Learning to code from an early age

The organization relies on the engagement of a team of volunteer pensioners, all of whom are dedicated to improving opportunities and prospects for children who, without this dedicated support, would have limited opportunities to build a solid career path. 

The training course, in addition to their school curriculum, is designed to reveal untapped potential.

In 2024, around 800 children attended training courses provided by Cape Code in Marseille and the Greater Paris area, mainly in the Seine-Saint-Denis department. The aim is to reach 1,000 students, while maintaining the high standards of teaching.

Cape Code builds various partnerships as true collaborations.

The sort of initiatives financed through these partnerships include:

Funding is a mixture of public — via Cités éducatives (a scheme run by the French government), town council or other local schemes and private. The organization also benefits from the support of its chairman’s company, partner organizations and donating companies, such as Econocom.

In the Seine-Saint-Denis, Cape Code works with non-profit Bondy Académie as part of a scheme designed to help children and teens develop their academic and sporting potential. Every Wednesday morning, ten children have a coding lesson before their football training. The children’s progress, enthusiasm and engagement is proof of the success of these initiatives.

The children start off with Scratch when they’re 8, and then graduate to more advanced programming languages. They’re divided into groups of ten and learn through experimentation, trial and error, and learning together.

A few key figures to show the impact of these initiatives:

In addition to the figures, teachers have also noticed improvements in terms of students’ reasoning abilities, algorithmics, Maths and French.

But the most significant indicator is the children’s engagement: their pride at completing a project, presenting it to their peers and learning how to work as part of a team from a young age.

Cape Code has two main priorities for the future:

• Constantly adapting the course content to keep pace with new technology developments;
• Gradually increasing their geographical presence and the number of students taught.

Demand is still very high, and few organizations offer in-person digital training specifically for children. Cape Code is therefore always looking to recruit volunteers  all over France to help it expand its operations