“How is my child getting on?”
Parents ask us this a lot, especially once their child has been at one of our coding clubs for a term or two. It’s a fair question, but not an easy one to answer. There’s no test or worksheet to hold up. Learning to code is slow and uneven, and a child might meet the same idea several times before they can use it on their own, apply it somewhere new, or see why it’s useful.
That’s why we build our clubs around a spiral curriculum.
What is a spiral curriculum?
The idea comes from the educational theorist Jerome Bruner (1960). He argued that children can take on complex ideas if they’re introduced in a way that suits their age and then revisited as their understanding grows. So instead of teaching a concept once and moving on, we keep coming back to the important ones. Each time, children meet the idea in a new setting, with a bigger challenge, and understand a little more than before.
This works especially well for computer science. Algorithms, decomposition, sequencing, loops and debugging aren’t things you learn once and then own for good. They deepen as children get more confident and better at thinking through problems.
A five-year-old might get to grips with repetition by making a character walk across the screen. A few years later, that same child might use loops to build an animated game, work out why it isn’t behaving, and decide which kind of loop fits best. The idea underneath is the same, but the thinking is very different. That’s the spiral.
What this looks like in practice
Here’s an example from our younger clubs, using ScratchJr.
First encounter: exploring. Children start by snapping blocks together to make a character move across the screen. We don’t introduce the word “loop” yet. They just notice that they keep repeating the same movement, and they start to spot patterns in their code. The aim is to get comfortable and curious.
Second encounter: understanding. Later on, we come back to the same idea and name it. Children put a long string of movement blocks next to a single repeat block and see that both do the same job. That’s usually the moment they realise code can be shorter and neater.
Third encounter: applying. Eventually loops turn up again in a tougher project, such as a game where an obstacle has to keep moving across the screen. This time nobody’s handing out step-by-step instructions. Children have to decide how the obstacle should behave, pick the blocks, predict what will happen, and fix it when it doesn’t work. Loops have gone from something they’ve seen to something they use on purpose.
Each visit adds another layer to the same idea.
Why not just teach it once?
Because understanding takes time. Being told how something works rarely makes it stick. Children need to try things, practise, get things wrong, come back to them later and use them in different situations. That’s especially true in coding, where understanding often comes from experimenting.
A child might start out knowing that one block makes a character move. Later they realise that a sequence of blocks is an algorithm. Later still, they start asking how to make it more efficient, or how to adapt it to a completely different problem. Nothing they learned earlier gets thrown away. It just keeps growing.
Room for different learners
Children don’t all learn at the same speed. Some get a concept straight away, and others need to meet it a few times before it feels familiar. Coming back to ideas gives those children a chance to firm up their understanding without feeling left behind, while the children who are ready for more can use the same ideas in more ambitious ways.
In the same club, one child might still be getting the hang of using a loop correctly while another is combining loops with variables and conditions to build a more complex game. Both are making progress. They’re just working on different next steps.
It’s about more than coding
Coding is at the heart of what we do, but children take plenty more away from it. Any time they make a project, they’re making decisions. What am I trying to do? How can I break this down? Why didn’t that work? How could I make it better?
Asking those questions again and again builds problem-solving, logical thinking, creativity, perseverance and teamwork. Children also learn that getting something wrong isn’t failing. In coding it’s usually just the next step towards getting it right.
Does coding still matter now that AI can do it?
It’s a reasonable thing for parents to wonder. AI can now write code, generate images and answer questions, so what do children actually need to learn?
For us, the answer isn’t really how to write code. It’s how to think. AI can produce a piece of code, but someone still has to know what they’re trying to achieve, break the problem into manageable chunks, check whether the solution works, spot the mistakes and make creative choices about what to build. The more powerful the tools get, the more those skills matter.
We want children to be makers rather than just users of technology. That might mean writing a game, designing a digital world, making an animation, building a robot or experimenting with AI. The tools will keep changing, but the thinking behind them stays useful.
Progress you can’t always see
Progress in coding isn’t always obvious from one week to the next. A child might not seem to have learned something brand new, but they may be using an old idea with more confidence. They might need less help, start solving problems on their own, or try things that go beyond the original instructions. All of that counts.
So our aim isn’t to push children through a list of ever harder languages or platforms. It’s to help them build understanding over time, returning to familiar ideas and gradually getting better at tackling problems independently.
Coding is more than syntax
Learning to code isn’t really about memorising commands or the rules of a particular language. It’s about learning to think computationally: breaking a big problem into smaller parts, spotting patterns, putting steps in a sensible order, testing ideas, learning from mistakes and finding creative ways through.
Our spiral curriculum gives children the time to build those habits. They may meet the same concept several times with us, but they’re never the same learner twice. Each time they arrive with more experience, more confidence and a better grasp of what they’re doing.
That’s how we help children go from using technology to creating with it, confidently and independently.
See our spiral curriculum in action at one of our after-school coding clubs, or try a holiday coding camp in Hampstead or Notting Hill.
Reference
Bruner, J. S. (1960). The Process of Education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
