Congratulations to ESMS school – Winners of the KAZ Touch Typing Tournament 2021/22

“We believe that school should be ‘serious fun'”, says Headmaster Leo Winkley of Shrewsbury School. “Learning and enjoyment go hand in hand, and it takes place not only in the classroom but also through a vibrant co-curricular programme. KAZ’s Touch-typing course is one of the activities offered to all pupils at Shrewsbury. It is very popular among pupils and is championed enthusiastically by teacher Karen Mitchell, Head of Learning Support.” 

Learning to touch type is sometimes considered a chore, so we made it fun and introduced our worldwide touch typing tournament. Now in its 4th year, it still creates a whirl of excitement amongst schools across the globe. All schools with a KAZ licence can enter for free. More importantly, it engages and encourages pupils to learn the skill and naturally brings out their competitive spirit.

Before entering the tournament, pupils learn to type and build speed and accuracy using KAZ’s touch typing software. It is presented in a simple format and is suitable for both mainstream and neurodivergent pupils, allowing the whole class to work together.

The program opens with a specialised Preference Screen developed with guidance from the Dyslexia Research Trust. It minimises visual disturbances, tailoring the course for maximum visibility and comfort for those pupils who need it.

The proven Accelerated Learning teaching method teaches the a-z keys quickly and in five short, bite-sized modules, lasting just 15 minutes each, in order not to overload the working memory.

The comprehensive teachers’ admin panel allows for the uploading of pupil lists in minutes and the uploading of ‘spellings of the week’ or ‘problematic’ words, enabling pupils to learn to spell and type simultaneously.

The new tournament has just begun and will finish at the end of June. To enter their pupils, teachers simply have to click the ‘Tournament’ button on their admin panel.

“Touch-typing is a valuable life-skill that not only supports pupils’ academic studies at school but also their future career paths.

As your typing skills improve, you save time, you can focus on the text on the monitor rather than on the keypad, and it improves your accuracy. Learning to touch-type properly also has health benefits, as it ensures you sit correctly at your computer, which is good for your spine, increases your productivity and unleashes the potential of your brain.

Our pupils very much enjoyed the challenge of taking part in the KAZ Worldwide Touch-Typing Tournament and we were thrilled to be told that the competition had been won by one of our Fifth Formers (Year 10s), Mew Hansiriphan. Mew worked extremely hard at improving his typing speed and accuracy and he is to be warmly congratulated for his achievement.”

Karen Mitchell, Head of Learning Support, Shrewsbury School

“Thank you so much for giving me this touch typing award. It means a great deal to me, and I am very grateful, but more importantly, it has helped me build my confidence with touch typing, and I am able to touch type without worrying whether I am too slow or too fast, as has helped me to concentrate on my work”. 

Andreea, touch typing champion 2021/2022, ESMS Schools, Edinburgh.

Thank you to all our schools for participating. This year’s competition was by far the best, and we hope that the spirit of the competition and the commitment and effort put in by teachers has impressed on pupils that learning a skill can be enjoyable!

Well done Andreea!