Royal Bank of Canada renew their partnership with basis.point

The basis.point Corporate Partner Programme continues to go from strength to strength with the announcement that Royal Bank of Canada will continue their partnership supporting the National College of Ireland’s Early Learning Initiative (ELI) Coding Club for the coming year.

The partnership is now into its third year and will enable the programme to be modified to accommodate current social distancing guidelines, ensuring children can continue to learn programming, electronics and robotics in a fun and engaging way.

Additional e-learning resources are to be provided. Professor Josephine Bleach, Director of ELI elaborated on the programme’s importance.

“We are delighted that RBC and basis.point are continuing to support Early Learning Initiative Coding Clubs. Digital literacy is even more important now than ever. Our ambition is that every child in the Docklands learns how to code.”

Providing hands-on technology experience to children from inner city communities is more important than ever given the increasing demands of blended learning. Last year, over 190 children aged 7 – 12 from the North Dublin inner city community, benefited from the Coding Club and it is hoped that a similar number will have the opportunity again this year.

The Coding Club has its roots in the Coder Dojo project and has been further developed by the National College of Ireland’s School of Computing. Coding is brought to life by building small robots. Though young, they are inspired by what they have achieved and already hope to use their skills to succeed in education, career and life.

The Coding Club is run by staff of NCI’s Early Learning Initiative and volunteers from RBC in NCI and in local afterschool settings, where 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.

Adapting to current restrictions has been challenging. The Coding Club has collaborated with the Stretch to Learn Programme within NCI to prepare materials to be circulated by the partner schools to the parents of participating children.

The material gives instructions to parents on how they can download the coding programme mBlock and go through some exercises with their children. An anticipated additional positive outcome however is that, through the sharing of resources directly with parents, there will be increased parental involvement in ELI’s coding and STEM programming.

Padraig Kenny, Managing Director and Country Head, Dublin for RBC commented:

We are delighted to continue our partnership with basis.point, supporting their Early Learning Initiative Coding Club for another year.

This programme not only provides children from a range of backgrounds a fantastic learning opportunity, but allows our team at RBC to make a real and lasting difference within our local communities.

The Early Learning Initiative Coding Club aims to demystify STEM subjects and it is hoped that by providing encouragement at such an early age, the programme will make a real and lasting difference and could ultimately open a pathway towards a successful career.

It is also an excellent fit with our corporate responsibility goals at RBC to support youth in local communities. This is a shining example of creating brighter futures together.

Edel O’Malley, basis.point CEO is excited for the future of this programme “basis.point is delighted to work with RBC through our Partner Programme to ensure the ongoing success of this great initiative. Our collaborative approach secures the future of exciting educational initiatives and makes a sustained and lasting impact for young people in Ireland”.

If you are interested in a Partner Programme for your organisation please get in touch.