Northamptonshire not-for-profit is 'closing the gender gap in STEM'

Primary Coding League CIC (PCL) has announced the launch of the GDST Coding League, a bespoke coding competition created and delivered in partnership with the Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST) - the UK’s largest network of independent girls’ schools, comprising 25 schools educating approximately 20,000 students.

The competition spans both KS3 and KS4, making it PCL’s first foray into secondary education and its most significant partnership to date. Designed from the ground up to engage and inspire GDST students, the league reflects both organisations’ commitment to increasing female participation in STEM.

Charlie Mackenzie, founder and director of Primary Coding League, said: “I’m incredibly excited for the launch of the GDST coding league today. Not only is this a huge milestone for us as an organisation in terms of scale and credibility, but most importantly it is a huge step forward in our aims to close the gender gap in STEM. It has been great to work with Bina Mistry to bring this to life and I’m really looking forward to continuing the work together between our organisations.”

Girls remain significantly underrepresented in computing and technology at secondary level and beyond. The GDST Coding League aims to address this by embedding competitive, creative coding experiences within a school network specifically focused on girls’ education and achievement.

The partnership builds on PCL’s established primary school competition model - which has engaged thousands of pupils across Northamptonshire and the rest of the globe - and signals a broader strategic expansion into secondary and trust-level partnerships.