Coding clubs that work for neurodivergent children
Autistic, ADHD, anxious, PDA, selectively mute, or waiting on an assessment and not sure yet. Around a third of the families who ring us are asking whether their child will cope somewhere new. This is the honest answer.
Ages 6 to 16 · Scratch through to Python · from £25 a month · free taster, no card needed
“He’s autistic. Do you actually deal with that?”
Yes, and not as a special case. A large share of our members are neurodivergent, and plenty more have anxiety, physical disabilities or a diagnosis still being worked through. Every mentor is trained in supporting neurodivergent children, so it is ordinary here rather than something your child has to be brave about.
We hold the National Autistic Society’s Autism Inclusion Award. What that actually involved is set out further down, because it is evidence rather than a badge.
not just a logoFind the bit you are actually worried about
The specific answers rather than the reassuring ones. If yours is not here, there is a free-text box when you register, and that is the best place to put it.
- “He won’t speak to people he doesn’t know.”
- He does not have to. Children take part by typing in the chat, or by drawing, for as long as that is what works. Nobody asks him to speak up, and no mentor waits on an answer before moving on.
- “She won’t put the camera on.”
- Camera off is fine. Every week, not just while she settles in, and it is not something we revisit or gently encourage her out of later.
- “He has a PDA profile.”
- Joining in is an invitation. Ideas get offered, and he is welcome to pick one up, leave it, or take his project somewhere else entirely. Nothing is required on cue, and nothing is made of it when he opts out. It helps if you tell us how demand avoidance tends to show up for him, so we can match him with a mentor who already works this way.
- “We are still waiting on an assessment.”
- No diagnosis is needed and we do not ask for one. Tell us what helps and what does not, and that is what we work from. Plenty of the children here have profiles with no label yet.
- “She has been asked to leave clubs before.”
- That comes up often, and it is usually about size and pace rather than about the child. Clubs are capped at six children, mentor-led, with nothing to perform in front of a big group. We would much rather hear what went wrong last time than work it out ourselves.
- “Loud rooms and crowds are the problem.”
- Sessions happen at home. The lighting, the noise and the seat are hers, and can change halfway through without anyone minding or anyone noticing.
- “Some days he just cannot.”
- Then he does not, and nothing is made of it. Tell us and we will put him into another slot that week, so there is nothing lost and nothing to catch up.
- “She hates being the new one.”
- The first quarter of an hour of a taster is one-to-one, so nobody is dropped into a group cold. After that it is the same six children and the same mentor every week, which is what stops it being a room full of strangers.
- “He doesn’t want to move group.”
- Then he stays. Moving group gets offered as the fix everywhere, and for a lot of children the move is the problem. If a group is not right we will move him, and if he would rather stay put, he stays put.
nothing here has to be earned first
What is actually different
Not the values. The practical things that decide whether a child stays.
Never more than six
Small enough that nobody has to compete to be heard, and quiet enough for a child who finds a busy room hard work.
- The same six children each week, so it stops being a room full of strangers
- The same mentor, who already knows how your child likes to work
- Camera off and typing in the chat is completely fine, every week, not just at first
Mentors who wait
STEM-certified and DBS-checked, and trained to give a child the time they need rather than to fill the silence.
- Processing time, without being hurried on to the next thing
- Plain, consistent instructions, the same words for the same things
- Breaks when they are needed, with nothing to make up afterwards
Nothing is forced
Your child sets the pace of their own involvement, including how much of it involves other people.
- They can listen and build without speaking at all
- Nobody is expected to mask, or to perform being fine when they are not
- If a group is not right we will move them, and if they would rather stay put, they stay put
Two ways in
Both start in Scratch and work through to Python, with the same projects and the same mentors. The difference is whether there is a fixed hour in the week.
Weekly live club
£65 a month · one hour, same day, same time
- Routine that can be relied on, week after week
- Structured projects with a clear next step, never a blank page
- Mentor support by text and video between sessions
- Miss a week and we move you into another slot, with nothing to catch up
Self-paced academy
£25 a month · no fixed session time at all
- Coding on the days that are good, and none on the days that are not
- No group to keep up with, and nobody waiting
- A video message from their mentor every week, whether or not they ask
- Stop for a fortnight and pick up exactly where they left off
No card needed · the first 15 minutes are one-to-one · no minimum term, cancel any time
Why this particular thing tends to suit
We are not going to tell you your child is a natural coder because of how they are wired. What we can say is what the activity is actually like, and why it lands for a lot of the children who come to us.
It never changes its mind
Code does the same thing every time. Nothing is implied, there is no tone to read, and nobody is being polite about what they actually meant. For a child who spends all day decoding people, that is a rest.
Getting it wrong is private
The thing breaks, you fix it, nobody saw. No hands up and no being wrong in front of the class, which for an anxious child is often the entire barrier.
Going deep is the point
Spending six weeks on one game is not a problem to be managed here. It is how the good stuff gets made, and it is usually those children who go furthest.
You can see it working
The game runs or it does not. Progress shows up on the screen rather than in a report, which matters when praise is hard to believe.
What the Autism Inclusion Award actually involved
The National Autistic Society’s Autism Inclusion Award is an internationally recognised standard built on the Autism Education Trust’s frameworks. Organisations are assessed against set criteria and measured on outcomes for autistic children rather than on intentions, and holding it commits us to being reassessed.
In practice it is why every mentor has the training, and why everything above is how we run rather than what we offer on request.
Book a free taster
no credit card required
No credit card needed. A mentor rings you first to place your child, and you can move sessions any week.
Parents of neurodivergent children, in their own words
Each one links back to the original review on Reviews.io.
Our members rate us 'Excellent'!
Before you book
Two things worth knowing, and one thing we would like from you.
Tell us what helps
We have children with ADHD, autism, anxiety, dyslexia, dyspraxia and profiles that have no label yet. Mentors adapt to the child in front of them rather than to a category.
There is a box at registration for exactly this. Whatever you put there decides which mentor and which club we put your child in. It is the most useful thing you can give us.
Being at home does a lot of the work
- They are already somewhere they feel safe, so nothing has to be survived to get to the coding
- The lighting, the noise and the seat are theirs, and can change mid-session without anyone minding
- Stepping away for a minute costs nothing and interrupts nobody
- They are with other children without a corridor, a cloakroom or a playground attached
No card needed · no minimum term · cancel any time
If any of this sounds familiar
These are the things parents say to us most often when they first get in touch. Each one is written for that conversation rather than for the club.
- “Other clubs haven't worked for my neurodivergent child” – what tends to go wrong, and what we do differently
- “They just need somewhere they fit in” – on finding a group where a child is not the odd one out
- “They're always gaming anyway” – turning the hours already going in to games into making them
- “I want them to learn coding, but I haven't a clue where to start” – for parents who cannot code themselves
- “Will they be okay in a world this fast?” – what is actually worth learning now