Collaborating to create Code Clubs

Earlier this year, Code Club and West London Zone, a local children’s charity, started to work together to start up Code Clubs. In this blog, we found out how the collaboration has already reached 4 schools in West London.

West London Zone are a local charity who work with young people aged 3 – 18 in two boroughs of London, Hammersmith and Fulham and Kensington and Chelsea. Through their work with local schools, they offer children and young people a range of opportunities to help them achieve their potential, enjoy new experiences and develop important knowledge and skills.

At a meeting with some partners, they heard about Code Club and got in touch with Dan Elwick, our Coordinator for London.

" It is incredibly valuable for the Raspberry Pi Foundation to be working with West London Zone, they are helping us to reach schools that do not already have Code Clubs and their Link Workers are in a position to give children at those schools the opportunity to try coding and digital making activities that they might not have otherwise. "

Dan Elwin, Code Club Coordinator for London.

In September 2018, Dan held a training session for 20 WLZ Link Workers, who are based in schools and work closely with children and young people to proactively identify opportunities for them. The training session introduced the Link Workers to Code Club and they created an animation using the Lost in Space project. Dan said: “For many, it was the first time that they had used Scratch and they were enthusiastic about introducing it to the children they work with.”

Only 3 months later, 4 Link Workers are already delivering Code Clubs.

" It’s been great to collaborate with Code Club and introduce more children and young people to develop the knowledge and skills needed to code. We’re really excited about how we might be able to develop more Code Clubs and our partnership in the future. "

Jenny Hoyle, Head of Partnerships at West London Zone