Ignoring their response, and addressing your point about the Pi:
Why should we focus on that when kids have a much more powerful and easier to use bit of kit in their pocket?
Surely using something simple like LiveCode on an iOS/Android touch device will be much more interesting and engaging, whilst still giving a grounding in the fundamentals.
The main issue would be uniformity across schools. It would be easier to have a single platform (such as Pi, but I'm not wed to that one) than iOS/Android. Also, not clear that all children have smartphones at age 9.
Why should we focus on that when kids have a much more powerful and easier to use bit of kit in their pocket?
Surely using something simple like LiveCode on an iOS/Android touch device will be much more interesting and engaging, whilst still giving a grounding in the fundamentals.