Programming from scratch
Python for beginners through to functions, files, data structures and object orientation. Younger students start in Scratch and move across when they are ready rather than on a schedule.
Also taught here · Ages 8 to 18
Programming taught by writing programs that run
Computer science exams reward students who have actually built things, because a student who has debugged their own code recognises a trace table for what it is. Our courses run in a real editor, on real programs, against the syllabus.
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Python 3Primary language
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0478 and 9618Cambridge CS syllabi
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Real editorNot a slide deck
Why exam CS goes wrong
Pseudocode learned without programming does not stick
Computer science is the one exam subject where students routinely pass the theory paper and fall apart on the programming one, and the cause is nearly always the same. They have been taught pseudocode as notation to memorise rather than as a description of something they have built, so a trace table becomes an abstract puzzle instead of a thing they have watched happen in a debugger.
Students here write code that runs, from the first session, and the syllabus notation is introduced as a way of describing what they have already made. The theory paper then becomes considerably easier, which is a pleasant side effect rather than the goal.
- Every session in a real editor, with the student typing rather than watching
- Syllabus pseudocode taught alongside working Python, not instead of it
- Trace tables, dry runs and debugging taught as the same skill, because they are
- Projects the student chooses, since motivation carries more weight here than anywhere
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Code that runs
Real debugging
Own projects
Courses at a glance
Two tracks, one for exams and one for students who simply want to build things.
Ages8 to 18, with the approach changing considerably across that range
LanguagesPython 3 primarily, with JavaScript, HTML and CSS for web work
Younger studentsScratch and block-based work for roughly ages 8 to 11
Exam syllabiCambridge IGCSE 0478, Cambridge A Level 9618, UK GCSE specifications
ToolsA standard editor and version control basics, no proprietary platform
Session length55 minutes, or 85 minutes for project work
Between sessionsOne short build task, sized to be finished rather than abandoned
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Python first
Git basics
Short build tasks
What is taught
Three tracks
Students move between tracks. A twelve-year-old building games often ends up on the exam track two years later with a considerable head start.
Exam computer science
Cambridge IGCSE 0478 and A Level 9618, plus UK GCSE specifications. Theory taught properly, and the programming paper taught by programming.
Web and projects
HTML, CSS and JavaScript, building pages that work on a phone. Suits students who want something to show rather than something to submit.
We teach in the language your child's school uses where that differs from ours. If the school teaches Java or Visual Basic for the A Level programming paper, say so when you enquire.
How a course actually runs
How a programming course runs
Build first, formalise second. In that order, deliberately.
01
Find out what they can already do
Not a quiz. The tutor sets a small program and watches the student write it, which shows the gaps immediately. Self-taught students often have surprising strengths next to surprising holes.
02
Build something small and real
A program the student picked, finished within two or three sessions. Finishing matters. A half-built ambitious project teaches less than a small completed one.
03
Break it on purpose
The tutor introduces a bug and the student finds it. Debugging is the actual skill, and it is almost never taught explicitly in school because it takes one-to-one time.
04
Formalise against the syllabus
Once the student has built and debugged, syllabus notation is introduced as a way of describing that work. Pseudocode conventions and trace tables land far more easily this way.
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Exam programming under conditions
For exam students, programming questions written on paper under time, since that is how they are examined, and it feels alien to anyone who has only ever typed.
Self-taught and stuck?
Students who learned from videos often plateau in the same place, somewhere around functions and program structure. The trial usually locates it in twenty minutes.
Where marks are won and lost
What each exam route actually asks for
The programming components differ more than the theory does.
| Route | Programming component | What we drill |
|---|---|---|
| Cambridge IGCSE 0478 | Algorithms, programming and logic on paper | Pseudocode conventions, trace tables, and writing code by hand without an editor to catch typos. |
| Cambridge A Level 9618 | Advanced theory plus a programming paper | File handling, object orientation and abstract data types, written in the language the centre supports. |
| AQA GCSE 8525 | Programming assessed on paper, plus theory | Structured programming, subroutines and the specific pseudocode style AQA publishes. |
| OCR GCSE J277 | Computational thinking and programming on paper | Algorithm design, searching and sorting, and OCR's exam reference language. |
| No exam, just building | Projects the student chooses | Version control basics, reading error messages properly, and finishing what was started. |
Scheduling and fees
Booking programming sessions
Project work often justifies the longer session, and exam work rarely does.
Free trial
Thirty minutes with the tutor you would actually be assigned. They set a short diagnostic task, mark it live, and tell you where the gaps are. No card details.
Weekly slot
One fixed 55 minute session a week, billed monthly in advance. Your tutor and your time do not move unless you move them.
Exam sprint
A block of eight sessions in the six weeks before the series, built around past papers and examiner reports rather than new content.
Project block
Six 85-minute sessions to design, build and finish one project the student cares about. Popular over summer, and a good antidote to a year of theory.
Rescheduling is free with 12 hours notice. Inside 12 hours the session counts as taught, which is the only way a tutor can hold a fixed slot for you and still plan a week around it.
Questions parents ask first
Programming, answered plainly
What age can a child start?
Around eight, in Scratch. Text-based programming usually clicks somewhere between ten and twelve, though it varies enormously and pushing a child into Python early is a reliable way to put them off.
Which language do you teach?
Python 3 by default, since it is what most schools and syllabi use. We teach JavaScript for web work and will teach Java or Visual Basic where a school's A Level programming paper requires it.
Do you need special software?
No. A standard free editor and a browser. We do not use a proprietary learning platform, partly on principle and partly because students should be able to keep working after they stop paying us.
My child says they already know Python from videos. Is a tutor useful?
Often, yes. Video-taught students tend to be strong on syntax and weak on structuring a program, and they have usually never debugged anything they did not write. The trial will show which it is within twenty minutes.
Can you help with a school programming project?
We can teach the skills and review approach, and we will not write assessed work. Where a project is formally assessed, we stay well inside the rules and tell you where the line is.
More answers sit on the full FAQ page.
Programming places open
Book a programming trial
Tell us your child's age, what they have already tried and whether there is an exam involved. The trial is a short build task, watched, which tells us more than any questionnaire.
Contact us