CoronaVirus

How your voice has helped shape Code Club in 2020

This year, we asked the Code Club community to take part in two polls to help the team understand how the coronavirus pandemic was impacting clubs around the world.   

Dave Hazeldean, Code Club’s Data Analyst, shares why answering the polls was so important, how they gave us a better picture of how clubs were running, and how we adapted the programme to support educators to continue to inspire the next generation of digital makers.

Countries and territories of volunteers who responded to our poll in green

What we have learned 

This year we ran two polls, one in May and one in September. More than 3000 Code Clubs from 82 countries and territories participated and shared if their club was running sessions, planning to run sessions, or their club was paused.

As we expected, activity in Code Clubs has been severely disrupted by the pandemic, with many clubs forced to pause their sessions, however Dave shares that there has been some positive news: 

“What I found most encouraging is the increase in the proportion of clubs that were running or planning to run in September when compared with the results that we found in May.”

“Of the clubs that are running or planning to run, almost half will be running their sessions online. We are working hard to provide all of the guidance, resources, and support that clubs need to make the transition to online sessions.” 

“In a recent blog post, we heard from members of our community who are now running their Code Clubs online, which I found particularly inspiring.” 

What support is available to Code Clubs running online or in-person sessions? 

There are some great resources available to support you if you are looking to move your Code Club sessions online, or restart sessions in person. 

To help make the transition from running in person to online, we have created a guide for online sessions that provides a great overview of what you may need to consider. 

If you are eager to run your Code Club online, read our guides for parents supporting young people and young people attending online sessions for additional tips before you get started.

If you’re looking to restart your in-person sessions, take a look at our safety guidance for in-person sessions, and this blog post on clubs who have gone back to in-person meetings. 

You can also join us on a regular community call with the clubs team or listen back to previous calls.  

What’s next? 

The pandemic continues to affect our daily lives, but we are adapting to the new learning environment and hope to continue to give young people the space to thrive. 

From Dave and everyone at Code Club we want to say a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who took the time to inform us about their Code Club by responding to our polls this year. Your voice continues to inspire us to move forward.

Your participation in our campaigns is integral to helping us shape our planning and identify the support you need to run your clubs safely. We will be running more polls, and encourage you to take part and give feedback over the months ahead. 

We are always here to support you and if there is anything you need, contact our friendly support team at support@codeclub.org.

Let’s get back to Code Club safely

Move over August, September has arrived and Code Club has a range of exciting new options to help you restart your Code Club safety.

Guiding you through options

We’ve developed a framework to guide you through which option will suit your club’s current situation. The options are flexible, to allow you to pick and combine elements that will work for your club and venue. 

Members from the Code Club community have kindly shared their learnings and experiences on the options, and provided top tips for getting back to coding this September. 

In-person sessions

When you are ready to restart your club, in-person sessions will run as normal, following guidelines from your local health authority and safeguarding for your venue. Hear how Richard Hayler from Cranmere Code Club in the UK is preparing his club for in-person sessions: 

“We’re really looking forward to when we can resume our in-person sessions and are working with our school on the safest way to do this.”

Online sessions

During August, Rohima and Christina from the Code Club team had fun running online sessions for the Raspberry Pi Foundation. An online session is run by an educator or volunteer; it takes place at a regular chosen time and runs using video conferencing or live-streaming tools.

If your club is considering running online sessions, take a look at the advice from Rohima and Christina: 

  • “Be prepared in your setting — check the sound on your laptop is working, plug in your charger, and have the club window open so you can start promptly.” (Rohima) 
  • “Don’t worry if you only have a couple of children turn up, embrace it. They are there because they want to be, make it a fun place to be, you may just inspire a future coder!” (Rohima)
  • “I learned how different it was to do group coding online vs in person. In some cases, your role is to just check in with kids every 10–15 minutes and facilitate the sharing. Sometimes, it’ll be quiet, so talk to your group about having music!” (Christina) 
  • “Remember to be patient with yourself, participants, and parents, especially with the first session. You’re going to learn so much during the first session that will make your second, third, and fourth session run super smoothly!” (Christina)  

Remote activities

We checked in with D&G libraries in Scotland who are regularly sending out remote activities from the Digital Making at Home programme to parents via their Facebook page. They’re then on hand to answer questions and offer support when needed. 

