Cambridge University runs coding summer school for girls

A new initiative ran this summer to help encourage more young girls to consider a career in coding, thanks to Cambridge University.

The Coding School for Girls was organised by both the university’s computer laboratory and Cambridge Coding Academy, and aimed to teach girls the basics of coding over the course of a week.

76 girls aged between 15 and 18 took on a variety of projects, such as designing and developing an online game, building new Instagram-style filters and programming drones to fly.

“We were really impressed with how excited, interested and creative the girls were,” said the university’s Dr Robert Harle. “Starting from nothing, they were able to build a simple web game and then independently add new gameplay options, graphics, scoring mechanisms and all sorts of great additions we had never thought of.

“The girls were extremely social and created a great learning atmosphere. They were self-motivated and a pleasure to teach. We hope that they continue to develop their new skills and spread the word to their friends.”

One of the attending girls added: ““It’s made me want to learn to code so that I can write programs myself and don’t have to rely on resources. I see computing in a better light and find it more interesting; I now think I might take it for A-Level.”