One to one online provision for children who are not accessing school
We start where the child actually is. A weekly hour, online, with the same STEM-certified mentor, built around something they already want to do: making their own computer games. For many of the children referred to us, it is the only session in the week they turn up to willingly.
Commissioned by schools and local authorities as part of an alternative provision or EOTAS package, and by families with a personal budget. Ages 6 to 16, anywhere in the UK.
"My son attended Code Zone live lessons for several years. He is autistic, selective mute and struggled with school but wanted to learn game design, so we signed him up. When he was struggling to attend school having the live lessons once a week gave us some much needed structure, but there was never any pressure to interact outside his comfort zone. His mentor was fantastic, absolutely understanding George's needs and communicating via messages rather than expecting him to speak. There was a long period of time our son didn't speak to anyone outside our family except his mentor Nik, and that gave us hope."
Ellie, parent
engagement first, everything else after
The children we are usually asked about
We are not a tuition service and we do not claim to be a school place. We are the session a disengaged child will actually attend, and the evidence trail that goes with it.
Not attending
Emotionally based school avoidance, anxiety, or a placement that has broken down. Often months of no engagement with anything at all, and a family that has run out of things to try.
In school, not accessing it
Present but withdrawn, or repeatedly removed from lessons. A weekly session that is genuinely theirs can be the thing that keeps a relationship with education open.
Waiting for a placement
Between settings, or in the gap while an EHCP is assessed or a specialist place is found. We can start within days, because there is no building to organise.
Anxious, and out of the habit
No diagnosis, no placement breakdown, nothing on paper. A child who has quietly stopped joining in with anything and needs one low-stakes thing to start again with.
More than a third of our members are autistic or have ADHD. That figure is parent-submitted rather than clinically verified, but it is why our mentors are practised at this rather than trained in it once.
It genuinely does not matter that it is coding
A child who has switched off has usually switched off from the process rather than the subject. Being taught. Being watched. Being expected to produce something, to a standard, by a time, in front of people. Change the subject and none of that goes away.
What brings them back is one thing in the week they will turn up to willingly, with an adult who is visibly pleased to see them, that ends with something finished.
For our members that happens to be building a game, because it is a thing children want to do anyway, it produces a result inside an hour, and nobody has ever been marked down for it.
If the thing that worked for a particular child were pottery, we would tell you to book pottery. The re-engagement is the outcome. The coding is the hook. Commission it on that basis, because that is what it is.
The pathway: twelve weeks from one to one to a small group
The goal is not coding. It is a child who can be in a room with other people again. Coding is what makes them willing to try. This is the same pathway we set out in our county council tender, unchanged.
Assessment
An online meeting with the school, the case holder, the parent and the child where appropriate. We fact-find, take a baseline, and work out which mentor to pair them with. Then a one to one baseline session with that mentor to check comfort, interests and immediate worries.
One to one only
Solo sessions built around what the child already likes, to get familiar with the mentor and the platform and to bring the anxiety down. No group, no pressure, and no deadline for moving on.
Into a small group, if they are ready
Only if they are at ease, and only into a group chosen for personality fit. Maximum four children. Social skills come through structured games and showing each other their work, not through being told to socialise.
Review
A review meeting with school, parent and child, benchmarked against the initial assessment. Any change to the plan is documented and actioned. You get this whether or not you ask for it.
If a child is not ready for a group at week twelve, they stay one to one. Staying put is a valid outcome, and we will say so in the review rather than push.
Anxiety management, built into the platform
A child who cannot yet speak to a group can still take part in one. These are not workarounds, they are how the sessions are designed.
- Camera off, at any point, without asking. Nobody is ever required to be on screen.
- Text instead of talking. A child can take a whole session, and many do, entirely through chat with their mentor.
- Control over other people's volume. They can turn other children down themselves, from a control they can reach, without telling anyone.
- One to one contact outside the session. Mentors can pick up a conversation with a child by message during the week, in the same place they already use.
- A parent in the room, then gradually not. Where separation is the difficulty, we start with the parent present and step them back at the child's pace.
