For many people, school coding clubs traditionally took place at lunchtime – with a handful of eager male students.
How times have changed.
At Northampton High School, we believe every girl should be given the opportunity to learn coding. Firstly, it brings girls with similar interests together, and understanding it improves problem-solving and aids academic performance; enhancing understanding of mathematics, writing and creativity. In coding, they tend to work individually but always support each other.
This year, our younger years have been taking part in Beebots. The girls began programming the beebots to solve mazes, write initials and dance. Once they understood how the robots worked, they moved onto programming them on a computer. In the summer term, Years 4 and Year 5 started a coding club primarily using Scratch, the world’s largest coding community for kids. They work with a global community of volunteers, educators, and partners to run free coding clubs where 9- to 13-year-olds can learn to build and share their ideas. At the club sessions, the children use step-by-step project guides to create games, animations, and web pages using Scratch, Python, or HTML/CSS. So far, they have created alien civilizations and simple animations using the Code club. They have also done a fantastic job creating their own Playdough animations.
Nowadays, coding is immersed in so many aspects of everyday life, and that makes it essential learning for today’s pupils.
As Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, once said: “Whether we’re fighting climate change or going to space, everything is moved forward by computers, and we don’t have enough people who can code. Teaching young people to code early on can help build skills and confidence and energize the classroom with learning-by-doing opportunities.”
In short, coding matters.
Mrs Smith
Class Teacher 4N