Enhancing your enrichment offer? Code Club is the answer

There’s something really special about a Code Club. It’s a unique space for young people to get creative with technology on their terms, explore what interests them, and learn through experimenting and having fun. But speak to any Code Club leader and they’ll tell you: Code Club delivers so much more than just coding skills.

In the thousands of free Code Clubs across the world, you’ll see young people not only make amazing tech creations, but also grow as people. You’ll see young people find their voice and grow in confidence as they present what they’ve made to a room full of friends and parents. You’ll see them show a problem in their code to their friends and work as a team to fix it. You’ll see young people come up with the most creative digital solutions to challenges they see around them.

The ideal enrichment activity for the age of AI

We’re delighted that the UK government recently recognised Code Club as a key resource to help schools enhance their enrichment offer. This confirms what the community tells us, and what independent research shows: that Code Club works. Not only does it help young people develop their programming skills, but it also builds life skills including confidence, resilience, and problem solving. And Code Club is completely free. Schools, libraries, and community centres can set up Code Clubs using their existing equipment, and register their clubs to access all our free resources and support for getting started and running successful club sessions for the long term.

And what about AI? There’s no getting around it, at the moment AI dominates almost every conversation about computing education, and this includes enrichment and non-formal activities too. All young people should have the power and agency to understand, question, and shape the AI systems increasingly affecting their lives. We believe that kids still need to learn to code in the age of AI, and we’ve created resources and coding projects for Code Clubs that help young people understand how AI tools work, and how to use them carefully. 

A Code Club in every UK school and library

Last year we announced our ambition to support every school and library in the UK to set up a free Code Club so that young people can develop the skills and knowledge they need to thrive in the age of AI.

Now we’re pleased to announce a package of free support for UK trusts and local authorities that are interested in becoming growth partners and setting up Code Clubs across their networks. If you join us as a growth partner, you will get:

• Direct support from a member of our team, who will work with you to get new Code Clubs running
• Training for your team on how to run a great Code Club experience
• Exclusive partner logos to use on your website and in social media posts
• Resources to promote and celebrate your clubs
• The chance to be included in our global communications
• Priority places at our community events
• Access to a digital platform to monitor and manage your clubs
• A welcome pack including some of our most popular resources
• And of course, easy-to-follow projects for your young people

If you would like to find out more about how Code Club can enhance your enrichment offer, how easy it is to get started, and how we can help, please get in touch!

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