Meeting ETI's Expectations:
How We Help Your School Excel
In Digital Skills 

1 / Whole -school vision and strategic planning.

The ETI report highlights that “there is variability in the extent, prioritisation, and impact of schools’ strategic curricular planning for the development of children and young people’s digital skills, leading to some gaps in the digital skills provision, particularly in the creative and expressive digital areas.”

How primarycodingni can help: By providing a whole-school curriculum through the platform we use during the staff training, we ensure consistent and comprehensive digital skills development from Primary 1 to Primary 7. This includes creative digital areas like digital audio and digital art, which inspectors are keen to see strengthened in schools. The platform ensures every class has access to structured lesson plans that gradually build on coding skills while integrating creativity into the learning process.

2 / Addressing gaps in specialist staff and
resources.

 The ETI report states that “the limited availability of specialist staff with the necessary digital expertise, and the lack of a suitable range of physical resources, is leading to an undue variance in and imbalance across the range of digital skills learning experiences.”

How primarycodingni can help: Our service eliminates the need for schools to hire additional digital specialists by providing a comprehensive whole-school curriculum for coding and digital skills. This includes the platform’s built-in resources, lesson plans, and hands-on activities for every year group. From digital art and audio creation to coding arcade games, our curriculum ensures that all pupils experience a wide range of digital skills, creating balance and uniformity across year groups.

3 / Embedding online safety and leadership

The report also praises schools where children “have a good understanding of online safety and on the conventions of acceptable online behaviour” and where children act as digital leaders to support learning across the school.

How primarycodingni can help: In addition to teaching coding, the platform we use during staff training includes online safety modules, helping students understand appropriate online behaviour. 

4 / Easy tracking of digital skills progress 

 ETI reports that schools lack “system-level moderated and robust attainment data for the levels of progression in digital skills,” making it difficult to track students' progress.

How primarycodingni can help: The platform provides tools for teachers to track each pupil’s progress systematically, offering valuable data to help schools monitor and assess digital skills development. This system helps teachers ensure that students are meeting curriculum standards in UICT and other digital skills areas, while providing a reliable way to assess and report on their progression.

5 / Addressing gaps in programming skills

The ETI report notes that “NI needs to boost the supply of workers with high-level digital skills, particularly in programming,” and there is a lower uptake of software programming at GCSE levels.

How primarycodingni can help: By teaching coding from Primary 1 to Primary 7, our service ensures that students are introduced to programming early on, laying the foundation for future engagement with higher-level digital courses. The platform includes engaging programming activities like creating arcade games and interactive digital projects using popular themes, helping pupils develop a solid interest in coding as they progress through the school years.

6 / Building teacher capacity.

The report notes that “school leaders understand the importance of developing children and young people’s digital skills but are prioritising, in the first instance, the development of teachers’ skills to build their capacity to deliver a digital skills curriculum.”

How primarycodingni can help: Our service specifically supports this priority by training teachers in coding through a comprehensive platform. We offer both afternoon training sessions and twilight workshops from 3 pm to 5 pm, ensuring that teachers can build their digital literacy without disrupting their usual teaching responsibilities. Teachers can also track each pupil’s progress on the platform, making it easier to align with both current and emerging digital literacy needs.

7 / Recruiting and retaining expertise.

The ETI recognizes that “recruiting and retaining qualified staff with the appropriate expertise to deliver and support delivery across all aspects of a contemporary digital skills curriculum is a common and significant challenge across primary and post-primary schools.”

How primarycodingni can help: By partnering with schools, our service provides an external solution to this challenge. With ready-made lesson plans, coding terms explained clearly, and a step-by-step approach, teachers don't need advanced coding knowledge to deliver high-quality digital skills lessons. The platform  includes  arcade game development, engaging students while meeting the curriculum's digital and creative goals.

8 / Systematic planning and progression.

In more effective practice, “the statutory requirements are planned and mapped systematically, enabling progressive development of children and young people’s digital skills across the key stages.”

How primarycodingni can help:  The coding curriculum we provide is aligned with statutory requirements and is systematically designed to progress from Primary 1 to Primary 7. Each year group follows a clear pathway, ensuring that pupils build on their skills year after year. Teachers can track progress through the platform, helping to ensure that the pupils’ digital literacy grows consistently across Key Stages 1 and 2.

9 / Digital skills beyond core activities

The ETI report highlights that children have opportunities to develop digital skills such as “researching; presenting; managing data; using various ‘digital applications’ in school and at home; and in using productivity software confidently,” but they “report limited experiences in using applications for digital art and design, and digital audio: music and sound.”

How primarycodingni can help: The curriculum we provide emphasises creative digital skills like digital art and digital audio, which have been identified as areas of limited exposure. Through the platform, pupils can engage in creating digital artwork, animations, and audio projects, fostering creativity while learning essential digital skills. This ensures that students are not only competent in productivity software but also develop a broad range of digital competencies.

10 / Early interest in STEM

"NI needs to boost the supply of workers with high-level digital skills, particularly in programming."
How primarycodingni can help: 
The coding curriculum introduces students to programming early, fostering a deep-rooted interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields. By integrating exciting themes and arcade game development, we create engaging, hands-on experiences that spark curiosity and creativity in young learners. These activities build not only technical skills but also critical thinking and problem-solving abilities, laying a solid foundation for future studies and careers in STEM. Through coding, children gain exposure to essential programming concepts and begin to see themselves as future creators and innovators in the digital world.

11 / Primary to Key Stage 3 transition.

Primary to Key Stage 3 transition: The ETI mentions that more work is needed to ensure “that all young people develop the necessary pre-requisite skills in digital technology to underpin their future progression in line with contemporary skillsets.”

How primarycodingni can help: By teaching coding and digital skills from the ground up, the coding curriculum provides pupils with the pre-requisite skills they need for further education. Using themes like Minecraft, Star Wars, and Ice Age, we engage pupils early on, preparing them for the digital challenges they will face at Key Stage 3 and beyond.

12 / Examples of effective practice.

One primary school is commended for “aligning the use of digital technology to enhance children’s learning with staff digital skills development” through regular capacity-building opportunities.

How primarycodingni can help: We offer both internally led staff training and external workshops, helping schools align teacher development with student learning. Schools can schedule training with us in the afternoons or during twilight sessions (3pm-5pm), ensuring that teachers can continuously improve their skills in coding and digital literacy without disrupting their day-to-day teaching.