The Code Zone Secures Funding From Innovate UK
The Code Zone Secures funding for new online platform from Innovate UK
Technology start-up - The Code Zone is launching a new interactive coding platform for children (age 6 –14). The Code Zone Online has just received funding from the Government’s hotly contested Innovate UK Fast Start Competition to accelerate the new platforms’ development.
The Code Zone was successfully running 11 after-school coding clubs for children at 4 locations in Cambridge, Essex and Suffolk. But the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic has led to the temporary closure of their physical clubs.
Paul Allington, Technical Director from The Code Zone said: “I’m passionate about opening up the world of coding to young people in a fun, engaging and creative way. It’s what we do in our physical clubs and what we now want to replicate online.”
“Home learning platforms and applications have come into their own during the Covid 19 pandemic and parents are seeing first-hand how integrating them into their child's overall regular activities is possible.”
“The Code Zone Online brings something unique to the market as we’re hyper focused on creating the best user experience possible. Our bespoke challenges and virtual tools really do capture the imaginations of young people, so they learn vital skills while having fun.”
“We’re delighted to receive this funding from Innovate UK and to beat such strong competition. Knowing that we scored particularly highly in the ideas section of our application is great validation to us of our concept. And we’re excited to get the platform up and running for launch in October 2020.”
Innovate UK’s Fast Start Competition was designed for innovative businesses and start-ups who want to drive forward new technological advances. Over 8600 companies applied with only 800 awarding funding totaling £40 million.
Executive Chair, Innovate UK, Dr Ian Campbell, said:
“Businesses from all over the UK have answered our call rapidly to meet the challenges we face today and in the future through the power of innovation.”
“The ideas we have seen can truly make a significant impact on society, improve the lives of individuals, especially those in vulnerable groups and enable businesses to prosper in challenging circumstances.”
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.
