Girl Guides 'buzzing with excitement' at STEM and coding session in Aylesbury

Aston Clinton Girl Guides took part in an evening of STEM and coding activities at Code Ninjas Aylesbury at Bucks New University.

The session on Tuesday, March 21, was aimed at boosting the girls’ confidence and equipping them with future career-enhancing skills including coding, maths, logic, critical thinking and problem solving.

Joining the excited Guides were Mayor of Aylesbury Tim Dixon and Aylesbury Code Ninjas owners Robin Theakston and Charlie Gunn.

Cllr Dixon said: “I was amazed at how well the children focused on the activities. They were completely immersed in what they were doing.

“Digital skills are vital for the future, and Code Ninjas is leading the way in encouraging young people in Aylesbury to gain knowledge and understanding of coding that will stand them in such good stead for their bright futures.”

Code Ninjas Senseis led the learning, with the Guides split into groups to try out a variety of activities from building video games to creating robotics projects.

“It was so inspiring to see how the Aston Clinton Guides approached each of the activities in the dojo,” said Charlie.

“With some tasks requiring teamwork, it was great to see the children working so well together and collaborating.

"Being able to pique children’s interest in coding and technology is so important to us. It is our mission to expose children across Buckinghamshire to an accessible, engaging learning environment so they can become confident, resilient, independent coders, equipped with key skills.”

Code Ninjas is a coding club for kids, where five to 14-year-olds learn to code in a fun, approachable environment by playing and building video games and working with STEM activity sets such as Lego robotics and switch circuits.

Aston Clinton Guides leader Sue Wall said: “We’re delighted to have been invited to this special session. Experiencing the dojo has been fantastic, and our Guides are buzzing with excitement.

"Robin and Charlie are aligned with our own ethos of supporting and encouraging young people. The Guides have been able to achieve so much in just one session, and it really boosts their confidence.”

Robin said: “We are very aware of the barrier some girls have to tech. We have an equal balance of male and female Senseis at Code Ninjas Aylesbury, and we’re committed to encouraging more girls to come and try coding.

"Girls and boys tend to approach activities so differently, and by recognising the unique and valuable input females bring to tech from an early age, we are setting the scene for the future generations of children in Buckinghamshire.”

Code Ninjas Aylesbury is holding a free, one-off, girls-only Code Ninjas coding and STEM session on Saturday, May 6. All girls aged between seven and 14 are welcome.

"We’ll be using block coding in MakeCode to build a video game, constructing and coding Lego Hoppers to race each other and solving a challenge on a Turing Tumble marble-based computer,” said Robin.

Numbers are strictly limited. Places at the session need to be reserved via Eventbrite.