**Update 23/01/25 - Year 3 pupils who purchased a licence now have an active account - parents emailed with details**
Thanks to some fantastic fundraising back in the summer of 2022, we had access to Minecraft Education Edition for most of our pupils over the 2022/23 academic year, and parents have had the option to buy a licence for 2023/24, and many have also renewed for the 2024/25 year. Year 3 pupils joined from January 2025 and other licences run to 25th July 2025. Here's a very quick video introduction to Minecraft Education Edition.
Minecraft Education
You can find further information about Minecraft Education Edition on their website.
If you or your child are familiar with Minecraft, this page explains the differences with the Education edition.
This isn't just about playing! This is another chance to develop some further online citizenship and digital safety skills.
I apologise if your child already needs no encouragement to play a game on a screen. The digital skills many pupils have already acquired through gaming at home is impressive.
Minecraft Education Edition offers children the opportunity to collaborate together through play. If you are concerned about what your child's next steps on their digital journey may be when it comes to gaming, this might just be an opportunity that fits.
Many children already play games online with other players. Parental controls allow these contacts to be locked down to only real friends, or locked down to prevent open communication with strangers, or some children may be playing on their own.
Minecraft Education offers what could be the next step on that gaming journey - just like the learning platform introduces social communication with class email and discussion forums - where they could invite their class in to their Minecraft world, build together and discover new things.
Just like the learning platform, no one from outside the school community can end up inside a Westfield Minecraft Education world, and we can get involved if issues arise as our children are finding their feet in appropriate online collaborative play.
If you want your future teenager to be responsible using SnapChat, Instagram or whatever platform it may be that hasn't been invented yet but will be the latest thing in 7 years’ time, it's important they have a chance to develop digital skills in a meaningful and safe environment for their age. Our learning platform provides this for online communication, and Minecraft Education may provide this for any future budding gamers who need a safe space to share. They also create many special worlds for Education Edition with challenges to complete so it’s great for solo gamers too.
If you think Minecraft Education Edition might be something you're interested in for your child, check the website to download it for free for your devices - iPad, PC, Mac, Chromebook and Android compatible - to check it works. You child may temporarily already have a licence allocated, or is entitled to 8 free trial plays (each log in counts as one trial play no matter how long you use it for). Their username is like their learning platform username with @westfieldjnr.education added to the end, and the password should be the same as the learning platform password.
If your child does not currently have a Westfield Minecraft Licence, we do have a small number available to purchase.
If your child isn't interested in on-screen gaming, that is absolutely fine! I personally wasn’t as a child even though I loved computers (although my fond memories of programming on a BBC computer and a future working for Ceefax are not typical of children's current experiences!) If they are motivated by gaming, this opportunity may be worth considering as a valuable stepping stone on their digital journey.
A "Westfield Minecrafters" community is available on the pupil learning platform when pupils can share tips and discoveries, immersing themselves into developing online collaboration skills whilst playing.
Don't hesitate to get in touch with any questions.
Stuart Wilkinson swilkinson@westfield.cambs.sch.uk
Computing and Online Safety Lead
CEOP Ambassador
Should you wish to allow you child to let others from their class or the school into their Minecraft worlds they create, they can press a button to "host" their world whilst playing and using a share code anyone else with a Westfield Minecraft Licence can enter their world if they know that code. In conjunction with the Learning Platform, where our pupils can already experience a monitored social communication platform through email and discussion forums, this will allow them to explore shared gaming, perhaps with people they would not otherwise play with, with the safety net of knowing it is within the school community and we can get involved if any issues arise. Your child could choose to share their code with a particular friend by email, with their whole class on the class discussion forum.
If you would like to purchase a Minecraft Education licence for your child, and the option is not currently available for your child please get in touch. Parents are also welcome to contact Mr Wilkinson with any other questions.