I'm so glad you asked! There are many other online coding teachers out there who are excellent and we LOVE that our fellow-teachers have their own approach and take on teaching code!

Here are some of the reasons that make what we do, unique:

🔥 Griffpatch - Get mentored and guided by the best known Scratch teacher out there – Griffpatch, The tutor everyone wants!

🔥 Apprenticeship Learning - Some programs teach children how to block code through hacking already pre-created Scratch game. Instead, we teach children how to build a game from scratch, in Scratch! Using this apprentice-style, hands-on approach, we take students through important coding principles along the way where they can explore principles in game development and how to turn their creative ideas into reality!

🔥 Targeted - We only teach block coding on the Scratch platform in our Academy, and we go deep into this. That’s because the block coding language is instantly approachable, able to be quickly learnt, and yet is a true computing language, very capable for creating powerful & fun games. So although we won't be teaching Python or JavaScript, the core principles are the same & are fully transferable. Our Academy provides a robust foundation, strong enough to inspire a younger generation of coders to persevere with mastery, help them imagine, problem solve and create no matter what life later throws at them.

🔥 Learn Together - Although it's possible for students to learn at their own pace, we're trying to create a learning experience where students are led through the game creation process step by step, together. We believe that a rising tide elevates all ships, and for some students, taking action is easier when you know everybody else is doing the same.

Yes and No! Once we are ready to begin our Course Walkthrough where we go week by week, building out a game genre in Scratch together, doors to the Academy will close. Once we have completed our Course Walkthrough doors will re-open ready for the next course. If you are on this page, it means we are currently in the process of going through our Course together and if you'd like to join in at the next opportunity, sign up to our Waiting List where you'll be one of the first to know when doors re-open.

Doors are open for a limited time, only 4 times in the year.

Yes! The next time doors open to the Academy will be later in the year. Date to be announced! It is important to note that doors to joining the Academy will only be open at certain times in the year. This is because we are going to go through our Academy Course Experience together in a structured way and we won't be taking in new students mid-course.

At present we only have the facility to offer one membership per user. To enrol multiple children you will need to go through the same sign up process per each child again, but use a different login email address. If you are using the same web browser for each, then you need to first log out of the academy hub (top right button), and then from the login screen, click on the option to sign up.

Later in the year we are hoping to launch an option for teachers who support a student class.

Our Academy is going to comprise of two core components - a course experience plus a membership experience.

As a member you will gain immediate access to our Academy platform and will be able to join Griffpatch in all our course walkthroughs for the duration of your membership. Our course experience will go through our carefully crafted "From gamer to games creator" course curriculum which will include learning how to build a wide variety of game genres from platformers, to space shooters, to 3D games!

As we go through course content, week by week, there'll be the opportunity to share questions and stuck points, Griffpatch will then tackle as many of these as possible in Q&A videos and when creating new learning content as need.

Included in this Academy will be never seen before content, and between courses there'll be the chance to show off your coding skills with the competitions that we run.

As soon as your sign up as a Founding Member and enrol, you will have access to the brand new, & exclusive "Griffpatch Academy" web platform.

With a personal welcome video from Griffpatch and an Introductory Module (coming very soon) to get you up and running, You'll also be able to access a curated library of Griffpatch's best tutorials without needing to be on YouTube! Able to begin exploring all that we already have available, knowing that this library will be improved and expanded with new content as we go.

Also, we are hoping you'll have the chance to meet Griffbot, our teaching assistant chat bot, who will be there to help you find solutions as Griffpatch works on new videos.

We are intending for this to be a completely different experience from watching Griffpatch on YouTube. Here's why:

🔥 Access will be within a safe walled garden with no need for young kids to access their Parents YouTube account or with the worry of what they'll watch or who they'll meet.

🔥 Because we are off YouTube, there will be no ad breaks or distractions, and content will be accessible to those where YouTube is restricted

🔥 A carefully crafted curriculum and structured course walkthrough so students of all abilities can make progress and create in some of the best loved game genres of our day!

🔥 Q&A tutorial videos with Griffpatch giving feedback, answering popular questions and helping debug projects where possible - in never seen before videos/trainings. Please note that we don't plan on hosting LIVE sessions as we want to ensure we keep our younger members safe and respect all the different time zones we are serving.

🔥 Access to additional content that won't be available anywhere else! From extra episodes on much loved series, expert modules, latest bug fixes and updates, plus creative insights in how students can make the project their own and take things to the next level.

🔥 Helpful resources such as PDFs, scripts, Workbooks, downloadable Game Graphics etc. We hope this might help teachers and home-schooling parents, as well as provide supplementary material that our coders can refer to when they are away from the screen.

