Ongoing progress in CoderDojo Bray

[Bray CoderDojo]

Hi all,

time for a little update on what's happening in CoderDojo Bray these days.

As many of you will know, we started our first block of sessions in Presentation College (Bray), on Saturday afternoons at 2:30.

Because of the huge interest, we had to limit attendance for the time being: we issued 65 free tickets for our first block of 6 sessions. We have at least as many people again on our waiting list. We've finished 4 of these 6 sessions, which are looking at "front end" web technology: HTML and CSS. This Saturday coming we will have our first real programming session, taking a quick look at JavaScript. Then for our final week of this block on the 20th, there will be no new material: we'll do some show-n-tell on the internals of computers, and the kids can work on anything from the first 5 blocks of sessions with the mentors help.

We've had between 10 and 15 or so mentors each day, and 50+ kids each day. If you want to take a quick peek at our setup, check out our (very) occasional blog posts:

https://coderdojodublin.com/dojos/first-session-in-bray/

and

https://coderdojodublin.com/dojos/bray-week-3/

Our homepage for the moment is here: https://coderdojodublin.com/locations/bray/ and you'll find various ways of contacting us on that page.

Our plan is to take a short break over the half-term break, and start up again in early November, probably the 10th.

We will again run a block of 6 weeks which will take us up nicely to Christmas.

This second block will cover an introduction to coding: we will use MIT Scratch/BYOB for the younger kids, and probably JavaScript for the older ones. There are some excellent online resources which we will be using. Because we also have material prepared for our HTML introduction from the first block of sessions, we can also cater for any new kids who want to learn how to make websites (or kids from the first session who prefer to continue on with web front end stuff)

We will issue tickets for that second block of 6 weeks in early November. There will be plenty of notice for registration: advance notice will go out to this mailing list.

Having had a ticket for the first block of sessions doesn't guarantee a place for the second block: that wouldn't be fair, we want to give everyone a chance to see if CoderDojo is for them.

So even if you are on the waiting list, or ticket list, for the first block of sessions, you will have to register again for the next block of sessions when the time comes.

Some housekeeping:

• If you would like to mentor, even if you are only available occasionally, please contact us. More mentors means lower work for everyone. We have a strict policy of Garda Vetting for all mentors and volunteers: you must be prepared to apply for Garda vetting to be a mentor (the process is easy and straightforward: we will look after it on your behalf)
• Also, if you know of colleagues, friends, neighbours ... who might like to mentor, help out, get their kids involved, pass on this email to them
• If you are attending the current block of sessions, and have feedback (positive or negative) please don't hesitate to let us know. Also encourage your kids to sign up on dojo.hallamor.org and join the Bray HTML/CSS group, to work through course material between sessions: you can't learn to code in 2 hours a week :-)
• If you do not wish to receive further emails from us, or wish to change your email address, please let us know by reply
• If you would like to donate [equipment | time | money ] to help keep CoderDojo Bray running, please contact us.

We're very aware that there is huge interest, so we will issue as many tickets as possible for the next session, and pro-actively issue tickets to the waitlist if initial ticket holders drop out. 

We're also aware of plans afoot to startup up another local dojo in Greystones: we're sharing our experience and course material with them. More news from them as they get up and running.

And if you can find another suitable premises in the local area - and a bunch of mentors :-) - we'll be more than happy to help you setup another dojo too :-)

Material for the first 4 sessions completed so far are online, if you want to take a look: go to http://coderdojobray.eventbrite.com/, click on the event link, and scroll down to the News and Updates section. There you'll find links to the current coursework.

We hope your kids are enjoying CoderDojo - or will soon get to enjoy it, in the next block of sessions.

Kind Regards

CoderDojo Bray Team

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CoderDojo Bray is free of charge because of the volunteer efforts of our mentors, sponsorship from HLB Sheehan Quinn (www.sheehanquinn.ie) and provision of a venue by the Presentation College Bray. CoderDojo Bray could not happen without their support, and we are extremely grateful for it.

We do not plan to actively fundraise in any way, however if you would like to make a donation, provide equipment, or help out, please contact us at br...@coderdojo.com. Any money of equipment donated will be used solely for CoderDojo.

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