During their lunch break, tech leaders, social innovators, government officials, and future thinkers at the Digital
Nations 2030 conference will get schooled. Twenty kids from Code Club Aotearoa will take delegates through a lesson in
Scratch, a programming language designed especially for 8 to 16 year olds, but used by people of all ages.
Digital Nations 2030 is the annual conference of the Digital 5, or D5, a network of the world’s most advanced digital
nations, including New Zealand. The D5 have a shared goal of strengthening the digital economy, and the conference aims
to figure out the actions needed to create a truly digital nation by 2030.
“Code Club and the D5 share the same mission – preparing kids for the future, using open source technology, and working
together,” says Michael Trengrove, co-founder of Code Club Aotearoa which is a charitable trust. “We want to give New
Zealand kids the skills, confidence and opportunity to shape their world, and for that opportunity to be open to
everyone,” he says.
As part of an international network of free, volunteer-led clubs, Code Club Aotearoa is open to everyone. The mission is
to give every kid the opportunity to learn to code. To do this, Code Club Aotearoa provides resources and support to
their network of free coding clubs, volunteers, teachers and parents. The clubs use fun, discovery and play to create
learning.
“It’s not only about supporting the next generation of tech entrepreneurs,” says Trengrove. “All kids need coding skills
to become digital citizens. That’s why we’ve seen digital technologies introduced into the New Zealand school
curriculum, in year one. It’s an urgent matter. We want New Zealand kids to do more than imagine the future – we want
them to be able to build it.”