Here at STAG HQ, we love nothing more than trialling free classes. It’s the perfect opportunity for our Mini Mumblers to try out new and different things, without wasting money if it’s not their thing.
When we got the opportunity to try a free coding lesson with Cypher, we were delighted. Mr Mumbler is a huge IT geek and is keen for the children to be confident in all IT applications, this also seemed a good opportunity to make their screen time more valuable than just playing games and watching movies.
I signed my 9 year old daughter up for a free 60-minute online class. Cypher teaches children how to code, through weekly teacher led, online lessons with small groups of children of similar ages and experience levels. Cypher are experts in teaching coding principles, getting kids involved and developing core coding skills over time.
I don’t think she was entirely sure what to expect, but with the friendly and engaging teaching, she was immediately put at ease and encouraged to join in. I can see why children love their creative themes, such as animals, magic and art. The teacher was brilliant – just the right level of energy for kids that have grown out of CBeebies but still need a subject to be made fun and engaging.
They started the lesson with introductions and working out how much coding they’d all done before. Most had done some ITC lessons at school and some of the children had had a few Scratch lessons (memories of home-schooling come flooding back) but they were all beginners really. They got a crash course in some of the techniques first, but quickly started writing their own code and actually built their own game by the end of the lesson!
My daughter was so happy at the end of the lesson and really proud of what she’d built. Unlike the drag-and-drop coding she’d been used to before with Scratch, she was taught how to type code (in Javascript, I’m reliably informed).
The teacher was really good at keeping the kids engaged and she was on hand whenever any of them got stuck. When the following week came round our Mini Mumbler said “Yey, it’s Thursday, I’ve got coding again!”
Here at STAG, we make a point of not mentioning any trials we’ve done, after the initial class, the reason we do this is because we want to engage them in things they really love and not the things we think they should be doing. If a class isn’t memorable, they won’t mention it again, but when I get a “Mummy, when can I do x again?” or “Mummy, when can we go back to x?” I know something has made an impression with them and they’re keen for more. This was certainly the case with Cypher.
Cypher offer these free coding lessons for all children and they have different content for younger kids – who will learn using Scratch – and older kids code with Javascript. If they enjoy their first free lesson, they can go on to have weekly online coding lessons with a group of children of similar age and experience. They build a new project every couple of weeks and I can see that they’d learn a lot over the course of a few months.
According to Cypher, it’s all about getting kids future-ready. Already, 67% of new jobs in STEM are in computing and the importance of technology in industry is only going to increase. Their award-winning curriculum not only teaches them how to code, but also develops broader skills such as creativity, communication and collaboration.
The lesson got a big thumbs up from us and some of our fellow Mumblers too, who had children of different ages enjoy a free lesson.
“…the teacher was fab and it’s literally the longest I’ve seen him sit down and listen! ” – Gateshead Mumbler (Mini Mumbler aged 6)
“…it’s been amazing! X Loved it, I’ve learned loads too!” – Hull Mumbler (Mini Mumbler aged 11)
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