We’re thrilled to announce an exciting expansion of our partnership with Blaenau Gwent Council’s BG STEM Project. Following the success of our Coding Games Workshops in several local schools last year, we’ll be delivering sessions across all 29 schools in the region during the 2025-2026 academic year – including primary, secondary, and schools offering specialist provision.
At Chaos Created, we’re a studio that creates websites, mobile games, and apps, and Code Created is our initiative to inspire the next generation of game creators. What makes our workshops special is that we actually make games for a living. Pupils love knowing they’re learning from people who do this every day, and it makes the whole experience more exciting and relatable. Whether they dream of becoming programmers, artists, musicians, or game testers, our workshops show them what’s possible and give them a taste of what it’s really like to create games.
From Pilot to Partnership
Our journey with Blaenau Gwent began during the 2024-2025 academic year, when we were invited to deliver workshops at several schools, funded by the Council’s BG STEM Project. The response was so positive that Hayley Boulton and the BG STEM Project team decided to expand the initiative, ensuring every school in Blaenau Gwent has the opportunity to experience our workshops.
The BG STEM Facilitation Project, funded by the Welsh Government’s Tech Valleys initiative, has been transforming STEM education across Blaenau Gwent since its pilot phase in 2021. The project is part of an ambitious vision to establish the region as a globally recognised centre for developing new technologies and advanced manufacturing.
Since 2021, the programme has delivered 1,063 STEM sessions across all Blaenau Gwent schools, of which 291 of those sessions have been supported by businesses. The programme has engaged with 128 businesses to date, over 60 STEM providers and facilitated £66,000 in capital equipment grants to schools. Our coding workshops are part of the “World of Tech” initiative this autumn term, celebrating National Coding Week and Ada Lovelace Day with a focus on digital skills, coding, and computer programming to raise awareness of digital career pathways.
We’ve already begun delivering the expanded programme over the last few weeks, and the feedback from pupils and teachers continues to be wonderful. One comment that particularly stuck with us came from a young pupil who said their face hurt from smiling so much during the session—a testament to the joy that coding can bring when it’s made accessible and fun.
The feedback from teachers has been equally rewarding:
“They created a fun and engaging session that was suitable for all ages, abilities and needs.”
“It was fantastic to see pupils who are often disengaged become so enthused and creative. They really enjoyed having the chance to express themselves through coding in such a fun, supportive environment.”
“The children were so engaged and enthusiastic, it was lovely to see. Lots of them went home and showed their games to their families, and added to it. It’s also important to note how personable, professional and friendly you both were with the children; this is why the session was so successful.”
“It was a real delight to see some of my typically disengaged learners come to life during this session.”
One teacher summed up the impact beautifully:
“Seeing the children so enthused, engaged and excited like that is what makes our job so rewarding. Not only have the children improved their skills, but I have too, of which I am truly grateful.”
What We’re Delivering
Our Coding Games Workshops are designed to spark creativity and build computational thinking through game creation. Using block-based programming, pupils develop their own arcade-style games – from space-invader adventures to top-down racing games, dungeon crawlers and more. And we have workshops for all age groups and abilities.
Each school will receive either a full-day workshop for one class or two half-day workshops across two classes, ensuring we can reach as many pupils as possible.
Why This Matters
Building a game is so much more than just writing code. In our workshops, pupils design their own characters using pixel art, add special effects and sound, test and debug their games, and collaborate with classmates to solve problems. It’s creative, technical, artistic, and incredibly rewarding all at once.
Coding is the perfect vehicle for this kind of rich learning experience. Every game presents new challenges: How do I make my character jump? What happens when it touches an enemy? How can I make this more exciting? Pupils experiment, help each other out, and experience those brilliant “aha!” (I can do this!) moments when something finally works.
What’s particularly rewarding is seeing children realise they can create something from nothing. They start the day with a blank screen and end it with a playable game they’ve designed themselves, complete with their own characters, rules, and creative twists. That sense of achievement, of being a creator, is incredibly empowering. Each pupil leaves our workshop with a game they can share with family and friends, and continue developing.
Blaenau Gwent Council’s commitment to bringing these opportunities to every school in their region means every child gets the chance to experience that creative spark, work together with their friends, and discover the joy of making something uniquely theirs.
Looking Ahead
We’re incredibly grateful to Hayley Boulton and the entire BG STEM Project team for their vision and support in making this happen. As we prepare to visit all 29 schools throughout the academic year, we’re excited to meet hundreds of pupils and see what amazing games they’ll create.
The workshops will run throughout 2025-2026, and we can’t wait to see the smiles (and hear about the aching faces!) as pupils across Blaenau Gwent discover the joy of coding.
Code Created is Chaos Created’s initiative delivering coding workshops to primary and secondary schools across the UK. To learn more about bringing our workshops to your school, please get in touch.
