Our vision is to teach 1,000 disadvantaged children to use Python every year in Greater Manchester.

By challenging the growing technical skills gap and encouraging under-represented populations to learn a key technical skill, and by developing a nurturing community between schools, universities and businesses, we will create better technical career opportunities.

Our impact to date

  • 180 Children

  • 6 Schools

  • 15 Volunteers

  • 250 Volunteer hours

The Problem

There is a significant demand for data skills. UK companies are recruiting up to 234,000 roles that require hard data skills. Almost half of businesses in the UK (48%) are recruiting, but as many as half of those (46%) have been unable to fill the roles in the last two years.

Quantifying the UK Data Skills Gap – UK Government Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport paper May 2021

Only 26% of Tech workers are female and just 15.2% come from a BAME background, which is not representative of the 20% population of BAME people living in the UK (2011 Census).

Diversity and Inclusion in UK Tech – Tech Nation

so, Why Python?

Python is a high-level, general-purpose programming language. Since 2012, its popularity has grown by 400%, to become the world’s most popular programming language.

Python is in extremely high-demand. It’s used by top brands like Google, Netflix, Dropbox, Meta, Amazon, NASA and Spotify, and is a close second to Java on 88,000 job postings in 2020 (US).

It’s the most searched-for programming language on the internet, and Python Developers currently command the highest salaries in the UK compared with other Developer languages.

Learning structure

As part of our 16-week, CPD-accredited Python course, children receive 16 hours of free training in the autumn and spring terms, worth £1,200. Led by a Teaching Lead and a Teaching Assistant, each Year 10 class of between 10-15 children must include 50% who are pupil premium identified.

Andrea Collins, Head of Computing, North Cestrian School

New knowledge and skills in every session

“Our students have benefitted from working with Hemant and Tom this year, not just through coding, but also in relation to their resilience and growth mindset.  Even though we have covered programming with Python within our curriculum, Anumana were able to introduce concepts that hadn’t been covered in lessons so even the more competent programmers came away with new knowledge and skills every session.

They were able to do this without leaving the less confident programmers behind, so everyone made progress on their own personal journey.  Working with Anumana has also helped me develop my own teaching some of the more complex coding skills; listening to how a professional programmer explains some of the concepts helped me better understand them and develop ways to better explain them to my students.

In addition, having professionals in the classroom working with students from all backgrounds makes the idea of a career in programming more accessible and offered opportunities for students to ask questions about future careers and draw parallels between what they have learned in the lesson and real world applications.  Thank you Hemant and Tom!”

Volunteer with the code academy

Students can volunteer for various assignments:

Ambassador

Teaching Lead/ Teaching Support for at least 2 academic years.

Teaching Lead
Delivering one 16-week teaching programme.

Teaching Support
Supporting one 16-week teaching programme.

Programme Supporter

Aid in the development of course materials.

Enjoy great benefits as a university student:

  • Increased career prospects and improved technical skills
  • Development of soft skills and confidence
  • Completion award, which can be used on your CV
  • Exposure to universities and working environments for wider networking.

How we train our volunteers

  • 01

    Fill in an expression of interest questionnaire

  • 02

    Attend a half hour interview

  • 03

    Shadow one existing Code Academy class

  • 04

    Attend a half-day training workshop