Girl holds a laptop showing a coding project while smiling woman beside her holds a sign reading “we made this”.

“We made this!” Discovering the power of agency in your Code Club

Explore how empowering young people to choose their projects, topics, or programming languages can lead to more engaged Code Club creators who believe their actions make a real difference.

What do we mean by ‘agency’?

At Code Club, giving young people agency means fostering a culture where creators are driven and self-motivated to direct their own growth through their passion for coding.

What are the advantages?

By giving creators agency, you’ll create a more meaningful learning experience. If you allow your creators to work on ideas they care about, their curiosity becomes the foundation for them to develop their coding skills.

We want creators to feel empowered at Code Club and to open up opportunities for them to feel that their voice and their actions can make a difference. This is one way to encourage them to become more engaged and confident. But giving your creators agency doesn’t mean giving up control entirely; help from mentors is essential to getting your creators started in these steps towards independence. Of course, they will also need your guidance and feedback to make lasting progress.

“You can see on their faces when they are creating something from zero that they feel like magicians. They start to create their own things because we have given them the tutorials to follow the steps; they create new things and bring their own projects and new ideas to us!”
– Iliana Ramirez, Code Club Partner, Mexico City

Two children smile while working together at laptops in a busy Code Club. — Use our projects to create games, animations, and much more

So, how can you give your creators agency?

Adding choice to your Code Club sessions can be really simple. Creators volunteer to come to Code Club, and so they have already made their first decision: to follow one of their interests. Once they have arrived, there is no right way to learn to code, so each creator can discover their own path.

Here are three easy ways you could help your creators take ownership of their learning journey at your next session:

1. Projects

Try offering three project ideas and letting creators team up to work on the one they each like best. You could also let creators choose any project they like from our project site.

Offer your creators a thrilling change of pace with these three projects:

‘Silly eyes’ is a Scratch project that gives creators the freedom to create their own silly eyes character. The character’s large, silly eyes will follow the mouse pointer and bring the character to life.

‘Teach a machine’ is part of our AI toolkit path. Creators use a webcam and machine learning to train a computer to tell them how many fingers they are holding up.

Get ready to play and share all the best tunes on the BBC micro:bit with ‘Music Player’. Your creators don’t even need the physical micro:bit to try this one.

We have over 200 coding projects to choose from, and each supports creators to learn at their own pace and grow their confidence.

2. Topic or theme

Why not challenge your creators to agree on a theme for the next Code Club session and create projects that link to the topic? Mentors can then encourage them to share how their projects link to the theme at the end of the session and vote on the next theme together.

A topic can be anything that your creators are interested in, such as animals, a favourite sport, or a seasonal festival.
You can link our projects to any topic with a bit of imagination. A volcano theme might lead to adapting Boat Race to create a game where you can’t touch the lava. You will find that your creators have lots of ideas!

3. Computing language

Give your creators a choice of which computing language they use through our project paths. Each path is a collection of six projects that cover a set of skills needed for a particular piece of hardware or software alongside design and engineering skills.

Provide your creators with the information they need to make a choice from a number of different project paths and let them explore the ones that interest them the most.

It is important that creators start at the ‘Introduction to…’ level if they are new to the software or hardware being covered.

Start exploring the Code Club projects site and give your creators the agency to make projects they care about at your next Code Club session.

A group of young people gather around a table as they work on activity together.

Three icebreaker activities that will build connections within your club

Kickstart your Code Club by using an icebreaker activity! Let us guide you through three icebreakers and how they can help your creators to connect, collaborate, and feel comfortable learning together.

Young people all face the mentor who stands at the front of the classroom — Young people at Linton-on-Ouse Primary School and Nursery getting started at their Code Club.

What is the best way to start your Code Club? There will never be one right answer that will fit everyone: the way you run your sessions will depend on the unique needs of your attendees, their ages, and interests.

But what about those scenarios where you have been thrown a curveball? A new club member is joining, or your creators have all rushed in, and they’re bouncing off the walls! This is where you might want to consider an icebreaker activity.

What is an icebreaker?

An icebreaker is a short activity that takes up to 15 minutes to complete. They can be used at the start of your Code Club session to help everyone get to know each other and warm up. Icebreakers are also a good way to disconnect from whatever activity your creators have come from and turn their focus to Code Club. We recommend choosing an unplugged activity for this.

Let’s explore three icebreaker activities and how they could benefit your Code Club.

New to the club

First up is ‘introduce a teammate’. This icebreaker is excellent for welcoming any newcomers to your Code Club. Led by the creators, it gives them an opportunity to get to know each other in a fun way.

