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

Ask him what the other children in the class were doing- if the teacher won’t help, you can talk to the other children it’s a club

I strongly disagree. Surely, it’s not the club for that teacher to supervise as they’re clearly not interested in the subject matter or motivating the kids?

If he’s just joined partway through the term, is it possible the other children have been working on something from the start, so he would have been a bit lost trying to join in?

Is the club free? And is this a state school?

The standard of extra curriculars in state schools now can be so low unfortunately because teachers are just so busy. If this were a private school I would probably complain. And if you were paying for the club I would definitely demand my money back! Otherwise I don’t think there’s much you can do. Can you find something online for him to access?

Is there a coderdojo club nearby? They’re usually held in non school venues. I used to attend one with DS when he was that age. It was run by volunteers and often several of the parents who worked in IT would volunteer to help out whilst their kids attended the club. Our schools don’t really do any after school clubs other than sports clubs.

https://codeclub.org/en/coderdojo-community

Ours was great as they regularly had sessions on robotics as one local chap was a robotics nerd so brought all his gadgets in and showed the children how to write simple codes to make them move and pick up stuff etc.

I’d forget about school clubs with dis-interested teachers. It’s not fair on anyone.

Speak to the school

Sounds like it’s not the club for him. Loads like the idea of coding but in reality it’s not for them.

I think when my kids did coding in primary school they had to sit and follow the instructions given by the computer. It seems wrong that the teacher wasn’t able to assist but as a one off it’s understandable something urgent might have come up. As others say, teachers are already very stretched but I personally would expect assistance from the teacher but not necessarily a lesson as such.

@Sugarflub agreed. I wasn't blaming the teacher. She clearly has no skills in it above using Office. More the change in cirriculumn from ICT to computing means there is a total lack of teachers who can actually teach it.

To the OP, if you child is 7 and has never coded before, go to https://codeclub.org/en/learn-to-code which a PP has linked, and start him on scratch. Both scratch and the web design one are very easy to do without adult guidance.

I actually don't think most of the teachers can teach coding

To be expected really, especially at secondary school level. I don't think many with a suitable degree are clamouring to earn a crap wage in a high stress environment when they have plenty of other options. Coding 'training' at primary ranges from zero to a tiny bit, I wouldn't expect teachers to spend masses of their own time learning it either.

Is it a free school club ran by teachers? We have to do a club every term and I hate it. It bites into my own time and often it's in something I have zero interest in. I'm not saying it's right, but I suspect the teacher that's been roped into it isn't that clued up on coding and the school pressured them into running it. Not acceptable, but I wouldn't assume the teacher was just purposefully nasty; speak to the school and ascertain exactly what the club can offer and what should be happening and decide whether it's worth continuing.

Is it a free after school club and is it a state school? If you have to pay I'd expect better engagement. Why is your son in tears? Is it because the course doesn't align to his expectations?

Someone already has linked code club website to you. Depending on the DC, the examples are very simple and mainly self guided. I've given them to both DC during holidays. You don't have to pay anyone to follow that unless it's for some social fun.

I actually don't think most of the teachers can teach coding. DC1 Year 8 curriculum is supposed to be doing Python but her ICT teacher told us matter of factly that kids needs more MS office skills so she spent the term doing Powerpoint and Word instead. What a total waste of time. DC1 has been doing her work on Powerpoint and Word since primary school, and so has many of her peers. I think it's just the teacher can't do it so she made up an excuse.

I used to run a chess club at my school.

I had two sessions, one more of a lesson for beginners and one a turn up and play.

I've seen a lot if stuff aimed at teachers saying "you can set up a code/french/chess club at school with our resources it's really easy and no knowledge required".

Fell into that trap myself once.

Sadly, many schools tell teachers that they have to run an after school club whether they want to or not. Also, they don’t actually pay the teachers to do so. Often, it means that the teacher then has to do their marking and prep for the next day after the club has finished, or they choose a club whereby they just supervise the children rather than teach them.

If it's run by a random teacher after-school for free that the children would probably use scratch or programme those ladybird things using skills already developed. I would expect the teacher to help them get set up so they could get on independently, perhaps teach one skill or give them a goal, and to review what they had done at the end.

If it's a class run by an external provider that you are paying for I would expect instruction and a development of skills.

I would get him a Raspberry Pi set for Christmas, or borrow one from the library and look on Eventbrite for remote children's coding classes if you don't have in person ones in your area.

I would have a chat with the teacher.

I think sometimes kids mask how they are feeling at school so she may not have realised that he took it this way

I don't think it's ok for a teacher to take it out on the kids if they hate their job.

My DC go to one but while at school is run by external providers who are excellent and definitely teach. We do pay for it

Find another one.

Can you speak to some of the other parents and see what they think?

He’s learnt a life lesson - that some things can be disappointing. Now all you should tell him to do is give it a couple more weeks. If it continues to be shit, complain and find another club.

Nope, just being a total numpty over here 🤣 I was thinking “Why would she sit on her laptop” 😂

I used to run Code Club at my son's primary school (back in the day). It's great and it should be very interactive. It should be fun. They start off with projects in Scratch and move on to CSS/HTML, Python.

He might find that a local library rub a Code Club or local church/community centre? Check here: Free coding clubs for kids | Code Club

@EvilsElsasPetSnowman I did it on another thread, I couldn't understand why someone would do something and some lovely MNetter explained it. I am also peri and felt really silly that I couldn't see it that way