What we do
Our Young Coders Programme for 9 - 14 year olds provides an in-depth introduction to the Python programming language. Through the progression of this programme, students will:
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Learn to design algorithms by drawing flowcharts and writing pseudocode before coding a solution.
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Use computational techniques to decompose a problem and write code to solve the problem.
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Learn to work through the different stages of real projects through solo exercises & challenges as well as group projects.
... because there's more to coding than just typing!
Initiative
Mathematics
Break Down Complex Problems
Creative Problem Solving
Teamwork
Decision
Making
Skills beyond coding
The Young Coders Programme uses the Raspberry Pi 3, a credit card-sized computer, to teach children the Python Programming Language. In the process of learning to code, children will learn many other things.
In addition to learning the syntax of the Python language, they'll learn computational ideas, whilst learning strategies for solving problems, designing projects and communicating ideas. These transferable skills can be used in the future to learn another programming language.
Why we do
what we do
Our Young Coders Programme kickstarted our entire coding journey, with a small group of 9 - 12 year olds taking part in our Electronics Bootcamp in the Summer of 2016. Since then, our Young Coders Programme has boomed as we continue to run holiday bootcamps and workshop sessions as well as weekly term time classes for children aged 9 - 14. Some of the students from this original group of DiscoG Coders are still with us and it's amazing to see how far they've come since their first session.
It's always exciting to teach the Young Coders, whether they're coding novices, coming up from our Mini Coders Programme or working towards the goal of joining our Junior Coders Programme to study Computer Science for their GCSEs. With so many classes spanning across such a large age range, we have worked hard to ensure that there are always many opportunities for our students to learn new skills and discover new reasons to love the world of coding and computational thinking. One thing that has always been very important to us is to ensure that our students are given projects and tasks which challenge them. We're committed to teaching life skills such as perseverance, hard work and dedication to ensure that they have a healthy work ethic and a strong foundation to build on.
The skills that our students are cultivating through this important phase of their lives, will have a real impact on their education and their futures. We're always thrilled to hear that learning to code with us has helped them with their other subjects and has given them ideas for their own projects.
By learning to break down problems into manageable parts, they're often able to discover that no challenge is too big and that, with a little bit of hard work, they can reach their goals.
Hear what our members have to say...
"My son Sai really enjoyed these Coding Workshops. He would look forward to his lessons and Gerard has been an amazing teacher and helped Sai and made the lessons interesting."
- Mrs Latha
"Thank you for organising your coding workshops! Although unfortunately I was late in enrolling my son, Gerard was able to find a place for him and was able to answer all of our questions and facilitate a quick enrolment as we had been looking for a while for coding classes.
The classes were very friendly and Gerard quickly put the coding students at ease. His skills at teaching are real world based and he quickly had coding results from the attendees in one morning. Gerard certainly made the classes very enjoyable, as my son was very excited to go in every morning. He said at the beginning that his students would not want to leave at the end of the classes and he was right!"
- David Clark
"My son was very fortunate to take part in the Summer Courses and Workshops. The group was small and he received almost one-to-one tuition. He picked up the instructions quickly and could work at his own speed. It was tough to drag him away as he enjoyed it so much that he didn't want to leave the class."
- P. Patel
"Really friendly people who know exactly how to teach coding. Brilliant!"
- Anshu Mathur
"Amazing environment with amazing people. The best place to go for your child to learn the arts of coding in a friendly and comforting environment."
- Devante Cameron
"Great place to get your kids into coding. Fantastic facilities and very good teacher. Highly recommended."
- Jose M De Sales Zunino
"My son started at DiscoG Coding Academy over a year ago and we cannot express our gratitude to Gérard and Kat... they have really given him the support and encouragement. He really enjoys it looks forward to his sessions."
- Chintal Kakaya
"DiscoG Coding Academy is amazing. My daughter has been attending a weekly class at DiscoG for the last 2 years. She has learnt alot and really enjoys the classes. Gerard and Kat, who run DiscoG are brilliant, kind and caring people that will go out of their way to help if you need anything... my daughter loves the lessons and says help is always on hand during the lessons. Thank you DiscoG!"
- Hasnain Abdulhussein
"Before joining DiscoG Coding Academy, I thought coding was a random word but now I understand that it is a sequence of commands that the computer understands. I am practicing all the time now and hope to show my new skills at school!"
- A Young Coder Student
"My lessons at DiscoG Coding Academy are always very interesting. I had learned to code using a Raspberry Pi 3 to do things like build a calculator and electronics to make lights flash and buzzers go off. I always like going back as Gerard is a wonderful teacher."
- A Young Coder Student
"We found Gerard both informative, interesting and versatile and our child enjoys his classes a lot. We would definitely recommend these classes to anyone getting their child started on coding!"
- A. Singh