Scratch One-on-one Private Classes
Recommended Ages: 7+; Price: £100/week (£70 for block bookings)
This 60-minute per week live one-on-one private online course is ideal for primary school children of any age (as long as you feel they are ready). With 6 different levels to cater to every child’s current computing skills, there is a lesson for everyone. Please see the detailed information about each level below. Book our free trial to find out, how great the one-on-one tuition is.
Book Free Trial Now
Choose the day and time you’d like your one-on-one tuition to happen and enter FREETRIAL at the checkout.
After the trial you can continue the course on a weekly basis for £100 per week. We will also offer you an option to save 30% by paying monthly (£303 per month).
The lessons are delivered as online video calls via Zoom, making it easy for your child to learn to code wherever in the world you are. Based on the trial, we and you will know exactly, where your child should start. Then, the course progresses at your child’s pace - our tutor will slow down to explain more difficult topics and speed up when your child feels confident with a certain area of learning. While booking the trial and actual course, you can select the day and time that best suits your schedule. If you cannot find one, please get in touch.
Lessons can be booked on an ad hoc basis (at the cost of £100 per lesson) or in blocks (at the cost of £70 per lesson). We will contact you to discuss the options and the payment schedule to suit your needs.
Scratch Knowledge Levels
Our standard course is divided into 6 distinct Scratch knowledge levels, with children advancing a level every 6-8 weeks:
Level 1 - children with no prior knowledge of Scratch
Levels 2 - 4 - children with varying degrees of Scratch knowledge; from using most blocks in simple sequences in response to various events; to complex structures using conditionals, loops, variables, inter-thread communication etc.
Level 5+ - at this stage children know all the building blocks of Scratch. They are able to code most of simple applications and games. At this stage our focus shifts to algorithms and data structures.
We tailor our course to the needs of every child while keeping existing knowledge alive by reapplying it in new programming contexts. We aim to progress children from level to level approximately every term. As they reach level 5 our focus changes - we start with an introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. Once children are comfortable with this aspect of computer programming, we move on to discussing, developing and applying the most common algorithms from classical computer science, to real world problems. As there is no end to computing skills, so there is no end to our course - there is always another level - a new piece of knowledge to acquire.
Want to find out how great one-on-one tuition is? Select day and time that suits you and your child’s schedule and enter FREETRIAL at the checkout
Our tutors make it a personalized, exciting and valuable experience
Our experienced tutors will tailor our industry leading curriculum to suit your child. One-on-one private tuition provides personalized instruction that helps students progress at their own pace while being appropriately challenged. Here, at Educademy, we believe it’s more important to ensure every child reaches a good level of understanding than to cover all the topics scheduled for the lesson.
Our revolutionary teaching methodology allows children to start coding from the very beginning of the lesson. Lectures (sometimes called tutorials) are proven to be an ineffective way of transferring, and more importantly retaining knowledge. Instead, the Educademy method relies on a series of small, tutor-led exercises. Our students memorize the course material quickly because they’ve already done it. We then reinforce the understanding, asking each student to experiment on their own, creating unique code structures. Our tutors are always there, just in case the experiment does not go to the plan.
Learn Scratch - learn Computer Science
Scratch is an amazing, block-based virtual programming language. Simple to understand and click together blocks hide the complexity, yet offer nearly all the features found in more traditional solutions.
The level 1 course introduces children to computer science through a small collection of blocks used in Scratch. While using these blocks to create simple programs, children learn advanced techniques which are often alien even to traditionally educated programmers. Students learn concepts, such as events. We use them in everyday life, for example, if an event occurs I will do one activity, else I will do another. It’s all made easier by the colourful and intuitive layout of Scratch. These core, foundation programming skills will enable our students to be successful in whichever Computer Science route they may take in the future. As children progress from level to level, we dive deeper (as the official Scratch curriculum neatly phrases it!). Every week we prepare a set of interesting projects, through which participants learn computational concepts, like cloning, events, parallelism and data structures. We also encourage best practices, like experimenting and iterating, testing and debugging, reusing and remixing, abstracting and modularizing. All of it packaged in an attractive set of games and challenges. By the end of this course, our students will gain an intuitive approach to advanced Computer Science problems, regardless of the programming language.
Fun and sense of achievement
At the core of our approach is the understanding that children learn the most though fun. At Educademy we ensure that each lesson is engaging and entertaining. We ensure every student comes out of it with an enormous sense of achievement. To us, children and their creations are at the centre of the course.
