting educational initiatives for young people in Ireland”.

About RBC

Royal Bank of Canada is a global financial institution with a purpose-driven, principles-led approach to delivering leading performance. Our success comes from the 84,000+ employees who bring our vision, values and strategy to life so we can help our clients thrive and communities prosper. As Canada’s biggest bank, and one of the largest in the world based on market capitalization, we have a diversified business model with a focus on innovation and providing exceptional experiences to our 16 million clients in Canada, the U.S. and 34 other countries. Learn more at rbc.com.‎

We are proud to support a broad range of community initiatives through donations, community investments and employee volunteer activities.
See how at rbc.com/community-sustainability.

For more information, please contact:
Laura Little
+44 (0) 20 7429 8026
laura.little@rbc.com

About ELI

The Early Learning Initiative (ELI) at the National College of Ireland (NCI) was developed to address the problem of educational underachievement in marginalised communities. Building upon tried and tested models of early years’ intervention, ELI’s mission is to work with communities in areas of greatest need, to provide world-class parent and child learning support programmes.

For more see www.ncirl.ie/ELI. Follow our 2018 birthday celebrations on #ELI10 @ELI_Docklands.

About NCI

National College of Ireland is one of Ireland’s most innovative third-level institutions with over 5,000 students across its key areas of business, computing, education and psychology. Courses are delivered in its IFSC campus, online and in-company, in areas like cybersecurity, data analytics and fintech. NCI is proud to be home to the Early Learning Initiative.

For more see www.ncirl.ie

Press contact for both NCI and ELI:
Teresa Murray
+353 (0) 1 449 8652
teresa.murray@ncirl.ie

About basis.point

A registered charity, basis.point is the Irish Fund Industry’s initiative to come together on a “joined up giving” basis to help make a real and sustainable difference to the educational life-cycle of children and young people from areas of historical disadvantage. basis.point achieves its goal by providing grants to other registered Irish charities with similarly aligned objectives and initiatives to fund programmes that focus on education.

To date some €1.4m, raised through individual and corporate donations, has been committed by basis.point to six registered charities working for the benefit of children and young people on multi-year, evidence based educational programmes, currently in geographical areas representing the Industry’s footfall throughout Ireland.

For more information, or details of how to get involved please visit: www.basispoint.ie, @basispointIRE, #joinedupgiving, or contact:
Geraldine Gleeson
+353 (0) 87 050 4330
ggleeson@basis.point.ie