New Developments

New Exercises

We are continuing to develop materials to support the teaching of Computing and Digital Literacy at KS3. In particular, our current focus is on developing support for the teaching of programming.

The Computing Homework site now has exercises to support JavaScript, Logo, Scratch, Python and the BBC micro:bit. Scratch exercises have been updated to provide support for Scratch 3.

Most recently, we have revised our Python exercises.


BBC Micro:bit

We are continuing to develop exercises for the BBC micro:bit. These exercises are now linked to a novel for children:

The BBC Micro:bit and the Moon Dust Aliens


The aims of this novel are to promote reading and programming in schools through engaging story telling.

The BBC Micro:bit and the Moon Dust Aliens is an adventure story for students of secondary school age.

The plot is set in 2076. The characters in the book make use of the BBC Micro:bit to fight against hostile aliens.

It is not necessary to know anything about the Micro:bit in order to enjoy the book. Readers can view the Micro:bit as just a gadget that is used by the characters in the novel – much like Dr Who uses a sonic screwdriver in his/her adventures.

This novel can be used as a starting point to motivate students when introducing the Micro:bit. We hope that schools will find this to be a useful resource.


Free Digital Download

The digital version of this book will be free to download from Amazon on the following dates in 2021:

Spring term 2021: 6 Jan – 13 Jan – 20 Jan – 27 Jan – 3 Feb

Summer term 2021: 14 Apr – 21 Apr – 28 Apr – 5 May – 12 May

Autumn term 2021: 8 Sept – 15 Sept – 22 Sept – 29 Sept – 6 Oct

On download days, readers will be able to download the book between 12.00 AM PDT/PST till 12.00 PM PDT/PST

The current PDT/PST is given below:


The book can be downloaded from Amazon at this link. 


During the download days, you should see that the price on Amazon for the kindle version of the book has been set to £0.00. This enables readers to download the book without cost. See the screen shot below:


Irfan Virk (Jan, 2020), The BBC Micro:bit and the Moon Dust Aliens, London: Daisy-i. ISBN: 978-0-9927318-2-3 (electronic format).

Irfan Virk (Feb, 2020), The BBC Micro:bit and the Moon Dust Aliens, London: Daisy-i.  ISBN: 978-0-9927318-3-0 (paperback format).