- Breaks, and permission to take them. Sessions are an hour, and an hour does not have to mean an hour at the screen.
What you get to put in the file
Commissioners have to justify the spend and evidence the outcome. These come as standard, not as extras, and the time to write them is already inside the hourly rate.
A written note on the child after every single session
Not a register mark. A mentor's note on what happened, what they did, and how they were. Over a term it becomes the clearest record anyone has of that child engaging with anything, and it drops straight into an annual review.
Half-termly progress review
A meeting with school, parent and child, benchmarked against the initial assessment, with revisions documented and actioned.
Written updates between reviews
Regular email updates to everyone involved on progress, attitude, engagement and wellbeing. If a third party is also supporting the child, we will work with them directly.
STEM-certified certificates per level
Levels are real steps and they move down as readily as up, so a certificate means something. It is progress a young person can point at, which for many of them has not happened in a long time.
Working towards being back in a classroom
Reintegration is the point, and it does not happen because a child got better at coding. It happens because they rebuilt the things that make a room survivable: turning up at a fixed time, working alongside other people, asking for help, finishing something.
So the sessions deliberately mimic the shape of school and work. A time to be there. A task with a beginning and an end. Other people in the room. Something to show at the end of it.
We work with the local authority, the family and the setting on one coordinated plan rather than running alongside them, and we gather the child's own view of how it is going as part of the session rather than through a form.
What we do not claim
We are not a school place and we are not a full-time education setting. We deliver part-time online provision that is commissioned as part of a wider package.
We do not prepare children for exams. If a young person wants to sit one we will support them with guidance, resources and mentoring, but we cannot enter or administer it.
We teach Scratch, then Python, JavaScript and TypeScript. We do not teach Roblox, Unity or Godot, and we would rather say so than have you find out in week two.
Our rates
All inclusive and per hour. Planning, the session note, review meetings, set-up and risk assessment are all inside the rate: there is no separate charge for the paperwork, because the paperwork is the point.
One to one
£85 to £95
Per hour, depending on level. £85 for ages 6 to 10, £90 for 11 to 16, £95 for 16 plus. Same mentor every week.
Small group
£26.50
Per learner per hour, in a group of no more than four. This is where a child moves once they are ready, and it costs you considerably less.
Assessment and reviews
£80
Initial assessment and screening, the first one to one introduction, and each half-termly review. Meetings not directly related to education are £40 an hour.
Rates exclude VAT. A full rate card is in the commissioning pack.
Who commissions us
Schools, directly
For a named child, from your notional SEND budget, high needs funding or your own alternative provision budget. No framework needed and no procurement exercise at these values.
Local authorities
Individual packages of educational support, virtual learning and re-engagement. We hold the full tender documentation ready, including social value and financial standing.
Families with a personal budget
Where provision is funded through an EHCP personal budget or an EOTAS package, families can commission us directly. Talk to us early if you are working towards having us named in the plan.
Virtual schools
For looked-after and previously looked-after children, where consistency of adult matters more than almost anything else. Our members keep the same mentor for years.
Safeguarding, and the boring documents
Every mentor is DBS-checked and STEM-certified, and safeguarding training is part of induction, including the parts specific to spotting concerns remotely. We have a designated safeguarding lead, a written escalation route, and a logged record of every concern and every action taken.
Attendance is treated as a safeguarding matter, not an admin one. If a child does not appear and we have not been told why, we contact the family that morning, log it, and escalate it. You will hear from us before you have to ask.
None of it is written to impress you. It is written because a child we have never met in person is going to be alone in a room with one of our mentors on a screen, and you need to know exactly what happens if something is wrong.
Request the packWhat is in the pack
- Safeguarding and child protection policy
- Safer recruitment policy, written for online delivery
- DBS written statement
- Complaints and whistleblowing policies
- Data protection compliance and insurance
- Full rate card and a sample session note
Our members rate us 'Excellent'!
Talk to us about a child
Tell us roughly what is going on and we will tell you honestly whether we are the right fit. If we are not, we will say so. We can usually start within a fortnight of a referral.
Email us
Ask for the commissioning pack and we will send it straight back, no call required first.