From September 2014 it became a compulsory National Curriculum requirement that all Primary School children from the age of 5 will learn how to code.

At Nippy Gecko IT we are ahead of the game and have been running after School and holiday Coding Clubs since early 2013.

Well what actually is ‘coding’ I hear you ask? Coding or programming is telling a computer how to perform tasks, these commands range from basic to very complex.

In our Coding Clubs we teach HTML, CSS and Python which can be used for web and app development.

We strongly believe that this Curriculum change is a big step towards acknowledging the way technology is fast developing, how it is essential to our lives and will become increasingly so.

It is no longer enough to just teach children the basics of how to use Word and Excel. We need to be forward thinking and teach them the importance of not just being a passive consumer of technology but to actually have an understanding of how it works and how it can be used to solve and even prevent problems.

Technology is the way of the future, not just in business but also for personal use. Think here of wearable tech being used for everything from medical and health monitoring to being able to remotely control your home (heating, lights etc) with the use of clever software.

In Britain, we have a strong background of pioneering in computer programming, from Alan Turin a computer scientist who worked on cracking the German Enigma machine through to Tim Berners-Lee, the best known inventor of the world wide web.

For us one of the most exciting parts of teaching coding to children is the thought of who knows what future talent exists in our up and coming generations.

Aside from the direct computer skills, there are many advantages of teaching children coding, including a wide range of transferable skills.

At the very core of coding is the basic idea that you have to get a computer to solve a problem: in order to do this you have to come up with an algorithm, a set of instructions.

It promotes and encourages problem solving. Logical thinking. Contrary to most people’s belief, it is not a solitary activity, it involves working together with peers.

We should be encouraging these skills and teaching coding in Schools is a step towards this.

There are some good free resources available such as www.codeacademy.com which children can use to learn how to code.

However, if you are a School and would like to speak with us about starting a Coding Club and offering tailored fun learning then get in contact https://nippygecko.com/schools/