Coding classes for kids in Yverdon-les-Bains and northern Vaud

Yverdon-les-Bains has a feature many parents overlook: it is a town of engineers. HEIG-VD, the canton's school of engineering, trains hundreds of engineers every year, many of them in computing, and Y-Parc, Switzerland's first technology park, has hosted tech companies since the 1980s. Yet when it comes to introducing an 8 or 11-year-old to coding, the local offer is thin, and families in Grandson, Orbe or Sainte-Croix often end up looking towards Lausanne.

What exists for a child in northern Vaud

There are three main options: one-off workshops (libraries, associations, themed weeks), holiday camps, and regular online classes. Workshops are a good first taste but rarely lead to a year-long progression. Camps give real momentum over a week. Online classes make it possible to build something over time without adding a journey.

The real issue: regularity

Learning to program is like learning an instrument: one hour a week for a year is worth far more than an intensive week followed by nothing. This is where distance matters in northern Vaud: a workshop in Lausanne means close to an hour on the road, on a Wednesday afternoon that is already full. Many activities stop for that reason alone.

The Coding Lab: coding every week, from home

For that regularity we built the Coding Lab: an online space where your child progresses alone, at their own pace, with Neo, our little robot who reads the instructions aloud. From age 7, they start with Smart Blocks, blocks to snap together to guide Neo through a village; around 10, they move on to real Python, then to the workshops: drawing with the turtle, programming a virtual robot, making a game, a website, understanding artificial intelligence. Every step is checked automatically, and you follow their progress in a dashboard, with a summary every Monday if you wish.

Nothing to install: a computer or a tablet is enough. The Lab costs CHF 49 per month (12-month commitment) or CHF 490 per year, and it is included for children who take our Solo or Duo classes. You can try a mission without an account right on the page.

And with a teacher?

If your child needs an adult to guide them, our online Solo classes (from CHF 249/month) or Duo classes (from CHF 169/month per child) give them one session a week with a teacher, at a time you choose between 9 am and 7 pm. The 30-minute trial class is free. Between sessions, the Coding Lab is their practice space.

During the Vaud school holidays

Autumn and spring holidays last two weeks in the canton of Vaud: a good window for an online coding camp, which makes children want to carry on with the Lab afterwards. Many families start this way, then keep a short session each week.

Frequently asked questions in Yverdon

Do we need to live in Yverdon to enrol? No. Everything happens online: Yverdon, Grandson, Orbe, Sainte-Croix or Yvonand, it makes no difference.

My child has never coded: where should they start? With Smart Blocks in the Coding Lab if they are 7 to 10, or with the bridge to Python if they already know Scratch.

Is it useful for school? Yes: the curriculum of French-speaking Switzerland (PER) now includes digital education, with algorithms and programming. The Lab's Maths & code path also revises fractions, percentages or Pythagoras through programming.