This week, Microsoft Headquarters in London were taken over by students from one of our Showcase Schools, Ark Swift Primary Academy. Sparking creativity and imagination were the driving force that enabled our VIP guests to explore new technologies, including Mixed Reality found in Paint 3D, a new feature part of the Windows 10 creators update. Students were inspired by our partnership with John Lewis to create their own 'imaginary monster friend' using Paint 3D and bring their ideas to 3D life.

Also this week, Microsoft in Education hosted it's global Skypeathon event where students all over the world broke down communication barriers, removed the walls of the classroom and discovered the world.

It was an incredible day to inspire and capture the essence of students' creativity and imagination! We started by introducing the John Lewis, #BringingSkillsToLife prize draw. John Lewis has invited all primary school pupils aged 5-11 to create an artwork of their very own imaginary monster friend and share it with your nearest John Lewis shop.

Every pupil that enters is in with a chance to win a Moz The Monster toy, alongside a Microsoft Surface Pro 4 for their school. One entry will be randomly selected per shop as a winner. As expected, the student's relished this opportunity and created their imaginary monster friends with some very imaginative narratives.

Following on from this, students were involved with our Global #Skypeathon event. This year, we travelled 14.5 million virtual miles and it’s success was all over our social channels. Our next generation are from many diverse backgrounds and may never get to visit Polar Bears in Alaska, Dolphins in the Amazon or speak or talk with a Scientist from NASA. This has become a reality thanks to Skype in the Classroom and the variety of ways we can connect our students to their world. The event strives to enable thousands of educators to inspire the next generation of global citizens through transforming learning and enhancing outcome.  

The students connected with Anthony Salcito, our Vice President of Education and learnt about his role, vision on technology and future of STEM for girls. The call started, and jaws dropped when they realised they were connected with another country by the simple click of a button. The asked questions that were important to themselves.

These opportunities would not have been possible without Ark Swift’s Principal, Jason Marantz, having a vision to drive their curriculum by integrating Microsoft 365.

Here's what Zack Yusuf, student at Ark Swift, thought of the experience: 

"Yesterday was amazing because we went to the Microsoft office in Paddington with Miss Row for Skype-a-thon. As we entered the Microsoft building, we went up the lift to the 5th floor and there was Mr Kingsley waiting for us! How cool is that?! First we watched the John Lewis ad about Moz the Monster so that we could get inspired by it and then Mr Kingsley taught us how to create our own monsters on Paint 3D. Then we used the Mixed Reality feature to put our monsters in real life! Here is a photo of me creating my monster and Adam and Ramzi putting their monsters into Mixed Reality.

I was so inspired by it that I went on it as soon as I got home and made another one on my computer. I even taught my little sister how to do too! I really like Paint 3D because whatever you draw comes to real life.

After a delicious lunch, we had a skype call with Anthony Salcito, who is the director of Education at Microsoft in the USA for Skype-a-thon. We asked him some questions about his job and technology and at the end Merry in Year 4 sang Little Mix for him because she told him that she wanted to be a pop star when she was older.

As we were leaving, they kindly gave us a goodie bag with our very own microbits and they gave our school a Moz the Monster teddy bear as well. How kind hearted they are! Miss Row taught me how to code last year and I’m going to teach my sister too".

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We were enthused to nurture creativity and imagination with our future generation! Here's the group photo: