Junior Tech Cadets, grades 5–8
Visual first, project first. Scratch, games, web basics and a term on using AI without being fooled by it.
- Grades
- 5–8
- Ages
- 10–14
- Each session
- 75min
- Class size
- 12max
- In the room
- 2 adults
How we teach this age group
A ten-year-old does not need to be told that programming is useful. They need to make something move on a screen and then want to make it move differently. Junior Tech Cadets is built entirely around that: every unit ends in a thing that runs, and the concepts are introduced because the thing needs them, not before.
Students start in Scratch, where the logic is real but the typing is not in the way. Loops, conditionals, variables, events and coordinates are all learned properly there. Only once a student is comfortable reasoning about a program do we move to typed code — first HTML and CSS, where a mistake is visible rather than fatal, then beginner Python.
Sessions are short and hands-on. The instructor demonstrates for a few minutes, then the students build while the instructor and the teaching assistant move between them. Two adults for twelve students is what makes that workable at this age, when a stuck child will sit quietly rather than ask.
What it covers
- Scratch and block-based game building
- AI tools: how to use them honestly, and how to catch them being wrong
- How the web is put together — HTML and CSS
- Beginner Python: variables, loops, functions, simple graphics
- Reading a problem, breaking it down, and testing a fix
Who teaches the session
One instructor and one teaching assistant.
Weekly commitment
About 2 hours of class, plus 30–45 minutes of practice
2 live sessions a week of 75 minutes each.
Courses in Junior Tech Cadets
Each course runs as its own cohort. A student takes them in the order that suits where they are starting from.
Scratch game development
Ten weeks of building playable games. Your child finishes with a platformer with levels, a score and a start screen.
- Grades
- Grades 5–7
- Length
- 10 weeks
Web development foundations
The first typed-code course. Students hand-write HTML and CSS and finish with a personal site at a real public address.
- Grades
- Grades 6–8
- Length
- 10 weeks
AI tools for students
Eight weeks on using AI tools carefully: what they are good at, how they fail, and where using one is cheating.
- Grades
- Grades 6–8
- Length
- 8 weeks
Python programming, junior
A twelve-week first course in real typed code, built around turtle graphics and small games rather than exercises.
- Grades
- Grades 7–8
- Length
- 12 weeks
A sample eight weeks
Courses differ in content, but the shape of the first eight weeks is consistent across the track. This is what it looks like.
- Week 01
Getting the first thing to move
Set up the tools, meet the class, and make a sprite move with the arrow keys before the first session ends.
- Week 02
Loops and repetition
Forever loops, repeat blocks and why a computer is happy doing the same thing ten thousand times.
- Week 03
Conditions and collisions
If-statements, touching detection, and the first game rule the student writes themselves.
- Week 04
Variables and score
Keeping a score, a timer and a lives counter. Debugging why the score goes up by seven.
- Week 05
Design your own level
Students plan a level on paper first, then build it. Instructor reviews the plan before any code.
- Week 06
Making it feel good
Sound, animation between costumes, a start screen and a game-over screen.
- Week 07
Testing on somebody else
Students swap games, write down every bug they find, and fix each other's reports.
- Week 08
Showcase
Each student presents their finished project to the group and to any parent who wants to attend.
What your child has at the end of a term
- A finished, playable game the student can send to family
- A small personal web page written by hand, not generated
- Comfort with loops, conditions, variables and events as ideas rather than as syntax
- The habit of testing something before declaring it finished
Projects they build
- A maze game with collision detection
- A catcher game with score, lives and a timer
- A wave-based shooter using clones
- A three-level platformer with gravity, sound and a win screen
- A three-page site with working navigation
- A card layout built to match a supplied design
- An image gallery with proper alt text
- A published personal site at a public URL
Try a Junior Tech Cadets class, free
A full session at the right level for your child’s grade. They will build something in it, and no payment details are needed to book.