This icebreaker is a low-pressure activity to encourage communication, help new members quickly gain a sense of belonging, and develop public speaking skills, especially in quieter creators. It’s even more of a challenge if creators already know each other: what new facts can they share?

Creating a positive learning environment

Do your creators regularly come charging into the room, buzzing with excitement? Of course they do, and you’re keen to channel this energy into your session, but how do you go about creating a positive learning environment?

The icebreaker ‘robot maze’, works to ease your creators into the session by immediately focusing their energy on an exciting task, as they learn the importance of of being specific when creating their code.

There’s so much flexibility with our icebreaker activities. Why not encourage calm by making this an individual activity. Each creator can try out their instructions on the robot one at a time, getting their brains into gear as they link their learning to the coding project or content you are planning to cover in the session.

Mixing things up

You can use ‘the low-tech social network’ icebreaker to encourage young creators to get to know each other. Creators who regularly attend Code Club may find themselves sitting with the same people at each session.

This icebreaker presents the perfect opportunity to help your creators connect by finding similarities with one another. By encouraging them to chat to lots of different creators, you can build cooperation and teamwork skills to use further down the line.

Check out all of our unplugged activities and try one of these icebreakers in your next Code Club session!

How the Code Club platform helps club leaders

Running a Code Club just got a whole lot simpler — and more fun! Our Code Club platform has been redesigned to help you connect with your community and streamline your club management.

A young coder and a Code Club leader are sat at a desk talking. — Running your Code Club

We’ve recently updated the site we use to manage clubs and we’ve packed the new platform with exciting features to help club leaders like you. Here are a few highlights:

Parents/guardians can find and learn more about a club
Anyone interested can subscribe to email updates about a club
Potential volunteers can find and offer to mentor at a club
People can see and book tickets to upcoming events
Club leaders can manage event ticketing, volunteer requests, and send emails to subscribers

Discover the improved dashboard

Managing your Code Club is easier than ever with the revamped dashboard. When you log in, you’ll be taken to the dashboard where you can access everything you need.

Club leaders can manage their club, including updating their club profile, creating events, and reviewing volunteer applications. Volunteers can use the dashboard to see their clubs, access training materials, and find support resources.

The dashboard shares different training materials and support resources

Tell people about your club on its profile page

You can now easily edit the description on your club’s profile page and update key details about your club, including:

The times and days that your club runs
Whether you are looking for mentors for your club
Whether your club runs online or in person
Links to your social media pages
To see how to do this, and other changes you can make to your club’s public profile, check out this FAQ article.

Making it easier for volunteers to find your club

Potential volunteers can quickly find local Code Clubs and easily request to volunteer. The clearer club profile page design allows volunteers to express their interest quickly, helping club leaders build a stronger and more vibrant mentor team.

Once someone requests to volunteer at your Code Club, their dashboard will show them the steps to get started.

These steps include completing our safeguarding module, getting a background check, and contacting the club to arrange a visit. This ensures that all volunteers are well-prepared and equipped to support your Code Club.

Here’s a peek at the dashboard a new Code Club mentor will see

Create and manage events easily

Say goodbye to complicated ticketing systems! Our platform makes it easy to create ticketed events for your Code Club. Club leaders can offer up to three different ticket types and collect emergency contact information for attendees during the booking process. Also, when you publish a new event, everyone subscribed to your club will automatically receive an email notification.

Parents/guardians no longer need to register an account to book — ensuring they have a hassle-free experience — and they’ll get an email confirming their booking right away.

Need to cancel an event? No problem! You can do so directly on the platform, which will automatically notify everyone who booked a ticket.

Keep in contact with your club’s subscribers

Keep your community informed! As a club leader, you can email parents, guardians, and volunteers who subscribe to updates on your club’s profile. Subscribers will automatically receive an email notification whenever you create a new event.

Send updates to your Code Club community

You can also send custom messages to your subscribers directly through the Code Club platform. You can use markdown to easily format your emails and make them look great. If you’re new to markdown or need some inspiration, check out this website to see examples and preview your formatting.

You have full control over your subscriber list. You can remove subscribers, or people can unsubscribe themselves at any time.

Learn more about how club leaders can email subscribers with this tutorial video.

Access your favourite resources with ease

Previously, Code Club mentors needed to log in to access our resources, but now they are available to all from our website. We’ve also reorganised them, meaning it is easier to access and find what you need.

Apply to start a new club and get it verified

For those looking to start a Code Club, we have improved the verification process. Now, safeguarding sponsors are contacted immediately when you submit your club application, speeding up the process for new clubs.

In short, you can now spend less time on admin and more time inspiring the next generation of coders! Log in to the Code Club platform and start making use of all the new platform features.

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