Take part in the PA Raspberry Pi Competition for UK schools

Every year, we support the PA Raspberry Pi Competition for UK schools, run by PA Consulting. In this free competition, teams of students from schools all over the UK imagine, design, and create Raspberry Pi–powered inventions.

Let’s inspire young people to take up a career in STEM!
© University of Southampton

The PA Raspberry Pi Competition aims to inspire young people aged 8 to 18 to learn STEM skills, teamwork, and creativity, and to move toward a career in STEM.

We invite all UK teachers to register if you have students at your school who would love to take part!

For the first 100 teams to complete registration and submit their entry form, PA Consulting provides a free Raspberry Pi Starter Kit to create their invention.

This year’s competition theme: Innovating for a better world

The theme is deliberately broad so that teams can show off their creativity and ingenuity.

• All learners aged 8 to 18 can take part, and projects are judged in four age groups
• The judging categories include team passion; simplicity and clarity of build instructions; world benefit; and commercial potential
• The proposed budget for a team’s invention is around £100
• The projects can be part of your students’ coursework
• Entries must be submitted by Monday 22 March 2021
• You’ll find more details and inspiration on the PA Raspberry Pi Competition webpage

Among all the entries, judges from the tech sector and the Raspberry Pi Foundation choose the finalists with the most outstanding inventions in their age group.

The Dynamix team, finalists in last round’s Y4–6 group, built a project called SmartRoad+

The final teams get to take part in an exciting awards event to present their creations so that the final winners can be selected. This round’s PA Raspberry Pi Awards Ceremony takes place on Wednesday 28 April 2021, and PA Consulting are currently considering whether this will be a physical or virtual event.

All teams that participate in the competition will be rewarded with certificates, and there’s of course the chance to win trophies and prizes too!

You can prepare with our free online courses

If you would like to boost your skills so you can better support your team, then sign up to one of our free online courses designed for educators:

• Getting Started with Your Raspberry Pi
• Teaching Physical Computing with Raspberry Pi and Python
• Robotics With Raspberry Pi: Build and Program Your First Robot Buggy
• Design and Prototype Embedded Computer Systems

Take inspiration from the winners of the previous round

All entries are welcome, no matter what your students’ experience is! Here are the outstanding projects from last year’s competition:

• Years 4–6 winners: Encouraging sustainable behaviours in school 
• Years 7–9 winners: Protecting the environment by air quality monitoring 
• Years 10–11 winners: Designing object recognition to reduce food waste 
• Years 12–13 winners: Detecting pollution levels across a city

A look inside the air quality-monitoring project by Team Tempest, last round’s winners in the Y7–9 group

Find out more at the PA Raspberry Pi Competition webinar!

To support teachers in guiding their teams through the competition, PA Consulting will hold a webinar on 12 November 2020 at 4.30–5.30pm. Sign up to hear first-hand what’s involved in taking part in the PA Raspberry Pi Competition, and use the opportunity to ask questions!

I want to sign up to the webinar

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