Pupils from Invergowrie Primary School are celebrating after two teams from Primary 6 were longlisted in the prestigious BAFTA Young Game Designers Awards.
Working in pairs, the 10 and 11-year-old children designed and developed their own original game concepts as part of a wider digital creativity, cybersecurity and games education project.
Their entries were submitted to the BAFTA Young Game Designers 10-14 category, which attracts entries from across the UK.
The two longlisted games were:
- Broken Realms by Callum Riddle and Bryan Igere
- Glitch Core by Harrison Thomas-Young and Harris Thompson-Craig
To support the project, the children's class teacher, Mrs Katie Parkin, organised for the children to take part in two online workshops delivered by Into Film focused on games design and the BAFTA awards process.
Mrs Parkin also organised for Dr Lynne Love from Abertay University to visit the school alongside two fourth-year students. During the session, Abertay students discussed their own work and experiences within the games industry before acting as a professional panel for the children to present their projects and receive feedback.
In addition, the school successfully applied through Creative Scotland for the class to work with screen educator Ian Cameron from Breaking the Wall, an independent company which supports creative learning.
Across 10 sessions, the children explored film-making, animation and screen literacy, developing skills in storytelling, editing, visual communication and animation techniques.
As longlisted entrants, the children will receive professional feedback from BAFTA judges once the competition concludes. They have also been invited to attend the BAFTA Young Game Designers Showcase in London, where they will see the winning games, meet games industry professionals and hear talks from BAFTA alumni.
Headteacher Linda Rew said: "We are incredibly proud of the creativity, teamwork and enthusiasm shown by the children throughout this project. The opportunity to work with real industry professionals helped make the learning feel authentic and inspiring, and the children gained so much confidence through the experience.
"To have two games longlisted nationally is a fantastic achievement for the class."
The project formed part of the school's wider work in digital creativity, cybersecurity, technology and collaborative learning, helping learners build skills in communication, problem solving, design thinking and teamwork.
Councillor John Rebbeck, convener of Perth and Kinross Council's Learning and Families Committee, said: "This is a fantastic achievement and I congratulate both teams on being longlisted in such a prestigious competition."
