Jayantika is a 15-year-old Code Club creator from rural Pune, India. This inspiring young coder started as a Code Club creator and is now a peer mentor for other creators in her club.
In this short interview, she talks about her Code Club experience, the positive impact it’s had on her life, and her motivation for supporting other young people in her village to learn to code.
Jayantika supporting creators
Enjoy this micro-interview with Code Club creator Jayantika!
Let’s get started…
Why did you decide to become a peer mentor?
I’ve been part of my Code Club, run by the BIDKAR FOUNDATION who provide coding opportunities to young people in rural areas of Pune, for the last three years.
Seeing the positive impact coding has had on my life inspired me to support others. So I became a peer mentor to share my coding skills with children in rural areas who have fewer opportunities than those in urban schools.
I believe coding opens doors and helps young children express their creativity. By mentoring, I hope to prepare them for a future that is increasingly driven by AI and technology.
How has being a peer mentor positively impacted you?
I feel more confident — being a peer mentor and teaching others enhances my own understanding of coding. Young people’s positive feedback also boosts my confidence and shows I’m making a meaningful impact through collaborative learning.
It’s also rewarding. It allows me to share my passion for coding, and I can help foster a supportive environment. And I love working with my teammate, Ruturaj, who is my brother. Together, I feel we’re making a difference for the other creators who attend Code Club.
What I love most is seeing children in rural areas grow confident in coding and problem solving. It’s inspiring to watch them transform, knowing they’re gaining skills that can open doors to global opportunities and help bridge the digital divide in their communities.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to become a peer mentor at their Code Club?
I would encourage them to become a Code Club peer mentor because it’s a rewarding experience. Mentoring allows you to share your passion for coding, build your skills, and make a meaningful impact on young learners.
Thank you, Jayantika!
If you enjoyed this micro-interview, check out our others; for example, hear from Terrell in England and learn about how he helps his friends with their coding projects.
Do you want to empower creators like Jayantika? No coding experience is needed to start your own Code Club! Join the movement today.
At a recent Code Club ‘Coffee and Conversation’ meetup, we had a thoughtful discussion on ways to keep Code Club sessions fun and engaging for everyone. Here are some tips we discussed to help fuel enthusiasm.
Choose a variety of projects
Our range of fun coding projects involve different programming languages and cater for different interests and experience levels. Think about introducing projects that encompass different aspects of coding, such as game development, web design, or app creation. This variety allows learners to explore different areas of coding and discover what excites them the most.
Bob Bilsland, from Malvern, in Worcestershire, England, has been running a Code Club for over 10 years. He shares how he works with our projects to keep activities fresh and keep learners engaged:
“The Code Club projects are a fantastic resource that helps bring structure to my club. Having different paths allows me to plan where to go next with the children — maybe Scratch this term and micro:bits the next. While each project has a clear progression towards a goal, it isn’t at the expense of the child’s creativity; I encourage them to personalise their work to make it their own”.
Bob Bilsland, Educator
Foster a supportive community
At Code Club, we’re all about creating a welcoming and supportive atmosphere where young people feel at ease sharing their ideas, asking questions, and getting the help they need.
When you start a new term at Code Club, why not chat with everyone about how you all want your Code Club to run? Check out our blog post ‘Our Code Club rules! How to have fun and set boundaries’ for some tips. Once you have decided on your rules, write them down using the ‘Our Code Club rules’ template, available on your dashboard.
‘Our Code Club rules’ template
See how you can encourage peer collaboration and mentorship, where more experienced coders can assist their fellow club members and share their knowledge. You could also look at introducing Digital Leaders within your Code Club.
We know that many clubs bring more fun and enthusiasm into their sessions by using KAHOOT! quizzes or running icebreaker activities. You could lead these activities or you could encourage groups of young people to work together to run them.
Building a strong sense of community not only makes learning more fun, but also builds confidence and resilience in young people as they navigate any potential coding challenges.
Darren Bayliss, Code Club Community Coordinator for Ireland, shares how he does this in his Code Club sessions:
“I support my older Code Club members in taking on more responsibilities to develop their skills. I encourage them to support our younger members with their coding projects; this helps them reinforce their understanding of coding concepts and develop their leadership and mentoring skills, while also gaining confidence to push their coding endeavours further.”
Darren Bayliss, Code Club Community Coordinator, Ireland
Promote creativity
While we encourage you to have some structure to your sessions, allowing plenty of space for creativity can significantly enhance the fun factor and increase engagement in your Code Club. Encourage learners to personalise their projects, add unique features, and explore their creativity. This makes coding more enjoyable and promotes innovation and problem-solving skills.
Getting creative with Scratch
Introduce hands-on activities
Consider incorporating hands-on activities into your Code Club sessions.
