Month: August 2023

Our survey says…A look at the results 

The summer is an exciting time for us at Code Club as we receive the results from our Annual Survey and we learn about your club and your opinion of Code Club. 

Thank you to everyone who filled in the survey; your responses were insightful. Read on for a closer look at the highlights and most significant findings that we’ve uncovered.

Children sat at desks in a classroom looking at laptops.
Melbourn Code Club

Where and who: getting to know clubs and their leaders

We’re interested in building a picture of what clubs look like, where in the world they run, and who participates in them. 

First, we found that there’s a real global mix: 69% of responses were from clubs in the UK, but we also heard from clubs from 31 other countries, from Afghanistan to Canada!  

You told us that being part of our global community is important to you: 77% of you reported that you find being part of the community motivating, and 81% of you have found that community beneficial for answering questions and solving problems.

Next, we found that just over 50% of responses were from school educators and the rest were from volunteers who go into their local school or library to run their club. Over half (53%) of club leaders identify as female and we were pleased to discover that, again, the proportion of Code Club members who identify as female has increased, to 42%. This is fantastic and we’re very proud of this achievement.

If you’re interested in engaging with fellow club leaders from around the world, consider joining our community on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and LinkedIn. Share your questions and success stories to connect and interact with like-minded individuals.

The impact of Code Club

We were overjoyed to hear about the positive impacts that coming to Code Club has on your young learners: 94% of you told us that you saw positive changes in club members’ personal confidence. You also reported that attending Code Club helps your learners: 

  • Increase independence in their learning (91%) 
  • Develop their creative thinking (90%)
  • See the usefulness of computing (90%)
  • Increase their feeling of belonging (81%) 

We also discovered that, when thinking about digital technologies:

  • 94% of you agreed that club members’ skills in computing and programming had increased
  • 93% agreed that your club members’ confidence in learning about computing and programming had increased
  • 92% agreed that your club members’ interest in computing had increased
  • 87% agreed that club members’ ability to solve problems with computers had increased

Why do schools run a Code Club?

We asked educators about how their school benefits from running a Code Club and discovered that 84% valued the increase in visibility of computer science in their school and 61% valued the contribution to a broad extra curricular programme.

What happens at Code Club sessions?

We were not surprised to find out that the majority of clubs (95%) use Scratch in their sessions, but we were pleased to hear that you have been also working with Micro:bits (58%), Python (47%), and HTML/CSS (30%).

We heard a lot of love for our projects, with 81% of clubs using them mostly or exclusively. You told us that you found them easy to follow, and liked the layout:

“[We find the]..clear coloured blocks and guidance tips useful. The use of expandable information windows is good as it saves scrolling back and forth.”

How can we support you?

This is one of the most important questions that we asked you. We want to help you run fun, successful clubs, and are keen to hear your ideas for how we can support you further. 

We found that 75% of you have participated in training offered by the Raspberry Pi Foundation. This includes our Code Club online workshops, the ‘Prepare to run a Code Club‘ course, and any of the courses provided by the Raspberry Pi Foundation on the global online learning platform edX.

We’ve had some excellent feedback and ideas about how we could do more to help, and we’re going to work on a few of these suggestions in the next couple of months. Watch this space!

We always enjoy hearing your ideas on how we can assist you in running your Code Club. If you missed the survey but have an idea about how we can support you, please reach out to the team by emailing us at support@codeclub.org.

Head shot of educator Sue.

Micro-interview with Code Club educator Sue Gray

We are excited to introduce our micro-interview blog series, where we chat to educators and young coding enthusiasts and hear about their Code Club experience.

Meet Sue, a retired secondary school teacher with expertise in key stage 3, key stage 4 BTEC, and GCSE computing (learners aged 11–16). Now leading a Code Club at Fakenham Library in Norfolk, England, Sue describes her experience as fun, evolving, and fulfilling.

Sue told us about her experiences of using the Code Club resources and projects in her club.

Head shot of educator Sue.

Enjoy this micro-interview with Code Club educator Sue Gray

Let’s get started…

Are there any specific Code Club projects that you particularly like? If so, what makes them special to you?

I really like Space talk. You can do so much with this little project. I love showing children how to say thank you in sign language — it always gets a “Wow!” from them. I would love to have more time to be able to investigate further sign language animations.

How have Code Club projects and resources supported the young people’s learning experience in your club?

