How will Computing At School affect Code Club

[linda macaulay]

Hi, just wondering how you think the new Primary computing curriculum with affect what we do at Code Club. Children are coming through with more experience of computing 'stuff' such as Makey, Makey; Minecraft; Lego Education sets. I'm thinking about options for next year. I still think Scratch and learning Computational thinking is the right focus for Code Club but will it seem 'boring' to the children after some of the experiences in class. Any thoughts? Linda

[Simon Withey]

Hi Linda

A code club is only as boring as it's leader. So if you are like me it won't be boring. CAS is running out of money so I can't see it continuing much more then 18 months 2 years. Most teachers (I know because I am one) will not give up their time as they haven't got any to give up their time for free to train teachers about the Computing curriculum. This is where Code Club pro comes in to it's own. There are 360,000 teachers out there (we lost 40,00 last year as they simply walked away) with around 170,000 in the primary sector. All of them have to teach 5 year olds how to code. They need help to do this and they have no money or time allocated to help them. The wise ones will welcome your skills and professionalism with open arms. I do not teach in my Code Club. It's not a lesson, it's a club and should be fun. You can use anything in your Code Club that works for you. Good luck!