All aboard the Intelino Express

Becci Peters call in April 2025 for expressions of interest to feature in a future edition of the Computing at School newsletter reminded me that it was back in November 2023 that I took delivery of some sets of Intelino SmartTrains – thanks to “Eat, Sleep ICT Repeat” aka James Fraser for the initial introduction.  That introduction sparked a small learning revolution certainly in the way I’ve been able to work with other schools to raise the profile of teaching physical Computing and STEM-centric learning. 

I actually first saw Intelino at the BETT Show in March 2023 in my capacity as supporting one of the #KidsJudgeBETT panelists, but thought nothing further of the product because, to be honest, the financial pressures faced by schools means that investing in equipment with no previous pedagogical track record would be difficult to justify to senior colleagues.  So often, we hear about schools being told “this product would be great for supporting the teaching of...”  However, often the product has a very narrow age range and is only suitable for one or a limited number of year groups.  Functionality may be very limited unless schools are prepared to subscribe to access premium rate features or extras.  There are then the logistics or practicalities of teaching physical computing such as how the equipment needs to be organised, distributed, set up and packed down – even before any learning is able to take place. 

It was during Autumn 2023 on the Ogden Trust Senior Teacher Fellowship programme where attending one of their “Subject Knowledge for Physics Teachers” workshops I thought and saw how vehicles moving automatically on a circular track could be used to tangibly demonstrate the distribution model of electrical circuits as well as explaining network topologies.  Following that initial introduction from James, in November 2023, I took delivery of enough starter sets of Intelino track and accessories to enable the classes of 30 I teach to learn with by working in pairs. 

While that initial unboxing experience by members of my fantastic after school Code Club showed the potential of being able to apply their computational thinking skills as well as their understanding of algorithmic structures, it was Becci’s out of the blue e-mail asking if I would be able to host a delegation of “international visitors to view a computing lesson” where they wanted “to see (an) unplugged” activity which was the first true test of how versatile and engaging Intelino is for enabling a play based learning approach to secure programming concepts of sequencing and selection.  The visit coincided with the publication of the Ofsted Section 8, Education Act (2005) where schools are not formally graded but evaluated against the School’s Inspectorate 2017 grading of “Outstanding”.  I am very pleased and proud to be part of a team where the school was complimented for offering “an ambitious and rich curriculum” which has been “carefully constructed and sequenced” where “pupils learn and embed the necessary component knowledge, vocabulary and skills they need to be ready for the next stage in their learning.”   

It was actually at the end of school year in July 2021 that my counterpart at one of the Trust’s other schools that I was working with and I agreed that we would or should structure the sequence of Computing to follow what Miles Berry described in his seminal publications from 2012 “Computing in the national curriculum: a guide for primary teachers” (as well as its corresponding Secondary companion) where the subject is conveniently organised into Computer Science, Information (and Communications) Technology as well as Digital Literacy.  I say conveniently organised given each school year is spilt into three terms. 

My counterpart and I also decided that given the ever increasing concerns over online safety as well as the rising prevalance of data science, we would separate these sequences of learning from Digital Literacy and Information Technology respectively.  In doing so, we carried out a forensic mapping of how and what should be covered in Computer Science where we were aided by using the curriculum maps produced by the National Centre for Computing Education.  It was doing this where (apologies for the punny metaphor), we saw the light at the end of the tunnel and were able to identify a clear set of learning outcomes for every year group connecting Intelino to teaching Computing from Reception to Year 7 – crossing and inter-connecting the curriculum boundaries of Computing, Physics and Maths. 

It was as my colleague and I also saw how ongoing concerns over the “deficit”, whether perceived or real experienced by some schools whose teachers either feel they lack the subject knowledge or pedagogical expertise for teaching programming that I spotted an opportunity to potentially cover the learning outcomes for programming as a collapsed timetable or workshop offer which could be taught over a single school day.  Brigading the learning opportunities using Intelino together into a series of fourteen activities, I thought that I could submit the teaching guide and learning resources I had compiled to the British Science Association to be considered for accreditation as an approved CREST Award Discovery Certificate “STEM in a day” offer. 

It has been through “talking” (a lot) on social media about Intelino which attracted interest from Greater Anglia Rail who offered my school a significant (time limited) grant from their “Customer and Community Improvement Fund” which has enabled my school to release me one day a week from timetabled duties to offer free workshops to other schools.  To date (at the time of writing in Easter 2025), the workshop has been delivered to 40 schools where 1,500 children have taken part.  I have also been exceptionally pleased and proud to have been able to show and share at various weekend teacher focused conferences, library makerspace events and trying to attract the interest to offer pop up exhibits at transport related museums around the UK with the #EngineuityDriverChallenge  

As the very generous grant from Greater Anglia Railways Customer and Community Improvement Fund draws to a close in March 2025, the legacy it leaves behind continues through collaborations established with the Royal Institution where from April 2025 I will be presenting #CompSci at the RI Masterclasses as well as supporting the #TwitterIntelinoTrainTour2025 as part of the Network Rail bicentennial commemorating 200 years of British Railways – all because Intelino SmartTrains enable a STEMcentric play based approach to teaching children from aged 3 to 14 plus that learning Computing is relevant, relatable and real.