Got some ideas we've not listed? We can't wait to hear what our Founding Members need most!

Griffpatch will still be releasing videos on YouTube from time to time (there's no way he's giving up on all his YouTube fans!), but the academy opens up the opportunity to take those who are truly passionate that much further & deeper, while offering a lot more focussed support.

This Academy is online! This mean that you'll be able to access lessons and material 24-7, no matter what your time zone or schedule is like.

To access content you'll have your very own login to our Griffpatch Academy Platform where you'll find all your resources and video tutorials neatly laid out.

Yes! You will be able to stop your membership whenever you like, for any reason, no questions asked.

Should you want to re-enrol again later, that would be no problem either! Just please note that re-enrolling would require you to join through our latest Academy offer and price-point, as managing who joined when and with what would be extremely difficult for our very small Griffpatch admin team.

No, we do not. But you can stop your Membership at any time.

"Scratch" is a visual programming language and online community developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab. It allows users, primarily children and beginners, to create interactive stories, games, and animations by dragging and dropping code blocks. The language is designed to be intuitive and accessible, using colourful blocks that represent different programming constructs like loops, conditionals, and variables.

Scratch provides a gentle introduction to programming concepts without requiring users to learn complex syntax, making it popular for educational purposes.

Block-coding, as seen in Scratch, refers to the programming paradigm where users manipulate visual blocks representing code instead of typing textual instructions. Each block corresponds to a specific command or operation, and users connect them together to create sequences of actions.

This approach abstracts away the complexities of traditional text-based programming languages, making it easier for beginners to understand and create programs while providing a solid foundation for later progressing onto more complex coding forms. Block-coding environments like Scratch are often used in educational settings to teach computational thinking and programming concepts in a fun and interactive way.

This is something we hope we will grow into! But at first, our intention is to launch with block coding within Scratch. If you are worrying about whether Scratch coding is a good foundation for learning other languages, then fear not - It's amazing! And Scratch truly is a full programming language that we can use to learn about real life coding challenges.

However, once we've been able to build out the Scratch course experiences we've got planned, we'd love the chance to create BRAND NEW content and teach on other languages, so watch this space!

This is something we hope to do in time... but to begin with, everything we do will be taught in English.

This Academy is for anybody who wants to learn how to build their own computer games in Scratch, or anyone who wants to understand the basics of how to code a game. We specialise in teaching young children with an apprentice-style methodology where you learn by doing.

Because we love to make things easy and fun, we find kids of all ages like to join in - whether you are only 7 years old, or approaching 99 - if you would like to learn how to code, this is for you!

However, we do require children under 16 years old to ask their caring grown-up to register on their behalf since keeping everybody safe online is extremely important to us.

We're also designing this Academy to suit a range of experiences - from those taking their first steps with Scratch to those who are already very experienced and want to develop their expertise.

Our intention is to build this Academy to support beginners as well as more advanced Scratchers! As such, our course will begin with a walk-through of our revamped foundational series, and as we progress, more advanced content will be added... This will be a process. In the meantime, advanced Scratchers will be presented with more interesting ideas to explore inline with the main theme, and offered the chance to submit more advanced questions on our walkthrough topics from which Griffpatch will create regular supplementary Q&A videos. Plus everyone can show off their skills as we launch the walkthrough competitions.

We know Griffpatch fans are bursting for brand new, deeper-dive, tutorials and we'd ask for your favour, grace and patience as we build.

We'll be opening doors again later in the year, so there's the chance to enrol later once we've had the chance to build more. However, our Founding Members prices won't be available again...

We are planning to release a brand new series most likely on creating a puzzle game later in the year - but we can't wait to ask our Founding Members WHAT they'd like!

This Academy is not for those who want 1-2-1 mentorship outside of a group setting, or LIVE calls.

Sadly, Griffpatch is only one person who also works a day job, so it's just not possible for him to hop on 1-2-1 calls with individuals.

However, through the Academy, students will be able to access 1-2-1 feedback in a group setting, where they can ask Griffpatch questions and where Griffpatch can highlight the work of certain individuals as needed, for the benefit of all.

This Academy is not for those who want ALL the content to be brand new. Some coding principles are foundational and do not change, and when it makes sense, Griffpatch will leverage some of his past teachings so that no steps are missed out. Alongside old favourites, Griffpatch will be extending content so that coders can go deeper or get unstuck faster.

The aim is to support those who are taking their first steps into block coding on Scratch as well as challenge those who are more advanced to reach mastery as experts.