Coding Club

Evolving Code Club training workshops: A journey of iteration and expansion

Supporting our community is one of the key functions of the Code Club team. We are here to provide you with the resources, knowledge, and confidence to run successful Code Clubs. For example, we run training sessions that give new educators all the information they need to establish their own Code Club.

Two girls working at a laptop with an educator standing behind them.
Melbourn Code Club

At the start of 2023, all our Code Club training sessions were three-hour webinars. We thought that a longer session would let us fit in everything — from the information needed to guide educators and volunteers through starting a club, to activities to explore all the tools and resources we offer and build confidence in the knowledge and skills that help you run a club. But we weren’t sure that this was the best way to support you and so we asked our community “What works best for you?”

Your feedback was amazing and so valuable to us! Based on what you told us, we updated the training we offer to create something that better fits your schedule and suits your needs.

New workshop format and times

When we pulled together all the feedback you gave us, some patterns emerged. Participants wanted more condensed sessions to fit into their schedules more easily. So we broke down the original three-hour sessions into two separate, one-hour workshops and offered additional slots at different times so that we had more opportunities to bring the global community together.

We moved from a webinar format to more practical workshops, with a whole session dedicated to a codealong to ensure that everyone felt confident in even the most complex ideas.

A screen shot from the social media platform X. Showcasing a two computer screens.
Feedback from a Code Club community member

Simple but effective changes

These changes, while simple, proved transformative. Having time to reflect between the two workshops enabled deeper thinking about the content, and we found that leaders came to the second session — the practical codealong activity — more confident and ready to learn. The additional time slots also increased the global reach of each session, with participants from as far afield as Togo and Myanmar joining us. We’ve really loved having so many different voices and sharing so many different club experiences.

There’s always something to learn!

Still evolving thanks to community feedback

Because you are all so generous with feedback, we were able to keep iterating on our new workshops’ content and delivery, tweaking it as we heard new ideas from the community. We’re proud to say that the training never stays the same — it continues to develop as we hear more from you.

Empowered by this feedback-driven approach, we expanded our new workshops format to cover other technologies, with workshops on HTML & CSS, Python, AI & Scratch, and Micro:bit, all stemming from the original Scratch-focused workshop. We’ve been excited to see so much of the community taking the opportunity to upskill and add more advanced options into their Code Clubs.

The outcome: A comprehensive learning journey

Today, we are proud that our workshops are the result of community collaboration. What began as a singular three-hour session has developed into a series of dynamic, interactive workshops catering to the wide interests of our growing community of educators and volunteers. 

Darren Bayliss, Code Club Programme Coordinator Ireland, led the development and delivers most of the session. He has drawn not only on the invaluable community feedback, but also on a decade of experience running his Code Club to make this transition a success. He also notes that this journey was highly enriching for him as it brought back many long-forgotten tips and tricks he could share during the workshops. Most importantly, it has been great fun!  

Darren, was amazing. Really easy to follow training and explained everything that was needed. Great to be trained by someone so passionate. Thank you so much, I am feeling much more confident.
(anonymous feedback)

“Just a note to say thanks for the two Python workshops. I found them very useful, particularly as you were able to include your real-world experience of supporting Python in your own Code Clubs.”

Phil Wade, Code Club volunteer @ Clevedon Library

Join us in 2024

In 2023, we ran 41 workshops attended by 1,187 people, including both experienced club leaders and new members of our global community. We’re really looking forward to growing this in 2024!

If you would like to join us to learn together, check out the training pages on our website. Sessions are advertised about a month in advance, and feature in our monthly events email, which is sent to everyone in the community.

A gif of the Code Club events
Explore our website

We’d love to see you and hear about your club experiences as we all develop our skills and knowledge! Join us in this exciting journey as we continue to code the future together.

Code Club educators share what they’re looking forward to in 2024!

We’re looking forward to a fantastic 2024 at Code Club! Shoutout to the Code Club educators – your dedication is what makes everything possible. Thank you for all you do!

In a classroom 4 young girls stand with 3 Code Club logo round signs and a laptop with a Scratch project.
Get coding in 2024!

While we were reflecting on all you’ve helped us achieve over the last year, the Code Club team also started chatting about what makes running a Code Club so meaningful and fulfilling to us. From sharing skills, and welcoming new members to seeing confidence grow, it’s clear that there are lots of reasons why the team is excited to get back up and running with their own personal Code Clubs in 2024.

We’d like to share those reflections with you and invite you to share your uplifting moments with us.

What our Code Club leaders say

Sarah Eve Roberts, Code Club Community Manager

I’m thrilled to be starting my third Code Club next year — there’s nothing I love more than seeing the children’s confidence blossom over time. From the first few Code Club sessions, where they worry about small mistakes and raise their hands for help at every hurdle, to just a few weeks later, where the same children will be working independently to reason out why their code doesn’t work, and even demonstrating how to do things for their friends. I’m so excited to be able to support this journey for another group of children!

