It’s not often that you’re told to ‘get scratching’ but that’s exactly what the Irish Computer Society is asking schools and students to do all over Ireland for this year’s Tech Week.

The National ‘Scratch’ Coding Competition is now open and looking for Ireland’s young coders from junior infants all the way up to sixth year.

Scratch is a visual programming language that encourages children to develop essential coding skills through fun and interactive learning.

Schools all over Ireland are now invited to register and take part in this year’s competition. The 2017 Scratch National final will take place during Tech Week 2017 (23–29 April). The closing date for registration is Friday, 17th February 2017.

Scratch is open to individual students, classes and groups from junior infants right up to 6th year in secondary and after-school coding clubs such as Coderdojo. This year there is also a pilot Special Needs category.

Further information and registration details can be found on scratch.ics.ie or www.scratch.ie