Pupils take part in a competition to create their own mobile application

St Michael's Primary has been selected for the Make it Happen design contest backed by investment banking giants JP Morgan.

Yesterday, pupils were paid a visit by expert computer engineers to discuss their initial ideas and they will now work in teams to develop their final proposals.

Designs will then be submitted to the Make it Happen team who will choose a winner.

The boys and girls will be involved in every step of the process from the design and building stages through to testing and the launch of the finished product.

Janet Russell, depute head of St Michael's, said: "We are very excited to be part of Make it Happen and can't wait to see what ideas our boys and girls come up with."

Among the initial suggestions were a football team squad builder app and a game involving bees in a factory.

The Make it Happen team stopped off first at primary seven before making their way around the rest of the school giving presentations to pupils and leading brainstorming exercises.

Alan Torrance, a director of JP Morgan and leader of the programme, said: "We went out to two thousand primary pupils last year and we're hoping to reach ten thousand in the first few months of this year in as many areas as possible to inspire children's digital learning."

The programme will also involve teachers and parents so they can keep working with the young people to turn more of their ideas into a working app.

Alan said: "We're encouraging them to come up with any crazy suggestions they want.

"From the thousands of suggestions, we will come back and help them build the app in a day."

On the back of the collaboration, JP Morgan will also be releasing staff from their modern apprenticeship programme to visit the school at a later date to help P7 pupils understand the range of career opportunities on offer to the young workforce.