Experiment with interactive coding platforms, physical computing devices like micro:bits or robots, and collaborative projects that require students to work together.
Hands-on activities can make learning more fun and deepen learners’ understanding of coding concepts.
Celebrate success
Recognising success and effort is super important for making our learning spaces feel safe. It helps build a positive atmosphere where young coders can feel good about what they’re doing and not worry too much about making mistakes. Mistakes are just part of learning, after all!
On your dashboard, you will find lots of certificates that you can use to celebrate your learners’ achievements. Take a look and see which ones you can hand out at your next Code Club session.
Our ‘Awesome!’ certificates
Invite guest speakers
Inviting guest speakers from the tech industry or local coding communities could bring some added excitement and inspiration to your Code Club. Guest speakers can share their experiences, demonstrate real-world applications of coding, and offer valuable insights into different career paths in technology. Exposure to industry professionals can fuel learners’ passion for coding and provide them with valuable role models.
In 2023, a Code Club in Cambridgeshire, England welcomed Gary Foote, CIO at MoneyGram Haas F1 Team, to one of their club sessions. Find out how it went!
Grow your inspiration
It’s important to make sure you keep yourself engaged too! Connect with the Code Club community by joining us at our monthly online ‘Coffee and Conversation’ sessions. There’s no agenda, just a welcoming space where you can come and ask your questions, hang out with other educators, and share what is happening in your Code Club. See our events page for details of our next meetup.
You could also have fun trying the projects yourself. Educator Bob Bilsland thoroughly recommends this!
“As I always tell people, go and play with the projects yourself. They aren’t just for children and you could surprise yourself with what you learn.”
Bob Bilsland, Educator
Join the Code Club team at an event
If you are looking to build your confidence and skills to help you support your learners, sign up for one of our online workshops. We have lots of sessions for you to choose from each month, and we’d love to see you there!
How do you keep your Code Club a fun and engaging space? Share your tips with the community on X using the hashtag #MyCodeClub.
Children’s Mental Health Week (5 to 11 February) is a crucial reminder of the importance of looking after the well-being of the young learners who come to Code Club.
Photo credit: David Bird
There are many ways that we can support mental health and well-being through technology. Our ‘Introduction to micro:bit’ projects are centred around well-being, and use various applications of technology to cover topics such as mental health, relaxation, and exercise.
Pete Bell, Learning Manager at the Raspberry Pi Foundation, tells us more about the projects in the path:
“This new path allows young people to connect with the world around them by making use of lights, sound, buttons, and sensors. By using these inputs and outputs, combined with block-based programming, young people can develop engaging digital tools that help them be considerate about their own well-being and that of others.”
As young people move through the path, they not only develop new skills, but also learn how to make their own tech tools that they can use to take care of themselves and their friends.
Tracking sleep to promote well-being
A great example is sleep! We all know that a good night’s sleep helps our brains to work better, helps us feel happier, and keeps our bodies healthier. We’ve created a ‘Sleep tracker’ project where young people build a tracker to record the amount of sleep they get with a micro:bit.
Promoting empathy and collaboration
The projects in our micro:bit pathway shows how technology can be used to improve lives. The collaborative nature of Code Club allows learners to engage in discussions, share perspectives, and develop an understanding of one another’s challenges and triumphs. Doing this together makes them understand and care about each other’s feelings, not just in the digital world but in real life too.
Our design project ‘How’s your day?’ is a great example of how young people can use their micro:bit to build a program that checks what kind of day you or your friends are having.
Growing coders’ sense of purpose and agency
Our micro:bit pathway also encourages club members to engage in computing projects that address real-world problems affecting their lives and communities. By empowering them to tackle issues that matter to them, we’re instilling a sense of purpose and agency. This doesn’t just make them more confident at coding but also helps them see the connection between technology and positive social impact.
Young Code Club project tester, James, shares more about our ‘Music Player‘ project and how it has made music that brings him happiness!
Encouraging discussions
Finally, it’s important to provide a safe space for young people to discuss how they deal with things both at home and at school. Coding activities like these projects give you a natural opportunity to start discussions on well-being, where learners can share their strategies for dealing with things and learn how their peers deal with things too. This open dialogue will help them understand that it is OK to react differently to different situations and also give them the tools they need to manage their well-being.
Support and resources available
If you’re looking to get started with our micro:bit path there is lots of support available to you:
Look out for our micro:bit workshops on the Code Club events page
Acknowledge coding wins with our bespoke progress chart
Celebrate learners’ success with our micro:bit path certificate
Download our micro:bit progress chart
The progress chart and certificate are available from our resource page under ‘Progress charts’ and ‘Core Code Club certificates’. Login and download!
So why not explore themicro:bit path, encourage conversation around well-being in your Code Club, and learn together this Children’s Mental Week and beyond.
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