Does my child need previous coding experience?

No. We place by current reasoning, not by certificates already collected. Experience helps; it is not a gate.

What equipment is required?

A laptop that can run a current Python interpreter and a modern browser (Mac or Windows). Headphones for live sessions. We provision cloud compute for Frontier work. Tablets and toy kits are not sufficient.

How are children grouped?

By age band and current level, then by the work they are ready to defend. Cohorts stay small. We do not mix a beginner with a research track to fill a room.

How does the 1:4 ratio work?

One mentor sits with four scholars in a live session. Each child is building, not watching a lecture. The mentor reviews, challenges, and can fail work that is not yet honest.

What happens if my child is ahead?

We move them. Placement is a recommendation, not a sentence. Advanced scholars take denser briefs, earlier oral defences, and — when ready — a 1:1 track.

What happens if my child struggles?

The ratio exists for this. We slow the brief, keep the standard, and do not hide difficulty behind entertainment. Parents see the current focus and the next milestone in the family portal.

How much work exists between sessions?

A weekly artefact is expected: a function, a scene, a log, a short write-up. This is not a homework mill. If a week produces nothing defensible, that is the conversation — not a sticker chart.

Are sessions recorded?

Live studio sessions are not published as a content library. Families may request a recording of an oral defence. Code, logs, and faculty notes live in the portal.

What happens if we miss a session?

Tell us early. We issue a catch-up brief and, where possible, a short 1:1. Repeated absence is a placement conversation — the cohort cannot wait indefinitely.

How are parents updated?

The family portal shows current track, faculty observation, next milestone, and project evidence. Term reviews are written in plain language: what they can now do, where they excel, where they are being challenged.

What does the child leave with?

A body of work they can open, run, and explain. Repositories and write-ups where the household permits. A term review from faculty. We do not sell a certificate as the product.

Is there a certificate?

Yes — a completion record for the studio and term. It is secondary to the portfolio. Admissions tutors and later faculties inspect work, not badges.

How does assessment work?

Faculty assessment indicators — Developing, Strong, Advanced, Exceptional — with written evidence. Scholars also defend: they explain why the system is built that way, and what failed.

How does 1:1 mentoring work?

Private track. Same method, no cohort. Used for acceleration, recovery, or a specific artefact. Discussed at consultation; not a default upsell.

What time zones are supported?

Evening studios run on GST for the UAE and AST for Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait. Families elsewhere: we schedule around your city on the intro call. Oral defences by appointment.

How does admissions work?

Private consultation, then a faculty assessment, then a pathway recommendation, then placement in a capped cohort or 1:1 track. We admit a limited number of households each term.

Engineered for the Few.

The Private School of Computing for Exceptional Young Minds.

Your child learns to code.

Codeoko is a live online coding school for ages 7–18. One mentor, four students. Real Python, games, apps and AI — not video courses.

See what they build

Live online worldwide. Evening studios on GST/AST for Gulf families — we schedule around your city on the intro.

Desert DashScore 0

A First Code studio project

Desert Dash

First Code · ages 7–10 · Hop, coins, cactus.

An international private coding school · live online

Worldwide · GCC evenings (GST / AST)

Live mentors4 kids per classReal projects, not quizzesEnglish · live online

What we actually teach

Coding you can see, play, and show a parent.

Every class ends with something that runs: a game, a page, a robot, or a small AI. Not a certificate they forget by Friday.

From age 7

Games

They write the rules, the score, and the characters. Then they play what they coded.

Python · stories · levels

From age 11

Websites

Pages that open in a browser — not a worksheet. Colour, words, and something that works.

HTML · TypeScript · Next.js

From age 12

Robots

A rover that turns, maps, and doesn’t crash. Code that moves something in the world.

Sensors · maps · Python

From age 15

AI

They train a small model, then explain it in plain words. No mystery. No hype.

Vision · agents · PyTorch

Student projects

This is what “learning to code” looks like.

Code on the left. The game, site, or app it becomes on the right. Live project briefs from class.

star_catch.py

1# star_catch.py — score only if earned
2score = 0
3lives = 3
4 
5def update(player, stars, bees):
6    global score, lives
7    for star in stars:
8        if hit(player, star):
9            score += 1
10            stars.remove(star)
11    for bee in bees:
12        if hit(player, bee):
13            lives -= 1
14    if lives <= 0:
15        game_over()

First gameLive preview

Star Catch

Catch gold stars, avoid bees. Score rises only when earned.

LoopsCollisionScore

Built by Zayd · Age 8 · Doha · 3 weeks

Live project demos from Codeoko programs — First Code, App Builders, and AI Engineers.

How a class works

Simple loop. Serious coding.

Most coding classes: watch, copy, certificate. Codeoko: understand, build, fix, show. That’s how children actually learn to code.

Understand

We show the idea in plain words first. Then they write it as code.

Build

They make the game, page, rover, or agent. Hands on the keyboard. Not watching a video.

Debug

When it breaks — and it will — they learn to find why. That’s the real skill.

Show it

They explain what they built, in 12 minutes, no slides. Parents can watch the work.

The whole secret

1 : 4

One mentor. Four kids. That's the class.

No giant Zoom. No copying from a screen. Every child is building something different — and a real engineer is sitting with them.

Aya

Age 8 · Germany

Story game

Mateo

Age 12 · Dubai

3D racer

Amara

Age 14 · Qatar

Rover sim

Sofia

Age 16 · London

Vision AI

Programs by age

Pick the class that fits your child.

Three live coding programs. Tap an age band to see what they build each week, which languages they use, and how they start.

This week they build

A small website or game with tests a mentor can actually break.

Entry: Comfort thinking in steps. Prior code helps; it is not required.
Weekly commitment: Live studio + a weekly project + a short written reflection
Assessment: Code review, failing tests on purpose, and a 12-minute show-and-tell — no slides.
What they take home: A running demo on their machine, plus the repository a mentor can open.

Write Python with tests that fail for a real reason
Ship a site or game a parent can open without a teacher present
Defend one design choice in twelve minutes, calmly and clearly

See the full program

Why parents choose Codeoko

Premium, because the class is small. Clear, because the work is real.

We teach children how to code. The rest — tiny groups, live engineers, a parent portal — is how we do it well.

Tiny live classes

One mentor. Four children. Your child is seen, helped, and challenged — not lost in a lecture of forty.

They build real things

The homework is a game, a website, or a robot that runs. You can open it. They can explain it.

You see the progress

Parents get a clear picture: what they built this week, where they’re strong, and what comes next.

International · GCC evenings

Studios on GST / AST for UAE, KSA, Qatar, and Kuwait — and we schedule around your city if you’re elsewhere. Live English instruction, worldwide.

Before · after

What actually changes when they join.

Not a named fairy tale. The pattern we see in the room — what arrived, what the household hoped, what the child starts saying back, and what is on the laptop when the term has been honest.

Ages 7–10

First Code

Before

They can describe a game they like. They cannot yet play one they wrote.

After

A title screen, a score that rises for a reason, and a sentence about why the bee takes a life.

What the parent held

They will “love computers,” so they will be able to code.

What the child gives back

“It still crashes when I jump.” That complaint is the start of craft.

Open First Code →

Ages 11–14

App Builders

Before

Scratch fluency, a followed tutorial, a wish for “real games.” Typing feels like the hard part.

After

A page that opens. A game they wrote. A test that goes red for the right reason. Twelve minutes, no slides.

What the parent held

Another year of toys — or, finally, proof.

What the child gives back

They will tell you when a last course was decoration. Listen. That is the mind arriving.

Open App Builders →

Ages 15–18

AI Engineers

Before

They can screenshot a chat. They cannot show a score, a wrong label, or a refusal.

After

A small system they can pause, restart, and explain — including what they will not claim.

What the parent held

An AI certificate as a university ticket.

What the child gives back

“Everyone uses AI” is not a syllabus. They will ask for the log.

Open AI Engineers →

The benefit is not a certificate. It is a file you can open and a sentence you can trust. Read the full essay.

The mentors

Engineers who sit with your child.

Live class. Four children. Mentors who still write software — and who can explain it to a nine-year-old.

Ayush

BSc Computer Science

He sits in studio until the thing they wrote actually runs.

Lina Al-Harbi

MSc, Computer Science Education

She sits with the 7–10s until a game they wrote actually runs.

Ethan Brooks

MSc, Software Architecture

Websites and tests a mentor can actually break.

Noor El-Sayed

MSc, Human–Computer Interaction

Pages that have to open on a phone.

Tariq Nasser

BSc Computer Science · game systems

They write the rules. Then they play what they wrote.

Maya Krishnan

MSc, Machine Learning

A small model they can pause, inspect, and explain.

Kenji Sato

MEng, Robotics & Control

Code that makes a rover move — and stop.

Sample term note

A parent view, in plain language.

Indicators with evidence — not a mystery score. Below is the shape of a term note a household would actually read.

Elena — Kai's mother

Kai

Age 12 · App Builders · Singapore

This term · live evenings

Logic
Holds the steps in their head before typing.
Advanced
Problem solving
Breaks a task down without waiting to be rescued.
Strong
Code quality
Names and tests are getting clearer.
Strong
Debugging
Still asks for help a little early — that's the work.
Developing
Systems thinking
Can say why the game is structured that way.
Advanced
Explaining
Shorter, clearer than last term.
Strong

What you actually get

What Kai can now do

Write a loop and say when it should stop.
Show a test that fails for the right reason.
Explain one design choice in plain English.

Where they shine

Structure. Naming. Not pretending.

Where we're stretching them

Fixing bugs without looking up for rescue.

Peek at a sample portal

Families

What parents notice after a few weeks.

E
Elena
Parent of Mateo, 12
“He used to only play games. After two months he could open his own racer and tell me how the score works. That’s when I knew this wasn’t another screen class.”
App Builders · Dubai

P
Priya
Parent of Amara, 16
“Four children and a real engineer. She never gets lost. The class asks her to explain the bug — not to recite a certificate.”
AI Engineers · Qatar

C
Claire
Parent of Noah, 9
“I can open the project on my phone. He walks me through the loop. I didn’t need a badge to know the term had happened.”
First Code · Riyadh

J
James
Parent of Sofia, 11
“She used to call me the second something broke. Now she tries the steps out loud first. I still sit nearby — I just don’t have to rescue her.”
App Builders · London

M
Mei
Parent of Aya, 8
“She made me play her star game on the sofa. Bees take a life. Score goes up for a reason she can explain. That was the whole homework.”
First Code · Germany

A
Anna
Parent of Leo, 15
“The rover actually stops on red. He can say why blue is a turn. I don’t need a dashboard to see that the class is doing what it said.”
AI Engineers · Singapore

S
Sophie
Parent of Isla, 10
“He says the steps out loud, then types them. After a few weeks I stopped asking ‘did you finish the worksheet?’ I ask him to show me the loop.”
First Code · Dubai

E
Elena
Parent of Mateo, 12
“He used to only play games. After two months he could open his own racer and tell me how the score works. That’s when I knew this wasn’t another screen class.”
App Builders · Dubai

P
Priya
Parent of Amara, 16
“Four children and a real engineer. She never gets lost. The class asks her to explain the bug — not to recite a certificate.”
AI Engineers · Qatar

C
Claire
Parent of Noah, 9
“I can open the project on my phone. He walks me through the loop. I didn’t need a badge to know the term had happened.”
First Code · Riyadh

J
James
Parent of Sofia, 11
“She used to call me the second something broke. Now she tries the steps out loud first. I still sit nearby — I just don’t have to rescue her.”
App Builders · London

M
Mei
Parent of Aya, 8
“She made me play her star game on the sofa. Bees take a life. Score goes up for a reason she can explain. That was the whole homework.”
First Code · Germany

A
Anna
Parent of Leo, 15
“The rover actually stops on red. He can say why blue is a turn. I don’t need a dashboard to see that the class is doing what it said.”
AI Engineers · Singapore

