Club Spotlight — March
Burdekin Library Code Club is our spotlight club for March. The club’s facilitator, Nicholas, shares his club with us.
Tell us about your Code Club
The Burdekin Library Code Club began in early 2023 through my enjoyment of coding and wanting to provide an environment where kids can also learn and enjoy these valuable skills. The number of coders has settled at 16 right now for 2024, though we don’t often get everyone as it’s after school and life sometimes gets in the way! We have a mix of ages from 7 through to 15 and experience ranges from never having coded before to some Scratch coders who outdo myself with ease! We use Scratch a lot but we also have a collection of Micro:Bits, Arduino, older Raspberry Pi’s and I’ve set up our computers so we can code in other languages such as Python, BASIC, C/++/# and more.
Why did you start a Code Club?
I’ve always loved coding myself starting with QBASIC, Delphi, Visual Basic, Java, Javascript and others. Growing up as a geeky kid I know what it can be like to have resources and support available, thankfully these days it’s more accepted and I’m really happy to be able to provide a dedicated after school space for those to enjoy coding.
I keep coming back to Code Club because
There is so much you can do, so much to learn and always discovering a different way of doing things!
My Code Club highlight
Assisting with Moonhack testing
My tips for running a club
Prepare as much as possible and realise that it may never go to plan! Be open and accept that there may be kids a fraction of your age who have discovered better ways of coding what you are even instructing! Most of all, make sure it’s fun for everyone.
How we share and celebrate our work
Currently, we share it through visitors and when parents pick children up, however this year I aim to utilise our social media channels more and also make some promo videos we can put up on the screens in the library.
What our coders think of Code Club
Just last week a new child was asked by their parent if they enjoyed it, and they replied “I loved it, I don’t want to ever leave”. The kids really enjoy exploring their creativity.
Favourite Code Club Projects
I tend to do a bunch of projects not on the official Code Club website and cater to my student’s needs. For example, we really enjoy making maze games — which we’re doing now and learning all about basic sprite movements and obstacles and we will progress this to remaking a classic game like Pacman or Space Invaders — the kids really enjoyed that last year.
The coding our club does
We utilise many platforms — Scratch, micro:bit, Python, HTML & CSS, and Raspberry Pi.
Favourite Code Club resources
Micro:Bits
Thank Nicholas, for sharing your club with us.
Happy coding!
Kaye
Manager, Code Club Australia
