What is it like to learn with codetoday? A students' perspective

Codetoday works with students aged between 7 and 17. Each one has different needs and a different outlook on learning to code. While everyone learns to code in Python, it's our goal to ensure that we create self sufficient students who develop their own projects and interests in coding, with a little help from us along the way.

We talk at length about how important it is to learn to code. As educators and coders we know the importance of developing these skills. But as parents it's often the experiences of the students that are most important.

So let us introduce you to three codetoday students. Meet Emily, George and Isabella, who have been learning how to code in Python with codetoday.

Emily has just turned 8 and is on her second term with us. She started with codetoday aged 7, the earliest age we work with.

“Coding is fun because you can do lots of stuff. You tell the computer what to do and it does it for you”.

Emily has been studying with us as part of a private course with 5 of her classmates. Like the vast majority of our private courses, sessions are delivered in one of the group's home. “My friends and I all go home together after school on Mondays, we have a quick snack and that’s when Anthony, our instructor, usually arrives”. One of the first things the instructor does is find out the interests of the group they are teaching. In Emily's case she loves art and she has now discovered another way to express her creativity. Coloured pencils, watercolours and paper were her only tools for drawing a year ago but now she has added coding in Python on her Mum’s laptop as another way to be creative with drawing.

When asked what subject, other than ICT, coding resembles mostly, she says English because she is learning how to communicate effectively in both subjects.

George is 11. He wants to become a scientist when he grows up because he wants to work in a lab and wear a white coat.

“Coding is a bit like Maths sometimes” he says when asked which subject it reminds him of. “You have a problem you are trying to solve and when you get it to work it is very satisfying”

George is a regular at our holiday courses during half terms, summer holidays and Easter. He’s become very proficient at writing efficient code, something we instill in all our students as they learn with codetoday. He can’t decide what he likes most about coding, designing and coding games in Python or solving maths challenges through a computer program.

Isabella is 13 and she’s 5 weeks into her first coding course. She had been a bit reluctant to join because she thought she wouldn’t like it, but her parents convinced her to give it a go. She is now the keenest student in her group and the one who practices most in between sessions, always keen to show Alexandra, her instructor, what she’s done during the week at the start of each session.

“The ability to have full control on what the computer does feels great.”

“This week we were working in pairs creating an animation of a spinning space station. The pair I was in ended up doing one that spins out of control if you press a certain key. Another pair made it crash into the sun instead!”

Isabella's story is something we see a lot as despite efforts coding still has a rather male and, if we can say, geeky perception. Once students realise that coding can be a hugely creative pursuit, only constrained by their imaginations, that soon changes.

If you would like your child to start to learn to code or simply want them to do something fun and creative this summer take a look at our programme of courses. Just click the link below.