FAQs
Have a question about Code Playground?
Here’s the answer to some of the most common questions. Can’t find what you’re looking for? Please get in touch with one of the team.
General questions
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Ideally, each child would have a device to follow the coding instructions, and be able to see and hear a screen with the video session on.
We use free online tools such as Scratch, micro:bit and VEXcode VR for our sessions. The children don't need to have an account with these services.
All of these platforms are accessible through a browser, so children can either use a laptop, chromebook tablet or even smartphone. Some projects we run use a keyboard as the control, i.e. arrow keys to direct a character in a game. Despite this, these projects can still be made on a tablet, but they might not be playable without an external keyboard.
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Our online sessions are open to anyone who wants to get started with coding, regardless of age. They are aimed at Key Stage 2 and are accessible for most children aged 7 - 11.
The sessions vary in difficulty as we add elements throughout the year. As we go through the curriculum, the sessions will become more advanced in line with children's growing skills.
Younger children may struggle as we get up to the 'selection' and 'variables' end of the course, but if they have come through the whole series in order, their skills should grow along with the advancing level of coding being taught. For the older children, the earlier sessions will just act as an embedding exercise for previous learning.
Younger children may be able to take part in the sessions but would require more hands on support from a teacher or parent. The online sessions are also perfect for any older children and even adults who haven't studied coding before.
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Yes we do! These can be found here. We have workbooks for all of our live sessions as well as our video library.
Online session questions
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Online sessions are joined by firstly registering for the session here. Once you've registered, we will send you link to our virtual session the day before the scheduled session. Simply click that link to join.
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Barclays Code Playground is free for everyone. Whether you are in a school, at home or any organisation.
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No - you do not need an Scratch account to join and code along with our sessions.
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You only need to book one space per classroom.
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Barclays Code Playground is free for everyone.
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We don't record our monthly or Code Playground club sessions, however we do have a library of video recordings covering all our topics here.
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Our sessions are designed to support the Key Stage 2 curriculum. Over the course of the school year, we cover all the main areas of the curriculum.
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If you haven't received your link, send an email to codeplayground@barclayscorp.com and we'll get you the link sent as quickly as possible.
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Most classrooms join the session on the whiteboard at the front of the class and the children code along on their own devices.
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No - our sessions are suitable for all ranges of experience.
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Our free online sessions run using a video meeting service called Webex. We'll email the link to the registered email address the day before the session is due to come. These emails will come from codeplaygound@barclays.com. Sometimes these emails can go into your junk or spam folders so please check there if you don't receive it. Ideally you would have the Webex meeting on a large screen at the front of the class and each child would have a device for the coding. Where one device each is not possible, one between two can work just as well and sometimes better. In the sessions teh children will code along with the presenter to create one of our simple but fun projects.
Code Playground club questions
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Our Code Playground Club a regular series of coding sessions, run every Tuesday and Thursday. These sessions are scheduled for after school, making them a great resource for your after school club.
You can also create your own Code Playground Club by registering . Doing this will ensure you are kept up to date with all the latest Code Playground club news. You can run your club whenever and wherever suits you best.
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No - anyone can register! Whether you're in a school, library, youth club or even at home, you can run a Code Playground Club.
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No - you don't have to join any sessions. As long as you're registered for Code Playground Club, you'll have everything you need to help children learn to code. Whilst we run our Code Playground club sessions twice a week, you can choose to run your session on a day or time to suit your club using the workbooks available on the Code Playground club website.
