;

The micro:bit was designed to encourage children to get actively involved in writing
software for computers and building new things, rather than being consumers of media. [3] It was
also designed to work alongside other systems (such as the Raspberry Pi[30]) and build on BBC's
legacy with the BBC Micro for computing in education. The BBC planned to give away the
computer free to every Year 7 (ages 11 and 12) child in Britain starting from October 2015 -
around 1 million devices.[4][20] In advance of the roll-out an online simulator was made available to
help educators prepare and some teachers were to receive the device in September 2015. [3] The
device was planned to be on general sale by the end of 2015.[3][31] However, problems delayed the
launch until 22 March 2016.[8]
The BBC had a difficult decision to choose which year group would be the first to receive the free
micro:bits, and the BBC's head of learning said that the reason they "plumped for Year 7, rather
than Year 5, is it had more impact with that age group as they were more interested in using it
outside the classroom".[31]
Planning for the project began in 2012 as part of the BBC Computer Literacy Programme, and by
the time of the launch in July 2015 the BBC had taken on board 29 partners to help with the
manufacturing, design, and distribution of the device.[32][33] The BBC has said that the majority of
the development costs were borne by the project partners.

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