There is more to that than coding
No doubt computer programming is going to be the most important skill of the 21st century. When children learn to code in Scratch, they also learn important strategies for solving problems, designing projects, and communicating ideas.
Educademy’s mission is to create a lasting positive outcome. Deep in children’s minds we plant a feeling that they can create wonderful programs. They learn to overcome challenges. They know they can and will succeed in the field of Computer Science. Equipped with that feeling, they are able to face challenges in other areas of their education and future life. They already know they are really good at something. It’s only a matter of time before they’ll replicate this success in other areas.
FAQs
+ Why book this online course?
This online camp teaches very important concepts in Computer Science. Scratch block-based virtual programming language offers all the features of traditional programming languages while saving children from their complexity. Below is only a small selection of topics the children learn during the course:
- Computers follow a simple sequence of instructions
- How to create loops to perform repetitive tasks
- The power of conditional statements to control program behaviour
- How to use events to make a highly responsive application
- Basic operations on variables and what they are for
- How to manipulate the image on the computer screen
- An intuitive approach to objects with Scratch sprite cloning
- How to use events to implement more complex user interaction
- To use parallelism to make the application appear to run smoother with more moving parts
- Basic data structures like integers, lists and text as strings of characters
- Inter-process / inter-thread communication paradigms with the use of messages
- How to combine all these techniques to deliver complex applications
- How to apply AI to Scratch
- How to get a computer to "think"
- Understand the concept of Machine Learning
- The process in which a computer learns how to play a game
+ Can my child join mid-term?
Yes - you can join at any time as the lessons are tailored specifically to your child's needs.
+ What if we cannot attend a lesson - can we skip?
Please contact us and we'll accommodate your temporary schedule change. Please give us at least a weeks notice.
+ How about holidays?
It is up to you - you can either take a break (also outside of usual holiday periods) or carry on at the usual schedule. Please contact us with at least one week notice for any changes
+ Can I cancel at any time?
Yes - the course is billed weekly.
+ Is my child too old for this online camp?
This online course is beneficial to all ages. We strongly recommend taking it regardless of your child's current skills, be it at the absolute beginner stage or to deepen their computer programming skills.
While the course is designed with the 7+ years old in mind, private one-to-one gives us great flexibility. As long and you and your child find the course interesting, we are happy to teach.
+ What’s the typical class structure?
This class takes place once a week. During 60 minutes our tutor will alternate between presenting your child with a new task (often designed to create a bigger project) and working with him/her to finish the task. We believe in a hands-on, practical, example-based approach. Therefore the tutor will try to maximize the amount of time your child does the actual coding.
+ What are the prerequisites?
Children attending this online course should have:
- Basic reading skills
- Can handle mouse and keyboard comfortably
- Adult assistance may be required at the beginning of the course
+ What kind of computer do I need to participate in this online camp?
Any desktop (with a webcam) or laptop computer running Windows or MacOS is required. We strongly recommend a mouse as there is a significant amount of drag and drop operations performed during the course.
+ Can I use an iPad/tablet or a Chromebook instead of laptop/PC?
Unfortunately, you are unable to use an iPad or a tablet to join these online classes.
+ What software do I need to install before the camp?
This online camp requires Zoom Client, which can be downloaded here: https://zoom.us/download#client_4meeting
Please see our help page for the detailed installation guide
+ Is adult presence required?
For younger children, we ask that an adult is able to stay at least for the first lesson. The parent might only need to be there for the first 15 minutes, but they should stay nearby.
You are also welcome to accompany your child for the remaining lessons too - we love parents and children learning together!
+ Can I make the session more private?
Yes, Zoom has a virtual background feature that will increase the privacy of your video feed. Just click on the little arrow next to ‘stop video’ and select ‘Choose Virtual Background’ then choose a picture. This works as a green screen so others in the call cannot see into your house.
We strongly recommend keeping the camera turned on. While some children may be a little camera shy, this is a good opportunity to overcome it. The visual contact allows our tutors to read nonverbal cues and act on them before the child becomes distressed.
+ How big are the virtual class sizes?
This is one-to-one private tuition. Therefore there'll only be your child and a tutor.
+ What if my child is late to the class?
We strongly encourage everyone to join the classes on time. If due to unforeseen circumstances your child is late, please try to join as soon as possible. The tutors have lessons scheduled after your lesson and therefore cannot stay behind. However we'll do all we can to help.
+ Do you record the lessons?
Yes, the lessons are recorded for safety and quality purposes. The recordings are securely kept for the duration of at least 7 days
Ready to book?
Do you have a group of friends that would like to have a lesson together? Please get in touch for a quote