DS in tears over school coding club what do you think?

I don't think you'd be out of place to speak to the teacher and ask how the club is meant to work because your son attended for the first time and felt upset as he was quite out of his depth so you just wanted to check it was the right club for him.

Like you say, is it meant to be more of a social get together for kids that enjoy coding or more of a learning environment?

I’ve never heard of that saying so thought she was literally sitting on her laptop (which sounded uncomfortable lol).

There's a chance she’s been told she has to put a club on but also has 100 other jobs to do before she’s meant to teach again in the morning. I understand it’s disappointing for your child but I also sympathise with primary school staff who are used as child care.

If its teacher run unfortunately lots of schools pressure people to take on unpaid overtime in the form of clubs, it then will be a bit of a crap club. The teacher hopefully won't be so busy next week and will help.

Coding at this age will be drag-and-drop blocks rather than written code.
They likely use something like Scratch Jr on iPads and basically just play around, make their own very basic games or pictures or play other people's.

If it’s a free club, I probably wouldn’t bother. Primary teachers aren’t trained properly in coding and she was probably made to do it. I’d be surprised if she literally handed them iPads and didn’t even tell them what to go on or did any sort of brief intro. But it’s a shame that when your son asked for help, she said she didn’t have enough time (if that is true, and not slightly misconstrued by your son).
If he loves coding so much, I’d maybe see if there are some other clubs outside of school he could go to. They will be run by people well trained in coding and I bet he’d get so much more out of it!

😁 peri here also, and I will admit to reading it that way initially too!

🤣 I have, more than once, sat on my children.

There probably isn’t anybody else. Maybe a parent should volunteer?

I learned to code (or "program", as we said then) in the 1970s when I was 14 (our maths teacher had contacts at the nearby university and hospital, and we got to use their computers in the evening). I was in top-stream maths and I found it pretty hard. You have to have a pretty solid grasp of numbers.

That said, if OP's DS is already coding and found the club hard, it could be simply that the teacher has no idea what they're doing. Maybe teacher is clueless and thinks there is only one programming language, and it's not the one that DS knows? What did the rest of the group think?

After school clubs can be erratic.

Children can also have ridiculous expectations.

Is there a coding club he could join privately in your area? We have one called Techy Tots that DD went to a few summer camps with when she was younger.

You’re not alone. I thought she sat on her laptop too. My nan sat on my glasses once. 😂

@Mrskeepforgettingmywords have the other kids been going since the start of term? Maybe they all knew what to do and the teacher didn't realise not everyone was familiar with the task? Might be they are working on something for a few weeks?

My son is in coding club - he lives for Mondays as thats when his club is (thats all he speaks about on Mondays) - the teacher (oddly enough my sons fav teacher) is a self confesses geek and he is SO engaging and makes it super fun, the class is always oversubscribed too, i nervous just thinking of the fight next year for it 😂 - OP i would speak to the school to align expectations.. is this a free class?

My son goes to coding at secondary (yr7) and it's taught; they have a challenge for half a term and are guided through it. He did similar at primary and it was always very much instructed.

Just one other thing to check - was this a later finish than he's used to? He's still little and tiredness/hunger could manifest as tearfulness and 'i didn't like it'. One of mine will say all sorts of negative things about activities that he actually likes when what he means is 'I'm tired and don't feel like doing this right now'...
That might not apply to yours but just worth bearing in mind maybe before getting into the details of what happened at the club.

Well I wasn't expecting a thread about coding to be so funny 🤣

I'd ask the teacher what the set up of the club is.

Generally, teachers aren’t even obligated to run after school clubs. This can differ in academies where it can be in your contract. It certainly isn’t in mine but we all run one anyway - unpaid.

I think it’s fair to raise it (maybe give it another week), but just bear that in mind. Our school run clubs purely out of goodwill. That doesn’t mean you have a free pass to just sit there as that’s not fair on the kids, but I think it is worth remembering.

I'd have a chat with his class teacher just so they're aware of his experience and to see if they have any insight into the club and what's expected.

I read it the same way! And was thinking what a weird thing to do, was she trying to make sure the kids wouldn’t touch it?? 🤣

OP the teacher has probably been told to do the club and doesn’t know much about coding. My DS used to end up explaining some coding stuff to his primary school teacher and enjoyed it, maybe he could teach what he knows to the other kids if the teacher is just as uninvolved next week?

Everyone on this thread will be able to identify the teacher now, she’s the one with a screen saver on her arse.
It’ll show through her skirt.

Has it been running since September and it was a get on with project type day? Or it may have been a one off emergency eg different staff member or having to deal with urgent situation.
I’d check what you have signed up to and encourage him to give another try. If it’s same next week then check with school.

When I worked in a school the coding club was just a time when the children were given an iPad and left to do whatever they wanted in Scratch. They had been learning it in class, so many children just carried on with creating simple games using the skills they covered in class.

I would suggest something like Code Ninjas to progress quickly and learn new skills.

Sign up for something like Code Ninjas if there is a franchise near you - they are good