Certificates awarded to Code Club whiz-kids at West Jesmond primary school

Software developers Sam Hogarth and Pat Armstrong at Newcastle based software consultancy, Scott Logic, were delighted to present milestone certificates to a group of sixteen children at West Jesmond Primary School who are learning how to make interactive stories, games and animations.

Sam, aged 24 from Whitley Bay and Pat, aged 31 and from Gateshead became involved with the West Jesmond Primary after trying to find a local school that would be interested in hosting a Code Club. Founded in 2012, Code Club is a national network of free volunteer-led after-hours coding clubs for children aged 9-11.

It was good timing as a Teacher at the school, Sam Stirling, was already planning to set-up a club and Head Teacher, Gary Wallis-Clarke also liked the idea. Alongside Sam Stirling, Sam and Pat, who had the backing of Scott Logic founder and Managing Director Gary Scott, began running the weekly club in September, using their expertise to teach young members programming skills.

Pat, who took part in a voluntary project a few years ago to involve children in science and engineering, found the experience at West Jesmond Primary School very rewarding. He said: “The children were really keen to learn and it was great to see them get stuck-in.” Sam added: “Code Club’s materials are designed to get children thinking and it was great to see them independently develop solutions and use what they’d learned to express themselves.”

Head Teacher at West Jesmond School, Gary Wallis-Clarke said: “In a World where we are surrounded by technology, the benefits of the Code Club in terms of the children’s future employability skills and personal development are immense. Sam and Pat have been intrinsic to the early success of the club and I would like to thank them both, along with Scott Logic, for volunteering their time.”