A £10,000 IT investment being made at a Wyre Forest village school by its partner multi-academy trust has been showcased with a Google STEM Festival for pupils.

Years three to six at Far Forest Lea Memorial CE Primary Academy took part in fun tasks ranging from programming Lego robots, to building their own interactive digital content.

The festival was run by the Severn Academies Educational Trust (SAET), with IT staff supporting the children and activities run by technology in education training and consultancy company Tablet Academy, from Telford.

Gemma Alldritt, SAET learning institute director, said: “The digital opportunities to expand children’s knowledge and understanding of STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths – are immense.

“We are committed to providing our children with the tools they need to excel in this fast-moving world.”

Far Forest is the first school in the trust to change from Microsoft Windows to the Google Chrome OS operating system, with new interactive screens in all classrooms and Chrome Books for all pupils.

Tim Morton, SAET’s deputy chief operating officer, said: “The new system will be rolled out to all our schools and because we can utilise existing hardware with Chrome OS, it will significantly reduce the amount of IT support needed from us.

“There will also be less need for expensive licences, with total savings amounting to at least £850,000 over the next five years.”

Staff at the school have been trained to use Google Classroom and the festival introduced pupils to IT experiences using interactive tools including Lego Spike, CoSpaces and Adobe Express.

The SAET family of schools also includes Kidderminster’s Baxter College, The Stourport High School and Vlth Form College, Wilden All Saints CE Primary, St Bartholomew’s CE Primary, Hartlebury CE Primary, Stourport Primary Academy and Wolverley Sebright Primary Academy.