Family Learning with Code Club

We’re always interested to hear about new ways of engaging different people to learn more about coding and digital making. So when we heard that Leicester Libraries and Leicester City Council’s Family Learning team have been running a pilot project using Code Clubs to encourage parents and children to learn new skills together, we wanted to find out how they had got on.

The pilot was launched in a number of libraries in Leicester. Alison Greet, Family Learning Coordinator for Leicester City Council, told us why they decided to pilot with Code Club: “The Family Learning team wanted a way to work with parents to demystify the coding activities children were covering in school, so that we could help parents to help their children…The training that Code Club was offering gave us a way of piloting a course for parents and children working to code together in our libraries.”

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Running the pilot:

The club sessions ran for six weeks, focussing on Scratch projects in 1.5-hour weekly sessions. Parents and children sat together and worked through the step-by-step instructions. Two staff members ran the sessions; this allowed one to focus on setting everything up, while the other helped out those who needed more support. The clubs encouraged collaborative learning; Sandy Gibbons from Leicester Libraries explained that “the atmosphere is supportive and collaborative with children being encouraged (or, in some cases, invited) to help each other or show ways to extend the projects.”

Alison added, “club leaders are not IT experts, but they found that the projects were easy to follow and deliver with confidence. The structured projects with clear instructions also enable independent learning outside club time. Skills are built logically and reinforced by repetition in later projects. Skills learnt as part of Code Club projects can be used on the Scratch website to create other projects at home.”

The benefits of running a Code Club:

Lots of new friendships were formed in Code Clubs, and with those friendships came increased Robot E copyconfidence. Sandy explains, “one family specifically joined the club due to a child’s difficulties in interacting independently with groups. There was also great feedback from the adults, who reported their pleasure in having a shared interest that they and their child could talk about and work on at home.”

One of the volunteers said, “seeing parents and children working and progressing together is brilliant. The families really grow, taking responsibility for their learning through taking away evaluations to work on at home and continuing with projects in their own time. Code Club encourages parents to learn both alongside their children and independently, seeing how the children learn.”  

There were also fantastic responses from all families at the end of the course: all have asked to be contacted about further Code Club courses:

Robot 003“I really look forward to the Coding Club each week. I spent a lot of time together with my daughter and feel really happy when I see her using her imagination and IT skills. She loves spending time on IT which is great for her future.”

“The projects are challenging, but, with a bit of brainstorming, we figured it out! Good mum-and-son teamwork!”

“Our family really enjoyed this club. It has given us a chance, as a family, to build our child’s confidence. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to experience Code Club as adults.”

Introducing two new members of the Code Club team!

Code Club’s amazing team of Regional Coordinators help us to grow and to support our community across the UK. They attend events, and meet and speak with volunteers, hosts, educators, and partners on a local level.

We’re really pleased to welcome two new members to the team: Adam Williams, our new coordinator for Wales, who has been with us for a few months now, and Anna Pearson, who has just joined us as coordinator for the North East and Yorkshire. We spoke to both of them to find out a little bit more about what brought them to Code Club…

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My name is Adam Williams and I’m the Regional Coordinator for Code Club in Wales.

Having started this role in January, I’ve already learned so much about the amazing community of enthusiastic people that are involved in Code Club. I hope I can continue to help Code Club to grow in Wales by supporting the volunteers and educators we work with, and by providing more opportunities for children to enjoy learning to code.

My professional background is in sound engineering, and I spent many years working for a national music charity providing opportunities for young people to engage in music making, music technology, and the arts. I am very interested in how technology has become intertwined into our broader work, learning, social, and daily lives. This is why it’s so crucial to provide children with the opportunity to develop creative, collaborative skills in digital making.

Feel free to drop me a message at wales@codeclub.org.uk

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My name is Anna Pearson. I’m the Regional Coordinator for the North East and Yorkshire, and I’m based in Durham.

As the mother of two small children, I was looking for a new, flexible challenge which would fit into my hectic life. That’s what brought me to Code Club! I have spent the last nine years working within the STEM engagement area, so I have a good understanding of the need to promote STEM opportunities to teachers, students, and volunteers alike. I aim to inspire, educate, and highlight the importance of STEM skills.

The North is a real hub for digital technology, and there is a lot of scope to increase Code Club UK’s presence. This is really inspiring, and I can’t wait to get involved. I am excited to meet and build relationships with the existing support network, and utilise their knowledge and experience to explore new partnerships.

If you want to know more or you’d like to introduce yourself, do get in touch with me at yhne@codeclub.org.uk.

Take part in Code Club’s Easter competition!

The Easter holidays are here and to celebrate we are giving away some goodies to our Code Clubs! Our easter eggs have hatched and chicks are on the loose, hiding around our website for you to find!

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Every day we’ll be posting a clue on Twitter and Facebook, which may help lead you to the hidden chick on codeclub.org.uk. When you’ve discovered the location of the hidden chick, reply to the post with a link or description of the page where you spotted it to be in for a chance to win!

Each day, we’ll pick a winner at random from those who correctly identify the location of the hidden chick! The winners will get a goody bag full of posters and stickers for their club.

We’ll be using #CodeClubEaster in each tweet, so good luck, and happy hunting!