Summer Workshops

App Design, Blog, Events, ,

We are gearing up for a creative summer once again and will be announcing our holiday coding workshops shortly. Back by popular demand will also be the App Building workshop and last year we saw a range of great games developed for phones and tablets – all with a pirate theme too!

Despite our summer classes being held online this year, we are looking at ways to compliment the workshops by posting creative packs out to participants. Included in the App Builders’ pack will be these rather nice keyrings that serve as a simple phone or tablet stand. Thanks to the pupils who have been testing these for us and helping to get the design just right.

Top 5 Coding Tips – Number 1

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Complete your projects – This is the hardest of all the points in this series to stick to. It is really important to see a project idea through to the end. Not only will you feel satisfied that you got an idea across the finishing line but you will also have a better understanding of the process of developing an idea and following it all the way to completion.

Top 5 Coding Tips – Number 2

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Never be afraid to reach out for help – There is a wealth of information online to help you if you become stuck, but sometimes it can be a little overwhelming. First Coding is always contactable to help whether it’s via email (hello@firstcoding.co.uk) or via social media, we’re here to help troubleshoot any coding problems you may have. If you need an answer to a question to help you move on with your project, then please just drop us a line and ask it!

Top 5 Coding Tips – Number 3

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Enjoy yourself – Learning to code should be fun as well as challenging. Once you’ve mastered the basics, try to develop one of your own ideas for a game or an app. If you’re stuck for inspiration, try and write something that already exists like a game of Space Invaders or Tetris. This will help you develop your skills of breaking down a task and planning the steps required to achieve your goal.

Top 5 Coding Tips – Number 4

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Always start by learning the basics – You’ve heard the term “Learn to walk before you can run”, this can be said for learning to code too. Start off learning the basics, variables, loops, functions etc, writing little programs to try out and discover how these elements work and interact with one another. You will then have a good foundation in which to build on. Take your time.

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Top 5 Coding Tips – Number 5

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Don’t be afraid to make mistakes – I see this a great deal with pupils, there is always a worry that your code may break if you try to incorporate a new idea into your program. My advise would be to always back up your work then should things not behave as you intended, you can always revert the code back to how it was. Always remain curious with your code, try out new ideas and concepts, it’s the only way to learn and develop.

BWS Summer Coding Competition

Blog, Events, Schools,

First Coding is very pleased to announce the first of many coding competitions this summer. Today we have launched the Bishop Wordworth’s School competition and it’s open to coding club members past and present. There will be Amazon voucher prizes for the person who can solve the maze in the quickest time, as well as rewards for best effort too.

The task is all based around mazes with pupils attempting to code their own maze solving program. There will be a couple of tuition sessions available in the coming weeks to help people get up to speed – this means that regardless of age or ability, everyone has a chance. Last year we ran a similar competition at the school and a beginner won the top prize, so please consider entering!

Python School Groups

Blog, Game Design, Python

We continue this week with our popular Python school groups, looking at clever ways to code text-based Choose Your Own Adventure games. Already there are some great ideas forming and we look forward to seeing the results in a few weeks time. In the meantime, you can play one of First Coding’s adventure games where you must navigate a secret underground bunker, solving puzzles and looking for the source of the mysterious radio transmissions.

The game is called Number Station and you can play it online here: http://numberstation.co.uk/

 

New School Clubs

Blog, Schools

New online school clubs started this week. Over the next six weeks we’ll be looking at clever ways to program in Scratch before making the transition to Python. For the groups who are more familiar with Python, we’ll be learning new game design concepts to include in our Python games before coding our HTML project portfolios.

With more groups starting this week, it’s going to be a creative couple of months!