At the start of every year, we take a company-wide vote to decide which of the many worthy organizations will be the Crick Software “charity of the year.” We then spend the next 12 months taking part in various activities to raise as much money for them as we can!
This year, the team’s clear winner was The Lowdown – a mental health charity supporting young people near our UK office.
Why The Lowdown?
The Lowdown provides free and confidential support services for 11- 25-year-olds in Northamptonshire, UK and believes that no young person should ever experience mental health issues alone. They offer a caring environment where young people are always supported on their journey towards positive emotional health and well-being.
Their work
The Lowdown works with young people to provide accessible, safe, welcoming, confidential, and nonjudgmental services including:
- Counseling
- Information, Advice & Advocacy
- Well-being
- LGBTQ+ Support
- Youth Groups
- Sexual Health
Last year, over 2,000 young people were supported by the charity!
Where we come in
We have lots of fun activities planned, including bake sales and sponsored challenges, to ensure that 2024 is our most successful fundraising year ever. As always, we’ll keep you updated through our Facebook and X channels.
If you’d like to find out more about The Lowdown or support the vital work that they do, you can visit their website here.
The annual Bett Awards are the ‘Oscars’ of the EdTech industry, bringing together innovative and practical educational technology solutions from industry experts across the globe. We are thrilled to announce that the recipients of this year’s Outstanding Achievement Award were our very own John and Ann Crick!
“It’s a massive honour to receive the Bett Outstanding Achievement Award – a very big thank you to everyone involved in the decision. A lot has changed since starting in our back bedroom 29 years ago, but the continuous improvement of our products continues with the same passion as ever.
Our talented and dedicated team at Crick, together with the support and suggestions from the worldwide Clicker community play a central role in the ongoing story of Crick Software. Day after day, teachers everywhere are helping students of all abilities to reach their full potential, and we’re very proud to be a part of that.”
The idea for Clicker came to John in the early 1990s when he was working in a special school for children with physical disabilities. These new things called ‘computers’ had begun to appear! It was an exciting time; getting children connected up with trackballs and switches, creating new output opportunities for them. He wanted to get them progressing with their literacy and language development, but there wasn’t anything around that could give kids access to writing, and it would be far too arduous to do this letter by letter with switches.
He started formulating an idea… wouldn’t it be great if you could have a grid with words that would go into a word processor when you selected them, that was scannable, and that the teacher could instantly tailor without having to use a complicated editor. Twelve months of hard work and 2am programming sessions later, Clicker was born!
When John started testing Clicker, his wife Ann, a elementary school teacher, saw what he was doing, clicking on words and sending them into the word processor, listening to them speak etc., and thought that this would be a fantastic tool for the kids she was working with, to help them with their writing. This was the light-bulb moment… they realized that they had something that wasn’t just a specialist tool for switch-users, as important as that function is, but something that could help every child become a better, more confident writer. In a sense, they stumbled upon universal design by accident before it even became part of our terminology!
Twenty-nine years, 8 versions, 10 language translations and 19 major awards later, Clicker is supporting and empowering young writers in thousands of schools around the world.
"For me, it’s one of the most inclusive pieces of software there is.”
- John Galloway, Advisory Teacher for ICT, SEN and Inclusion
“I’ve been using Crick Software’s Clicker program since iteration 4, so have had the opportunity to follow its development over 20+ years. Every time a major update is released, I am quite simply blown away by the improvements. I am definitely one of Crick’s biggest fans!”
- Claire Barnes, Willow Dene School
“Clicker has transformed my life as an SEN Teacher.”
- Lucy McGee, St Hugh’s elementary School
“I would say it’s the gold standard piece of software to support reading and writing for any age, primary, secondary, higher education.”
- Carol Allen, ICT and Inclusion specialist
John and Ann have been at the forefront of inclusive software development for more than a quarter of a century, helping new generations of learners to experience those same feelings of pride and success. Their commitment to universal design and inclusion is evident in every iteration of their software. Undoubtedly an outstanding achievement!
We are thrilled to have won the 2021 Bett Special Educational Needs Solutions Award with Clicker – making it Clicker’s seventh win and our twelfth Bett Award overall!
Now in its 36th year, the Bett Awards bring together innovative and practical educational technology solutions from industry experts. Everyone at Crick is over the moon to win this award – the BETT Awards are the ‘Oscars’ of the EdTech industry, and winning one makes us so proud! It reflects the commitment of our incredibly talented team, and all the dedicated teachers who work with Clicker every day to build confidence and success for children of all abilities.
Here’s what the judges had to say about Clicker:
“The judges were impressed with Crick’s commitment to the ongoing development of Clicker to support literacy and communication for children with special needs. The new tools and features including Cloze Procedure and Picturize are excellent additions. The platform is fully accessible to support children’s needs and teachers have access to training and resources to deliver valuable learning. The new Analytics feature also gives teachers valuable insight for assessing and targeting activities.”
Thank you to everyone who provided us with the success stories and wonderful feedback that we submitted as part of our entry.
If you would like to see Clicker in action, don’t hesitate to book a free staff demo for your school.
A few weeks ago, we announced our support for Filling in the Blanks and some of the fundraising ideas we had planned this year. One of these was their Virtual 5K – a sponsored run/walk raising money to help restock the charity’s inventory. These valuable funds allow Filling in the Blanks’ to continue providing much-needed resources that families can count on.
On April 25th, we took part in the event, running and cycling a combined 174km (or 108 miles). We also managed to exceed our initial fundraising target by $100.
Here are just a few of snaps of our treks:
Nicki, our Events Officer, took a walk around Castle Ashby in Northamptonshire and captured some great shots of the English countryside.
Jo, our Curriculum Manager, completed her 5K with her four-legged friend.
Finally, John and Ann Crick left us all in the dust with their impressive 51-mile bike ride around Northamptonshire (with a quick pit stop for coffee and cake).
Keep an eye on our social media pages for more information about our fundraising efforts.