The project paths and certificates are very popular. The children enjoy the continuity and the building up of their skills. Being able to say, “Remember last week we learned…” helps a lot to remind them that we are on a journey. Seeing them able to quickly recall and use skills learned in previous sessions is a great reward, and then seeing some of them really expand on their skills and experiment is just super. Plus, everyone loves stickers and certificates!

Share a moment when you have seen a young club member grow in confidence.

I had a girl attend some of the very early Scratch sessions that we did in January 2022, and she came back for a set of three ‘Intro to Scratch’ sessions in July 2022 that we ran. She was very shy, but she blossomed during the Code Club sessions. She understood far more than I think she believed she would be able to and then just quietly grew in confidence, and her smiles were joyful to see.

What feedback have you received from learners or parents?

All the children seem to enjoy the Code Club. Everyone leaves with a smile and, very often, having had a “Wow!” moment when they have learned some new skills or experimented and found out something new.

Thank you, Sue!

Could you give one hour a week to inspire the next generation to code? Then sign up and become a Code Club volunteer today.

What I learned running my first Code Club

Join us as we dive into an inspiring journey! This summer, Sarah, our Community Coordinator for Wales, launched a Code Club in South Wales at LIwynypia Primary School. Discover what Sarah learned during this coding adventure. Over to you, Sarah!

Head shot of Sarah standing in front of an old wooden door.
Meet Sarah!

Helo, I’m Sarah, Community Coordinator for Wales. In this role, I am here to support you, our community, and help you run your Code Club with ease, confidence, and as little preparation time as possible, so you can concentrate on providing an environment that is fun, relaxed, and nurturing.

The support we provide is guided by community feedback — comments, requests, and suggestions from educators and young coders. But it’s important that we have on-the-ground experience to fully understand the challenges, and joys, of running a Code Club. This is one of the reasons I decided to start a Code Club this summer.

What I discovered while running my first Code Club

These are the eight things that I learned by running a Code Club.

1. Do the projects you find fun! Code Club is not about ticking boxes or monitoring progression, it’s about fun and creativity. There’s no correct project to start with, so just choose a project you’re comfortable with, and that you think will get the children excited.

2. Set the scene. I started each session with a fun, 5-minute activity to get the children laughing and demonstrate that this isn’t a formal class. I can’t recommend this enough!

3. Don’t worry about finishing the projects — there’s always next week! Some of the projects took much longer than anticipated; Paint box, I’m looking at you! We would have happily continued that project for three sessions if we had more time.

4. There are many different ways to run a club. We ran the club as a codealong for the first three sessions, before moving on to independent working. I sat at the front of the class demonstrating each step using a projector, and the children followed along. Run the club however it works for you and your coders.

Sarah on a GoogleMeet call.
Sarah hosting a codelaong

5. Be flexible. Disrupted travel kept me away from the school for two sessions. Instead of cancelling, we moved the club sessions online those weeks. Although it was much easier to facilitate the club in person, we changed the format to suit us and ran the sessions as a codealong. The children still had fun, and we didn’t have to cancel.

6. Offer choices. Letting the young coders lead the session can be scary, but by offering choices, we can share ownership of the club with the children without giving up all control. Here are some things you could try:

  • Ask what type of project they want to create: a chatbot, an animation, a game, or a storybook.
  • If they enjoyed an activity, bring it back the following weeks. We did a KAHOOT! quiz at the start of every session — there is a huge number of pre-made quizzes to choose from.
  • Let them work with a friend. Collaboration is an important part of coding.

7. Use a Scratch Teacher Account. It makes hosting a show-and-tell much easier if you can access the club members’ work through the linked Teacher Account — and boy, do the children enjoy sharing their work! I recommend selecting a maximum of two projects to showcase each week, or turning the final session into a showcase that parents and guardians can attend.

8. Certificates make a great reward. Rewards are a great way to motivate, engage, recognise achievement, and build confidence in your coders. Check out the huge selection of certificates on your dashboard, including our four new skills-based certificates!

Four certificates, in Welsh on a green background.
These certificates are available in English and Welsh

Explore the support available 

To help you get Code Club–ready, I’d encourage you to download our Club Organiser Pack.  The club organisers’ guide is full of tips to help you feel confident running your club sessions. Have fun with the Code Club bingo card, and celebrate your #MyCodeClub success stories with our educator social cards and GIFs. You can find the pack on your dashboard under ‘Resources’.

Five resources from the Club Organiser Pack.

If you have any tips that could benefit the rest of the community, I’d love to hear them. Get in touch at hello@codeclub.org.