Expanding the Code Club age range

Code Club is expanding to secondary school ages up to 13 years to provide more opportunities and resources for our network of after-school clubs run by volunteers and educators.

From 9 to 13

Until now, Code Clubs have focused on nine- to eleven-year-olds, engaging with over 85,000 young people in the UK every week through after-school clubs, and through clubs at non-school venues such as libraries, museums, and youth centres. There’s even a fire station Code Club!

The decision to increase the upper age limit from eleven to thirteen is, in part, a response to demand. As Raspberry Pi Foundation CEO Philip Colligan explains, “There is a huge demand from young people for more opportunities to learn about computing generally, and for Code Club specifically. We’ve decided to take up the challenge.”

At the end of last term, we invited UK Code Clubs to request packs for their students transitioning from primary to secondary education. These packs included a letter for their new secondary schools, explaining the benefits of Code Club and why the schools should consider starting one of their own.

Babbage is helping to pack 1500 boxes for 27000 @CodeClub kids, to help them keep coding as they move on to secondary school. pic.twitter.com/Hz28PwxZ2D

— Raspberry Pi (@Raspberry_Pi) June 21, 2017

A fifth of all UK-maintained secondary schools are now registered with Code Club, and our excitement to see where the age range increase takes us is phenomenal; our staff of incredible Regional Coordinators, administrators, and social media wizards is eager to share in the fun, and to support volunteers throughout the period of change.

New projects

We want to aid students in continuing their journey into code, and to provide more resources for them, so we’re also releasing five new advanced Scratch Module 3 projects. These projects aim to help young people expand on skills they have learned at Code Club, introducing them to more complex concepts that build on what they already know.

CATS!

Using a pen sprite, the player of this game draws lines across the screen in order to direct a herd of cats home safely. Imagine a cat version of Lemmings, though without the iconic ‘Let’s go‘ sound. However, if you explore our new Sonic Pi resources, you can learn how to add that sound as well!

With this project, coders will learn how to use variables and apply basic programming constructs.

Guess the flag

Six flags are displayed on screen, and the player is asked to select the correct one for a specific country, earning points for right answers.

By creating Guess the flag, coders will learn how to clone sprites, use variables and lists, and apply basic programming constructs.

Binary Hero

Akin to popular instrument-based console games, Binary Hero requires players to hit the right key at the right time to play notes as note sprites scroll down the screen.

Coders completing the Binary Hero game will learn about binary numbers, and about how to move sprites and use algorithms to calculate numbers.

Lineup

Players are challenged to remember a specific sprite before it’s lost in a huge group of others — then they have to find it!

Lineup gives coders the chance to learn how to clone sprites and use coordinates and algorithms to randomly position the clones.

Flappy Parrot

You know this one: fly your parrot around moving obstacles to win points!

Coders will learn how to draw pipe sprites and use algorithms to scroll images and backgrounds.

Help us grow

Whether you’re a teacher, run a venue in need of a club, or are an eager volunteer looking to donate your time, we need your help to keep on growing Code Club in the UK. You can find out how to start a club on our website, and our events page will direct you towards a volunteer training session or meetup near you. Join us there to find like-minded people happy to share their wealth of Code Club experiences with you.

Join our online community

We can’t wait to hear what volunteers and young people alike have to say about our increased age range and new resources! So do make sure to share your thoughts and experiences with us on Twitter and Facebook. Want to connect with us on Instagram? We live vicariously through the Raspberry Pi account — tag them and use #CodeClub, so we don’t miss out!