23 January 2024
Jon Chippindall to step down as Director of CAS and Barefoot
Dr. Jon Chippindall, affectionately known to us all as “Dr Chips" is stepping down as the Director of CAS and Barefoot to take up a new role with TeachMateAI continuing his commitment to "teachers supporting teachers".
Jon ("Chip") has been an integral part of the CAS Barefoot team since its inception in 2014. He has contributed significantly to writing many of the teaching resources and, more recently, has played a key role in helping to shape the future of the CAS community. The introduction of new thematic communities (AI, Primary, Secondary Heads of Department, A Level, Physical Computing, Include and more) have helped many more educators to engage more deeply. In fact, more than 25k educators have engaged with CAS & Barefoot in the last year, extending our reach to 88% of UK schools, and impacting the education of millions of young people.
He has brought creativity and boundless enthusiasm for teaching children and their teachers computing, “Dr Chip’s daily dose” during the pandemic supported a great deal of families with fun science and tech activities. Although we will greatly miss Jon as part of the team, he remains a lifelong advocate for CAS and Barefoot. I am confident that he will keep in fairly close contact with us!
Abi Edwards will now lead the delivery of CAS and Barefoot, supported by a passionate and expert team including Sophie Rice (Data and Community Manager), Becci Peters (Computing Subject Lead), Pete Marshman (Secondary Computing Lead) and Marta Bronowicka (Community Specialist). The CAS Education & Community Board works closely with Abi and the team to facilitate and convene the UK Computing Education community encouraging teachers to support teachers. Independently and collectively we strive to deliver the very best on behalf of our learners because “there is no them, there’s only us”.
In the meantime, we wish Jon and his family the very best of luck in his new adventure with TeachMateAI!
