School holiday hacks: Community Fibre gives 100 young people the chance to learn coding for free this summer

For immediate release: London, UK: After a recent report by the House of Lords found over 10 million adults in the UK lack basic IT skills1, preventing them from performing simple digital tasks, Community Fibre, London’s largest 100% full fibre broadband2, announces a new offering to inspire young people to develop their digital skills this summer.  

 With parents across the capital searching for engaging activities to entertain their children during the school holidays, the broadband provider has partnered with The Code Zone to offer free coding sessions for 100 children and teenagers this summer holidays in a bid to promote better digital literacy and skills for young people. 

 Live sessions, available to 100 children aged 8-14, will be guided by expert mentors to assist groups of up to six children through various ‘hacking’ and ‘modding’ tasks via a feature game. 

Each recipient will also be granted access to The Code Zone’s back catalogue, comprising hundreds of coding challenges and games for the duration of the six-week holidays.  

Improving digital inclusion and literacy is at the core of Community Fibre’s mission. Graeme Oxby, CEO of Community Fibre comments, “The scale of digital poverty and illiteracy remains a big issue in the UK and is something the industry needs to come together to tackle. One of the best ways to do so is to inspire passion and intrigue around IT at a young age.”

“Bridging the digital skills divide continues to be at the heart of Community Fibre’s mission, so we’re excited to offer 100 budding tech-pros the opportunity to hone their coding skills over the summer, in partnership with The Code Zone.” 

 According to Ashley Payne, CEO of The Code Zone, “Learning how to code is a gateway for children and young people to explore the boundless possibilities of the digital world.” 

 “The digital age gap is one of the main reasons for developing The Code Zone. It's not just about introducing both children and grown-ups to coding, but also helping them grow their digital skills as a whole.” 

 “We are excited to be working alongside Community Fibre to reach out to more people and welcome the opportunity for other like-minded companies to help us spread the joy of coding around!” 

 Parents, teachers, and children can apply for one of the 100 free sessions and access to The Code Zone’s catalogue of challenges and games throughout the summer at communityfibre.co.uk/CodeZone. 

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Contact 

For more information, please contact [email protected] for all media enquiries.  

About Community Fibre  

Community Fibre is London’s best quality broadband, providing fast, affordable, sustainable connections for everyone. As of July 2023, it has passed 1 million homes across the capital, with more than 212,000 London-based businesses within 100 meters of Community Fibre’s network footprint. Using the UK’s best broadband technology, it is bringing Gigafast broadband at unbeatable prices to the capital, helping Londoners do more and be more. Community Fibre also operates the Box brand in Surrey and Sussex with 50,000 additional homes passed. 

As the #1 Best ‘Internet Provider’ on Trustpilot, commanding an ‘Excellent’ rated service with over 30,000 5-star reviews (July 2023), Community Fibre offers speeds of up to 3 Gbps for consumers – up to 45.9x faster than the UK average download speed and 193.5x faster than the UK average upload speed, as well as broadband packages of up to 10 Gbps for businesses. 

 Community Fibre was awarded 2023’s Best Alternative Network by Uswitch, as well as the UK’s Best Consumer ISP (few than 100k customers) for the third consecutive year in a row at the Internet Service Provider Association (ISPA) Awards 2022, in addition to being recognised as the Best Business Internet Service Provider by the same association. 

About The Code Zone 

The Code Zone knows that learning to code should be accessible to everyone, nurturing their own interests through code, having fun, getting creative and feeling the freedom to explore without constraints! 

The Code Zone provides group, mentor-led sessions to hundreds of individuals both online, in schools and in local community centres. We use the power of gaming in “Game Dev Club” where through our unique approach to learning, and custom-built games, members Hack and Mod to make changes. Our custom levelling system keeps users of all ages and abilities fully engaged throughout their coding journey. Sessions run weekly for children aged 6+. The Code Zone also runs grown-up sessions, where adults can come and learn to code through building, hacking and modding games. 

Our mentors are the heart of The Code Zone - a phenomenal team who inspire children in creativity through code on a daily basis.  The mentors are trained in our unique philosophy, meeting regularly to share ideas and push the boundaries of coding and tech. 

Terms and conditions 

^Introduction 

^{By participating in the competition, you are agreeing to these competition terms and conditions. The competition is being run by Community Fibre Limited.} 

^{Eligibility to Enter} 

^{The competition is open to entrants that are teachers or parents to those between the ages of 8 to 14 years of age. Community Fibre Limited employees and associates are excluded from the draw.} 

^{By entering the competition, you confirm that you are eligible to do so and that you are eligible to receive any prizes that may be awarded to you.} 

^{Children aged 11 to 14 can apply direct for entrance to the draw. Parents and or teachers can nominate children aged 8 to 10 for the draw. Only one application per child is permitted. If multiple applications are made for the same child, only one entrant will be submitted into the draw.}  

^{Entrants must be based in London to be eligible for competition entry.} 

^{The Prize} 

^{The winning prize will be Entry to a free coding session by The Code Zone. This includes:} 

^{Hacker sessions (beginner - recommended for 8-10-year-olds): Working with a mentor, kids will use Scratch to "Hack" and make games their own, e.g., Space Invaders and Pacman; OR} 

^{Modder sessions (intermediate - recommended for 11-14-year-olds): This session will see children and teenagers undertaking a fun challenge by modding pre-built games & getting to grips with the basics, so they can work their way to being pro-coders}  

^{Each recipient will also be able to access The Code Zone’s back catalogue, comprising hundreds of coding challenges and games for the duration of the six-week holidays.}  

^{The use of specific brands as prizes by The Code Zone does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement of such brands.} 

^{The prize is non-transferable and non-exchangeable, and no cash alternatives will be provided.} 

^{We reserve the right to substitute prizes of equal or greater value if circumstances beyond our control require doing so.} 

^{Community Fibre Limited's decision on any aspect of the competition is final and binding, and no correspondence will be entered into about it.} 

^{Competition Winner}  

^{The competition will open on Wednesday, 26th July 2023 at 00.01AM BST and will close on Thursday, 3rd August 2023 at 23.59pm BST.} 

^{100 entrants will be selected at random on Friday, 4th August and will be contacted same day (Friday, 4th August 2023) via the email address provided by Friday 4th August 23.59 BST. Community Fibre will make two attempts to contact the winner via email.}  

^{If the winner does not respond to the emails informing them of their win within 5 days of the second email (Wednesday 9th August, 23.59 BST), they forfeit their right to the prize, and Community Fibre Limited reserves the right to select and notify a new winner.} 

^{Delivery of the Prize} 

^{Once the winner has acknowledged notice of the prize win, the winner will then receive the prize within 14 days.  
 
The winner will receive the prize to their email address, which will be delivered by [email protected].} 

^{Data Protection and Publicity} 

^{You agree that any personal information that you provide when entering the competition will be used by Community Fibre Limited for the purposes of administering the competition and for the other purposes as specified in our Privacy Policy.} 

^{All entrants may request information on the winning participant by emailing [email protected].} 

^{If requested by Community Fibre Limited, the winner agrees to release their first name to any other competition participants.} 

^{The winner's first name and country of residence will be announced on Community Fibre Limited's website and social media channels.} 

^{Limitation of Liability} 

^{Community Fibre Limited accepts no liability for any damage, loss, injury, or disappointment suffered by any entrants as a result of participating in the competition or being selected for a prize.} 

^General 

^{Community Fibre Limited reserves the right, at any time and without prior notice, to cancel the competition or amend these terms and conditions.}