Volunteer Micro:bit Instructor

What will you be doing?

Ignite Hubs is an education charity for children and young people aged 7 to 18 years old. Our mission is to ignite the potential of young minds by widening their horizons and providing them with the skills, connections and experiences to access career-related learning opportunities and prepare them for the future workforce. We currently teach coding and STEM. We aim to provide the best learning environment for children and young people from all backgrounds and abilities. We place a special emphasis on engaging underrepresented groups, including girls, children with special educational needs, and those from disadvantaged backgrounds. By doing so, we actively work towards narrowing the representation gap in the technology and STEM sectors. We teach over 130 students each week and have positively impacted more than 1,00 children and young people since we started. Our educational offerings include four weekly virtual classes and four weekly in-person classes during term time at various libraries throughout Southwark, SE London. We plan to open at a fifth library in Southwark in April 2024. Our long-term ambition is to offer nationwide classes, workshops and events to children and young people on a wide variety of subjects under our five educational Hubs: Code, STEM, Innovation & Enterprise, Creativity and Health & Wellbeing. We hope you will join our mission to create innovative and engaging Hubs and help us roll them out across the country.

What are we looking for?

Our onsite classes are great opportunities to introduce children and young people hardware and hands-on project. The average age is 11 to 12 years old. Students work on their own project with guidance and support from a team of instructors who walk around the room. At the end of each class, there is ‘Show and Tell’, allowing students to present their project. As a volunteer Micro:bit Instructor, you play a key role in introducing and developing their coding skills through Micro:bit. We deliver onsite classes from Monday to Thursday from 6:15pm to 7:15pm and Saturday from 11am to 12pm teaching HTML/CSS, Scratch and Python. You are expected to arrive 15mins before the start of class to help with set-up and stay on for 15-20mins for debrief and pack-up. All classes run during term time only. Each term comprises 8 weeks, and there is at least a 2-week break (longer for the Easter and Summer holidays) after the fourth week. There are three terms in a year: Spring, Summer and Autumn. The location of our onsite classes is below.  Monday – Canada Water LibraryTuesday – Walworth LibraryWednesday – Peckham LibraryThursday – Camberwell LibrarySaturday – Una Marson Library We run in a flexible way and have a termly schedule where you can choose the days and preferred location(s) to align with your availability and commitment. You can stick to one library or mix them up, it is entirely up to you. You will be reimbursed for reasonable travelling costs to get to library locations. Key Responsibilities ·       Teach and support Micro:bit projects ·       Collaborate with the Ignite Hubs team to develop supporting materials and projects. ·       Participate in occasional training sessions and team meetings. What we are looking for ·       Passionate about education and technology and helping children and young people learn new skills. ·       Proficient with Micro:bit. ·       Good communication skills and a friendly demeanour. ·       No formal teaching experience is required, but a background in education, STEM, or related fields is beneficial. ·       Able to commit to supporting at least one term.

What difference will you make?

Enable children and young people from all backgrounds to grow, develop and progress in life. We particularly target:

Girls Children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Children and young people from disadvantaged or vulnerable backgrounds.