Here’s what a parent said about the activities:   

“My son really enjoyed the coding club over the summer, he had done a little before and picked up how to do it very quickly. It was fun and interactive and he has been back time and time again trying new things.”

Keeping your club flexible 

The pandemic is keeping us on our toes, and we know that clubs may not always be able to run consistently in-person, online, or remote activities. Leeds Libraries used a pick-and-mix approach to running their Code Club, read about how they got on.

We encourage you to feel confident to pick and combine the options according to what best suits you and your venue.

Take a look at our ways to run a Code Club page for everything you will need to get your club back up and running this September, including new resources, the framework, and updated safeguarding guidance. 

Meet the children of Code Club learning to code from home

This year we’ve seen the curious minds of young coders rise to the challenge and adapt quickly to an online coding or virtual Code Club experience. Even if their Code Club has been paused, they’ve found clever ways to continue to develop their coding skills. 

Their resilience and creativity has shone through and it’s now time to hear what they’ve been working on and celebrate their achievements!   

Say hello to Luna 

Luna from the UK is 10 years old. During lockdown she’s been using her skills to teach her sister Skye to code. 

Here is how Luna introduced Skye to coding: 

“I gave Skye the first project I ever did to practise on when I first joined Code Club so she could see how it worked. I like to put together mini projects and experiment.”

Check out Luna’s project, it made the Code Club team smile a lot! 

Luna and Skye sat side by side at a kitchen table looking at a laptop

Hiya to Logan and Ryland!

Brother and sister Logan (10) and Ryland (8) are part of the CSI Code Club in the US. We asked Logan what new skill he learnt while taking part in his online Code Club: 

“I learnt how to make things bounce.”

Ryland who has recently taken up coding shared why she now loves to code: 

“I love coding because if I can do coding, I can design new things!”

Logan summed his Code Club up in three words: awesome, amazing, and creative.

Ryland said her Code Club leader was loving, caring, and helpful.

Ryaland and Logan are standing in the garden. Both smiling and Ryland has her arm over her brothers shoulder.

 مرحبا مصطفى  (Welcome Mustafa)

While at home Mustafa, aged 9 from Iraq, has enjoyed taking part in the Digital Making at Home activities as it helped him develop his coding skills. 

“Digital Making at Home is really amazing and I really enjoyed it.” 

With his dad Ali — who set up Al-Ayn Code Club — they set about recording Digital Making at Home projects in Arabic to make them accessible to their Code Club community. 

Mustafa is sat with his dad Ali at a table facing the camera. Both are wearing Code Club T-shirts and there is a laptop on the table.

Meet Xanti

Xanti, aged 9, has been attending the online Cranmere Code Club in the UK. Over the last three months, she’s worked on this maze project. We asked Xanti what inspired this project: 

“I have a friend who makes loads of maze projects and I wanted to give it a go, I couldn’t work out how to make the key unlock the door but I made a list and added the key.”

She describes Richard, her Code Club leader as funny, helpful, and imaginative.

Xanti is stood in her bedroom, she has a big smile on her face and a bow in her hair.

हेय रिचर्ड (Hey Richard!)

Richard, aged 14, attends Infant Jesus MHSS, Kalpakkam, in India. Richard loves creating with code: 

“I love creating animations and I feel like coding is my platform.”

When his club went online, it challenged him to learn more by himself:

“I learnt using variables more proficiently and also to use motion effects in the projects. I’m also learning to debug by myself.”

Richard is sat at his laptop working on a Scratch project.

Take a look at our club guidance, sign up for an upcoming community call, or watch back one of our recent webinars on topics from how to guide and engage your learners online, to introducing web development in your club. 

Don’t forget to share your Code Club stories with us on Twitter at Code Club UK or Code Club World and use the hashtag #MyCodeClub