The Academy of Code

What The Academy of Code is

The Academy of Code runs live online coding classes for children and teenagers, taught over Zoom in small groups. Its home page invites parents to "Secure your spot in one of Ireland's favourite coding classes for kids and teens," and describes the format as "Small groups, live, online classes for beginners and advanced students." The company behind it is Olus Academy Ltd, with a Dublin address in the site footer.

What sets it apart is the structure. Every student follows what the Academy calls its "exclusive Pathway to Computer Science Programme, working through our Grade 1-10 system," a 10-stage curriculum that runs from basic computer skills for seven-year-olds to programming that the company describes as "college-level difficulty." The current term on offer is Autumn & Spring 2026/27, and the menu also lists a Pathway Extension Class, private classes, gift vouchers, in-school classes and school partners.

How classes work

The home page lists the essentials: "Live interaction with peers in a friendly atmosphere," "Small class sizes with live tutors (approx. 6 per class)," "Classes suitable for all levels of coding ability," and "University-level coding courses for advanced students." Equipment is simple: "All you need is a Windows PC or Apple Mac and a broadband internet connection. We'll take care of the rest!" Classes and online camps are delivered through Zoom, so a student can "Learn to code from home (or anywhere!)."

Students do not all start at Grade 1. The course content page explains that each student starts "at a level relative to their existing coding abilities." In practice, "our youngest students (7-11 years) will start somewhere between Grade 1-3, and our older senior students (11+) will start between Grade 4-7." The company adds that "each grade corresponds to approximately one year of work," which gives a family a sense of the pace: the full pathway is a multi-year program, not a short course.

To help families get set up, the site carries how-to guides for downloading Processing (including on a Chromebook), preparing for class, and using Scratch, Replit, Trinket, Minecraft Education Edition, Zoom, Twine and Godot, plus handouts and other coding resources.

The 10-grade pathway

The course content page groups the grades in four bands.

• Grade 1, Pre-coding, for ages 7 to 8 (1st and 2nd class). It "combines introductory computer skills with a fun and engaging curriculum of coding, computer hardware, internet safety and more."
• Grades 2 to 3, Intro to coding and technology, for ages 9 to 11 (3rd and 4th class). It "Includes a variety of block based and text based languages," with activities on "counting/encoding in binary, how computer networks are organised, how search engines work."
• Grades 4 to 7, Intro to java programming through Processing, for ages 11+ (5th class and up), described as "our flagship 'intro to programming' course."
• Grades 8 to 10, Advanced programming, for students who have completed the earlier modules. These are "college-level difficulty," and "Capstone projects are required to complete these grades," with the Grade 10 final project "requiring a high degree of originality and technical skill, along with a presentation of the project and a verbal defence."

The home page describes the same range by age. Younger students aged 9 to 11 "will work primarily with Scratch," junior students aged 11 to 13 "will dive straight into Java programming through a framework called 'Processing'," and the coding for teens classes, for ages 13 to 18, continue with Processing, whether the student is a total beginner, a returning student, or "a student looking to do a third-level computer science course."

Why Processing

From 5th class upward the core language is Processing, which the Academy describes as "a java-based programming language originally created in the MIT Media Lab." It "uses standard Java syntax," so students work with real Java structure from their first Processing class. The wider course also uses HTML/CSS and Python, and the home page lists "Processing (Java), Python, HTML, CSS, Javascript, Scratch and others."

What students build

The course content page gives unusually concrete detail on the projects.

Grade 4 is the entry point for ages 11+. It covers functions ("how to use many of the basic Processing functions"), user input with mouse and keyboard, conditions with "if" statements, and variables. "Completion of each topic involves writing one or more programs," and students "build on each lesson in turn, gradually combining them into more complex and interesting programmes." Grade 4 also includes a broader unit that "could include web development, music technology, electronics/circuit design, or other technology-related subjects."

In Grades 5 to 7, projects grow to span several classes. Early ones include a dice rolling app, a quotes loader that reads a text file into arrays, a music player using external libraries, a Caesar Cipher that introduces basic cryptography, and an Online Movie Finder that queries an online movie database as an "Introduction to APIs." Classes and objects then arrive, "some of the most important concepts in java." A Target Shooting game adds timing, a Car Racer gives "A gentle introduction to classes" and to storing objects in ArrayLists (with "a part solution to help them on their way"), and an Alien Invaders game, inspired by Space Invaders, requires students to "write their own classes from scratch" while revising collision detection, user input and complex movement patterns.

From Grade 7 onward the work is "advanced programming topics and lots of student driven project work." The site says "Grades 9 and 10 in particular are at a third-level standard," and that students who complete Grade 10 "have demonstrated an extremely strong grasp of coding skills and an aptitude for critical thinking, problem solving and software development." Throughout, "our instructors encourage development of good coding practices and build students' knowledge of software development and game design."

Price and booking

The home page and the course content page show no fees. Booking runs through the Autumn & Spring 2026/27 course page and the class calendar, and the footer has an invoice payment link. Families who want to hear about new terms and camps can join a newsletter.

Who it suits

The Academy of Code suits a child or teenager who will stay with coding for several years and wants a teacher and classmates rather than a self-paced app. The pathway gives a clear answer to "what next" at every age, from pre-coding at 7 through Scratch to real Java syntax at 11, and on to capstone projects that the company sets at college level. The small groups of about six keep a tutor close to each student. It also suits a teenager thinking about studying computer science after school, given the third-level standard of the final grades.

The trade-offs are the fixed timetable of live Zoom classes, which a family has to fit around school and activities, and the commitment the pathway asks for: at roughly a year per grade, the later grades reward students who stay for several years.