Mash Club is a pack of resources for running a digital technologies coding club at your school using Purple Mash tools. Currently, this includes an eight-week course on 'Coding' using 2Code and 'Blogging' using 2Blog. With schools having to close again recently, it was great to hear from one parent on how he had used Mash Club with Year 2 students.

2Blog within Purple Mash, has seen an increase in use during this period of home/blended learning. We have been listening to you and have made a number of updates to 2Blog to support you.

Children’s Art Week will take place online, home and in schools across the three weeks it runs in June and July. The 2020 themes are: The Natural World (from 29th June), Connecting Across Generations (6th July) and Literacy and Creative Writing (13th July). The aim of Children’s Art Week is to encourage families and children to take part in creative activities that they may not have tried before. It’s all about showing the importance of creativity and art in everyday life.

To celebrate Children’s Art Week and the weekly themes, we have several activities you can use on Purple Mash.

Fete de la Musique – World Music Day is an annual music celebration that started in France in 1982 and which now takes place in 120 countries and 1000 cities across the world on 21st June.  'Make Music Australia' is Australia's contribution and aims to engage everyone in making music anywhere and everywhere. They hope to be taking over the streets with music but if that is not possible due to "social distancing" they invite everyone to join in online through one of the online initiatives that will be taking place. You can find out more on their website and discover how it is being celebrated around the world here.

Python in Pieces is an interactive coding environment, designed to build student and teacher confidence in the text-based coding language of Python. With the ability to easily translate from block-code to Python, in BOTH directions, meaning that students quickly become empowered from as young as Year 5 through to Year 9!. We visited Caroline Chisholm School (before Lockdown) to see Python in Pieces in action.