EDUCATION
FXP is an exciting weekend for all of us at CRC. My colleagues and I love the buzz as students get their heads down in our games development studio. It’s a lot of running around for us, as teams need help with programming issues or are unsure how to do something – but the students are learning constantly: learning new software, learning what makes a good game, and learning what they’re capable of.”
Chris Baker, course lead – Level 3 Games Development, Cambridge Regional College
Each year, Jagex offers a prize to our winning teams in each category (Games Development FE, Games Development Year 8 to Year 11, Games Concept FE, Games Concept Year 8 to Year 11) where teams are invited to visit Jagex for an afternoon to see first-hand how the games development studio operates. Jagex as a company, and Mark Ogilvie, Jagex’s Design Director, have been fundamental in FXP’s success with the provision of knowledge, insights and experiences such as this. Arm has also been a big supporter of FXP Festival since the beginning, and the company’s involvement has had a real impact on participating students. For example, in 2016, Chloe L. (Year 9) was studying Computer Science at North Cambridge Academy (NCA). She enjoyed the subject and was entered by her teacher as part of a school team. For Chloe, the last day of FXP was the best, when participants met industry mentors. She said the experience with FXP was ‘truly inspiring’ as it gave her a good idea of the direction she wanted to take in her career. She knew she didn’t want to make computer games for a living, but enjoyed programming and was interested in figuring out how to make things work. Following her experiences
the young people produce over the weekend. FXP was originally formed with two categories: Games Development, where students are tasked with building an original game; and Games Concept, where students are asked to map out and design the concept of an original game. Those entering the Concept category must present their game idea as clearly and creatively as possible on a storyboard, often drawing scenes and characters. FXP is just one small example of how industry and education can work together to broaden the horizons of young people in our community, while enabling them to develop important skills for the future. We have a long way to go before Cambridge’s equality gap can begin to close, but with more companies realising that community- and education-focused CSR initiatives are about more than just ticking boxes, the train has certainly left the station. FXP 2019, 6-8 July at the Rizing Games studios at Cambridge Regional College. Open to schools, colleges, home school groups and out-of-school clubs across East Anglia. For more information, email joanna.colley@ consciouscomms.com
and connections made at FXP, Chloe secured a one-week work experience placement at Arm, during which she met many different people from a variety of business units, finding out what their roles entail, learning about their individual career paths and watching them at work. This helped Chloe to understand the different options that might be available to her in the future. Chloe is a shining example of how FXP can help young people, and girls in particular, to understand and realise their career aspirations in areas of technology. More recently, following FXP 2018, we invited participating Year 9 students to enter into a special Arm Extended Challenge, which ran from January to March 2019. During this time students were challenged to work individually to come up with an innovative app idea to solve a specific Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). A host of clever entries were received, and three students – one from NCA and two from Chesterton Community College – who really stood out have been offered a coveted place on Arm’s work experience programme this July. As well as the technical skills developed at FXP, it's inspiring to see the incredible creative thinking and artwork that
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