S
Sophie
Parent of Isla, 10
“He says the steps out loud, then types them. After a few weeks I stopped asking ‘did you finish the worksheet?’ I ask him to show me the loop.”
First Code · Dubai

E
Elena
Parent of Mateo, 12
“He used to only play games. After two months he could open his own racer and tell me how the score works. That’s when I knew this wasn’t another screen class.”
App Builders · Dubai

P
Priya
Parent of Amara, 16
“Four children and a real engineer. She never gets lost. The class asks her to explain the bug — not to recite a certificate.”
AI Engineers · Qatar

C
Claire
Parent of Noah, 9
“I can open the project on my phone. He walks me through the loop. I didn’t need a badge to know the term had happened.”
First Code · Riyadh

J
James
Parent of Sofia, 11
“She used to call me the second something broke. Now she tries the steps out loud first. I still sit nearby — I just don’t have to rescue her.”
App Builders · London

M
Mei
Parent of Aya, 8
“She made me play her star game on the sofa. Bees take a life. Score goes up for a reason she can explain. That was the whole homework.”
First Code · Germany

A
Anna
Parent of Leo, 15
“The rover actually stops on red. He can say why blue is a turn. I don’t need a dashboard to see that the class is doing what it said.”
AI Engineers · Singapore

S
Sophie
Parent of Isla, 10
“He says the steps out loud, then types them. After a few weeks I stopped asking ‘did you finish the worksheet?’ I ask him to show me the loop.”
First Code · Dubai

Codeoko Journal

We write what we actually teach.

What changes in the household — written the way we teach. Quality over a content mill.

Household

What Actually Changes When a Child Joins Codeoko

Parents arrive with a hope. The child arrives with a habit. The room changes both — and not always in the order the household expected.

Open the essay

All 6 essays

Tuition

Clear prices. Tiny classes.

Starting points in your currency. Final fee confirmed on the intro call.

Show prices in

Private Cohort

$490/ month

4 students · 1 dedicated mentor · Live evenings

Private 1:1

$979/ month

1 student · Dedicated mentor

Holiday Intensive

$898/ 2 weeks

Small cohort · Project-led · Intensive schedule

Shown in USD. Auto-selected from your location — change anytime. Reference conversions from AED; we confirm on the intro call.

How to join

Four steps. No mystery.

We keep classes small, so we meet you first. That’s it.

1
Talk
A short intro call. We hear your child’s age, city, and what they like to make.
2
Match
We recommend First Code, App Builders, or AI Engineers — and a pace that fits.
3
Try
They join a live class of four. You see how they settle with a real mentor.
4
Start
If it feels right, they join the term. Private Cohort or Private 1:1.

See the full process

Questions parents ask

Straight answers.

Class size, evenings, time zones, missed sessions, and how we know they’re learning.

Download syllabus

Studios run from ages 7 to 18. Entry is by conversation and a short faculty assessment — not by a marketing age band. A capable 9-year-old may sit with Systems work; a 15-year-old new to code begins with fundamentals, not slogans.

Ready when you are

Let them learn to code — for real.

Tell us their age and city. We’ll match them to a live class of four.

See programs

Your child learns to code.

Coding you can see, play, and show a parent.

Games

Websites

Robots

AI

Understand

Build

Debug

Show it

One mentor. Four kids. That's the class.

Tiny live classes

They build real things

You see the progress

International · GCC evenings

First Code

App Builders

AI Engineers

Ayush

Lina Al-Harbi

Ethan Brooks

Noor El-Sayed

Tariq Nasser

Maya Krishnan

Kenji Sato

What Kai can now do

Where they shine

Where we're stretching them

What Actually Changes When a Child Joins Codeoko

What “Learning to Code” Should Look Like at 7, 12 and 16

Why We Don't Teach Scratch Forever

What a 10-Year-Old Should Actually Know Before Python

Private Cohort

Private 1:1

Holiday Intensive

Talk

Match

Try

Start

Let them learn to code — for real.