What's Your Child Learning This Term...
Each half term the children in our amazing coding clubs will study a new module where they will be able to showcase and improve on their skills!
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We publish our curriculum below so that you can see exactly what your child is learning and why. You can even use the links to play along with your child at home after each session. Please don't jump ahead of us though as we don't want the children to repeat content.
KS1 - Coding with Fuzzies
Our younger pupils will be working their way through our Coding with Fuzzies module. 'Coding with Fuzzies’ is an exciting module where children code fuzz-balls and navigate various mazes and puzzles. Along the way, they’ll learn the fundamental principles of coding.
Summer Term 2025
Lesson 1
In the first lesson, the children will learn the most basic coding skill, sequences. Learn about how to use sequences in kodable here.
Lesson 2
In lesson 2, we jump into a more complex coding skill called conditions in the game Smeeborg. Why not watch this video with your child and discuss what a conditional in coding is.
Lesson 3
It’s very common to make mistakes when writing code, but as the rapper Pitbull says, “They’re not mistakes, they’re must-takes” because failing is how we learn. However, developing strategies to identify mistakes is also an important part of learning. That’s why in lesson 3, we’ll be debugging mistakes in the Smeeborg game.
Lesson 4
Computers can perform an operation a million times; nay, an infinite number of times. But we can’t dedicate our lives to writing that many lines of code. That’s why we are learning about loops in the game ‘Aquatopia’ to tell our computer to repeat commands a specified number of times.
Lesson 5
We’re back in Aquatopia this week to learn about how Functions can make our code more efficient and easier to write.
Lesson 6
Today the children will be creating their own coding projects and drawing upon everything they have learnt this term in the beach clean up game.
KS2 - Scratch Arcade Maze Games
Our Scratch Arcade Maze Games module uses the Scratch platform to introduce children to creating their own arcade-style computer game that can be played by themselves and others. Using classic retro games such as Pac-Man and Berzerk as inspiration, children learn how to use coding to create player and computer controlled characters that move around and interact within maze environments. As the module progresses, children will be taught to use variables, conditionals and events to end up with a fully playable and enjoyable arcade game.
Lesson 1
In lesson 1, children are introduced to the basics of Scratch (if they haven’t used it before) and then begin to learn how to create a maze environment through the use of ‘painting’ a new sprite. The sprite library is then accessed to place a ‘player controlled character’ into the game environment, and event-controlled code is created to enable a player to use a keyboard to control the character. Children also start to think about using ‘If, then’ conditionals in order to prevent the character being able to walk through walls.
Lesson 2
Lesson 2 looks at adding collectible objects into the maze environment and learning the coding blocks required for the player controlled character to collect or eat these objects (again, using ‘If, then’ conditionals). The concept of creating some way to ‘win’ the game is also introduced - through the use of a ‘win’ sprite and an ‘If, then, else’ conditional. This leads to learning about how the game is ‘lost’ - creating a countdown timer and coding related to this. Both of these concepts involve the use of creating and using ‘variables’ - something which will then be used frequently in future lessons.
Lesson 3
Lesson 3 begins the process of adding a computer controlled character to the game, and considering how to use conditionals to create a consequence for the player character touching it. The lesson progresses to add a ‘laser beam’ that the computer controlled character fires (using code to ensure it can not pass through the maze walls) and coding that reduces the player's lives when ‘hit’ by the laser (again, using variables).
Lesson 4
​In lesson 4, different ways of coding the computer controlled character to move around the maze are looked at - starting with simplistic repeated movement in a set direction and then progressing to adding ‘randomness’ to the movement. Edits to the computer character’s laser beam code will be considered to ensure it continues to always appear like it is coming from the computer character. This lesson also provides an opportunity to catch up and recap on some of the skills and knowledge from the previous lessons if required.
Lesson 5
Lesson 5 looks at creating code to allow the player controlled character to fire a laser beam and for it to ‘defeat’ the computer controlled character (using ‘If, then’ conditional). This is an opportunity to introduce ‘messages’ - code that sends a notification to other elements of code when a specific event has occurred. Children also consider how to use a variable to code the player laser to always be travelling in the same direction as the player character is facing, as well as using a variable to keep track of how many computer characters have been defeated (and using this to display the win sprite when appropriate).
Lesson 6
In Lesson 6, we look at how we can extend the game beyond just one level. Using different ‘costumes’ for the maze sprite allows the children to think about coding that can happen to start a new level once the player has collected all the objects and defeated all the computer controlled characters (again, using broadcast messages). Elements of ‘randomness’ are again introduced to create code that places objects and computer characters in new random positions each time a new level starts. There is also an option in this lesson to start thinking about adding more computer characters.