National Coding Week: How We Encourage Coding!
Happy National Coding Week! Here at The Code Zone, we LOVE coding and we're passionate about making it fun for everyone! Read on to find out more...
It’s National Coding Week! We here at The Code Zone obviously take coding quite seriously, and believe it’s something we should all get at least a basic knowledge of! Even if you never progress past the point of knowing that coding is essentially us giving our computers some instructions to carry out tasks for us, you'll still have a massive advantage over those who aren't as familiar with it.
We thought we’d spend this National Coding Week talking about how we encourage everyone to take their first steps into code! The first of these ways is by offering our free taster sessions to anyone who wants them! We pair you up with a STEM certified mentor, who will take you through the basics of code and how we use it to change the games we play!
Maybe you love your taster session but aren’t sure about having the time to commit to a set time every week? In that case you can advance your coding knowledge by signing up to our Game Dev Academy, where you get the benefits of getting a weekly game and mentor support, but without having to commit to weekly live sessions!
We know that a big part of learning to code is making mistakes, yet often we don’t know how to fix them. That’s why as we go through our levelling system, not only does the code start to get harder, (starting in a block based playground and leading up to written code!) we also start to introduce bugs and flaws into the game, helping you to spot when things go wrong and how to fix them!
If you want to start learning to code in a comfortable stress free environment, get in touch! We’ll be more than happy to discuss your options and find the right thing for you to get started on your journey.
Happy coding!
About The Code Zone
We run coding clubs for children aged 6 to 16. Live online clubs are open to children anywhere in the UK, and our in-person clubs run across Essex, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk. Over 1,000 children are enrolled.
A live club is one hour a week, in a group of no more than six, with the same DBS-checked, STEM-certified mentor.
Children build their own games rather than working through a set course, and levels move down as readily as up so the work always fits. More than a third of our members are autistic or have ADHD, based on what parents tell us when they join.
Most children start in Scratch or MakeCode and move to Python and TypeScript when they are ready. Mentors write a note on every child after every session, so we know when somebody is ready to move up or would rather stay put. Nothing is forced.
In 2025 we received the Autism Inclusion Award from the National Autistic Society, and in 2026 we were ranked second in the UK in Club Hub UK’s Top 100 Children’s Activity Providers, scored by five independent judges on safeguarding, inclusivity and community impact. Every mentor is DBS-checked and STEM-certified.
More like this
The blog is in two halves. Guides are the evergreen explainers written by the mentors who teach the clubs, covering the questions parents actually ask: what comes after Scratch, how to support a coding-mad child when you cannot code yourself, and what works for autistic and ADHD children.
Club news is the other half, and it is where posts like this one live: game jams, Minecraft builds and weekly roundups, written up by whoever ran the session. Neither is marketing. If you want to know what an hour actually looks like before you book anything, club news is the more honest read of the two.
The first session is a free taster and we do not ask for card details. Book a free taster session, see what it costs, or read about support for neurodivergent children.
