Code Club members’ stories

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.

Code Club: fun, fantastic, and humbling!

Enthusiasm has been in abundance since Code Clubs across the world have reunited with in-person sessions. With the UK and Ireland heading into their summer breaks, here are some of our highlights from the last academic year.

The Clubs team

Head of Code Club, Tamasin Greenough Graham, has a few words to share with you:  

“I’ve loved seeing so many clubs up and running again after pausing during the covid pandemic.

It’s been lovely to see all the inventive new projects that our young coders have created, but for me, the highlights have been hearing about how Code Club has enabled young people to grow in confidence and independence. Those skills are vital for great coding, and will help them develop in lots of other parts of their life as well.

I’m so grateful to all the volunteers and educators who have given their time and enthusiasm to facilitate Code Clubs to thrive.”

Celebrating Sophie! 

In June, we celebrated teacher Sophie Hudson and her Code Club in a small rural village in Yorkshire, England.  

Her tech journey started out small and now she is nurturing Yorkshire’s next generation of digital makers!  

Watch her inspiring video and follow their Code Club journey.

Linton-on-Ouse Primary School Code Club

Giving children new opportunities at Hythe Library Code Club

Seeing clubs get back to in-person sessions has been wonderful! You just can’t beat the excitement of seeing children get that ‘aha moment’ when their code works.

Colin Woods, from Hythe Library in Kent, England said:

“It was really good to see the youngsters in-person, everybody took returning to Code Club in their stride!

We have been wonderfully supported by parents/family that turn up for show and tell, which has overrun a couple of times (!), but the Library have been nice to us!”

We then asked Colin what he had planned for September: 

“For the autumn we’re planning our normal weekly sessions, making sure we include the last 10 mins for a show and tell which I love. We often see some of the quieter youngsters come out of their shell and it allows parents to see what all have been upto, it’s very humbling to see how well everyone supports everyone.”

Obuma improves her teamwork skills at Code Club

Young coder Obuma, from Hillside Code Club in Aberdeenshire, Scotland is moving up to secondary school in August after a great year in Code Club. She was really enthusiastic about their club experience: 

“At Code Club we learn how to code! We also improve our teamwork skills, there’s a lot of people at Code Club and most of the time you work together to create different things. 

My favourite part of Code Club is the presenting and coding, coding is fun!” 

Budding coder, Obuma

Children get ownership over their Code Club

Rich Hind has been involved with Code Club since 2016. After a brief hiatus, he is back running his Code Club at Congleton Library in Cheshire, England. 

“Getting back into the library and teaching in-person was fantastic and really is the highlight of my week. And I had forgotten how great it was to be standing in front of the class. 

Returning to the classes this time I have created my own lessons based on the children’s ideas to help them feel part of the process, and this has really given them  a sense of ownership and that the classes are for them.”

You can keep up to date on Congleton Code Club in Rich’s blog. 

Congleton Library Code Club

Coding together! 

We’ve had great fun coding alongside your Code Club members at our online codealongs. Seeing your club members exercising their coding skills with young people from across the world has really reminded us all what an amazing global community we have!  

We’re looking forward to running more online codealongs and getting to meet your club members in September. What themed codealongs would you like to see us run? Share your thoughts by emailing the team at support@codeclub.org.

Keep in touch with us

We love hearing about your Code Club’s achievements and how we can assist you in running your Code Club. Please reach out to us any time on Twitter or Facebook, or by emailing us at support@codeclub.org.

Club members’ stories: Code Club is ‘Code-mazing!’

Code Club is all about our young members and helping them discover how they can use code for the things that matter most to them.

Meet 8-year-old, budding coder Oliver from Congleton in Cheshire, England. He’s recently joined Congleton Library Code Club, led by educator Rich Hind, who has been part of the Code Club community since 2016!

Oliver at Congleton Code Club

What do you do at Code Club?
“We code using Scratch.”

Why do you come to Code Club?
“Because I enjoy coding and want to learn more.”

What do you learn at Code Club?
“We learn what all the code blocks do and what happens when you put them together.”

What is your favourite part of Code Club?
“Coding, obviously! ”

Can you share one memory from Code Club that always makes you smile?
“Winning the biggest chocolate bar ever!”

Can you tell us about one time you helped someone else at your Code Club?
“I’ve actually not done that, no one needs help!”

Tell us about something you’ve made at Code Club that you’re really proud of!
“A bug maze”

If your friend was thinking about joining Code Club, what would you say to them?
“You learn how to use harder coding — I would tell them to join!”

If you had to describe Code Club in one word what would it be?
“Code-mazing!”

Complete this sentence: My Code Club leader Rich is amazing because…
“He knows everything about coding and he’s friendly.”

Code Club educator Rich had this to say about Oliver’s responses:

“I am really glad that Oliver is enjoying his time with us in Code Club (although, thinking I know everything about coding is a bit far!) and he is thoughtful and super engaged in what we do. I have seen him helping others in our class, but he is far too modest to tell you!”

You don’t need special expertise to start running your own Code Club, and you can help even more young people, like Oliver, learn coding and digital skills. Start a club today!