Sarah sat at a desk, hold a Raspberry Pi Pico
Sarah developing her coding skills

Laura Holborow, Learning Manager, Raspberry Pi Foundation

I thoroughly enjoy running our Code Club as it provides me with the wonderful opportunity to spend quality time with students, which I have missed since leaving teaching. Guiding them through the brilliant Code Club activities allows me to share my passion for coding and digital making and provides them with a safe, collaborative environment where they can practice and develop their skills and create some wonderful things.

Tamasin Greenough Graham, Head of Code Club

I’m looking forward to the new group of club members that will be joining this term. We are experimenting with a mixed age group with ages 8 to 12, so I hope to see lots of peer support and some leadership opportunities for pupils who sometimes don’t take them during the school day.

Tamasin holding a cut out picture frame which has the words "MyCodeClub"
Tamasin at the 2023 Clubs Conference

Darren Bayliss, Code Club Community Coordinator (Ireland)

We spent the last couple of weeks before the break exploring what sort of projects the club members would like to do this term. We’ve got a few new members so the club has a real buzz to it — lots of energy. I’m looking forward to finding out what the pupils do with that energy as they get coding properly!

Darren outside of a school taking a selfie.
Darren heading to a Code Club

What do you say?

We invite you to join the conversation: what were your highlights from 2023 and what exciting plans do you have for your Code Club in 2024? Share your thoughts with us on social media using the hashtag #MyCodeClub.

Let’s make 2024 a year of even greater connections and shared successes! If you’re considering starting a Code Club, we’re here to help you every step of the way!

From Nepal to Uganda and beyond: our global Code Club network

At Code Club, it’s our mission to put a club in every community in the world. Ellie Proffitt, our Global Partnerships Manager, shares more on how we work with like-minded organisations around the globe to help make this goal a reality.

Two people hold the Code Club sign outside of a building
Growth Partner, Generación Tec

How can we help every child around the world access the fantastic opportunity of being in a Code Club? This is a question we think a lot about. Ensuring all children have access to digital making is a global challenge, and we want to be leading the way to find a solution.

We have Code Club colleagues based in the UK, Ireland, India and the United States, but unfortunately, we haven’t figured out a way to clone ourselves so that we can be based in every country in the world — yet!

This is why our partnerships with other organisations are so vital to our mission. We team up with others to help us grow our Code Club community in locations that we would otherwise struggle to reach. Thanks to the work of our partners, there are Code Clubs in rural villages in Malawi, isolated parts of Northern Canada, First Nations communities in Australia, and in thousands of villages, towns, and cities in between.

A map of the world highlighting where partners are
Where are partners are in the world

Our partnership programme

Organisations join our global partner network to work with Code Club and grow our club community in their local area, or even across their entire country. Our partners share our vision to give every child the skills, confidence, and opportunity to change their world, and are committed to helping us achieve this.

In return, we provide them with our free, high-quality resources, including online training, community events, and easy-to-follow projects to support them in their coding journey. We also translate our projects into various languages, so that more people around the world can use them and children get to experience coding without a language barrier.
For many partners, running a Code Club gives them an opportunity to learn to code alongside their young people.

From Kathmandu to Kampala

The organisation Digital & Beyond was already working with schools and educators in Kathmandu, Nepal, to support them with digital literacy. They joined our global partner network as a way to provide more children with the opportunity to learn to code, as most students were not receiving any kind of formal computing education. With support from Code Club, they have been able to set up over 15 clubs in the past 4 months!

A young coder standing at the front of a classroom sharing his project.
A Code Club member from Nepal shares his project

We applied to partner with Code Club because of our passion for education and wanting to contribute to teaching valuable skills to children, enhance their critical thinking skills, and create a culture of working in teams to solve real-world problems.
To expand the Code Club initiative beyond a single location, the partner network provides guidance and support for scaling up our efforts to reach more students in Nepal.

Sagun Dhungana, CEO of Digital & Beyond

For Silver Bolt, a partner based in Kampala, Uganda, Code Club fits perfectly with their own mission to break down the barriers to computing education. As well as supporting students in schools, Silver Bolt have been working alongside other organisations in their community to encourage more girls to get into computing.

So far, the Code Club partner programme has ignited a passion for coding and technology among young learners in Uganda, opening doors to a world of possibilities.

We recently trained a community-based organisation that empowers underprivileged girls with practical skills. By adding coding to their curriculum, we’ve opened up new horizons for these young learners. Our collaboration with Code Club not only aligns perfectly with our mission but also supplements it by enabling bridging of the digital divides and empowering underprivileged communities.

Maryanne Karamagi, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Silver Bolt

These are just two examples of how our global partnerships are bringing Code Clubs to young people around the world. If you want to see more examples, check out this micro-interview from Solomon and find out why Code Club is forming an essential part of young people’s learning journey in The Gambia.

Could you become a Code Club partner?

Our global partner programme is now open to applications from organisations around the world! If you are part of an organisation that shares our vision and values, and has the ambition and capacity to grow Code Club in your local communities, find out how you can get involved.