Builders · ages 12–14 · Grades 7–9
Build with real tools.
Builders is where twelve-to-fourteen-year-olds move from blocks to real code. They learn Python properly, build their first AI-powered application on a safe, supervised platform, publish a portfolio site, and learn to judge what an AI tells them, including code it writes.
- Ages
- 12–14 · Grades 7–9
- Session
- 120 minutes, once a week
- Group
- 8 to 10 children, two adults in every room
- Balance
- About 55% coding, 45% AI
- Term
- Ten weeks is one level. Three levels in the band.
Builders
What your child will learn
- Python from the ground up: variables, decisions, loops, lists, functions and dictionaries.
- How language models actually work: tokens, prediction, training data, and why they make things up.
- How to design a system prompt, add guardrails and test an AI app for bias and failure.
- Web basics (HTML and CSS) and how to publish an app and a portfolio.
- Digital citizenship at this age: privacy and data, academic integrity, chatbots designed to feel human, deepfakes and consent.
- Level 2, data analysis and training their own models. Level 3, a team project shipped to real users.
What they will make
- A text adventure and a quiz app in Python.
- A chatbot with a personality and guardrails, running on the Aivy sandbox, then wrapped in a web app.
- A published portfolio site.
- Level 2, a data app around a model they trained. Level 3, a team-built, deployed app with a case study.
aivy.ask(prompt, rules)A chatbot with rules it keeps
How it runs
- Two-hour sessions, once a week, in a 10-week term. One level per term, three levels.
- Groups of 8–10 with two adults. Students bring their own laptop; we can lend one.
- Ends with Launch Night: live app demos for parents and a Code Sense Check that unlocks AI-assisted coding.
Who it is for: Level 1 assumes no text-based coding. Scratch experience helps but is not required. Confident 11-year-olds who can read and modify a short Python program may join with instructor approval.
Levels are terms
The three levels
One level is one 10-week term. Children move up by readiness, not just by birthday.
Level 1
Python + Your First AI App
Python foundations through games, then a chatbot with a personality and guardrails, wrapped in a web app, plus a published portfolio.
They make: A hosted AI app, a portfolio site, and the Code Sense Check that unlocks AI-assisted coding.
Level 2
Data & Models
Collect data, analyse it, train a classifier and wrap it in an app, plus an 'ask a document' mini app and a deepfakes and consent unit.
They make: A data app around a model the student trained, with a model card written for parents.
Level 3
Ship It
A six-week team project with version control, sprints and usability testing, deployed to real users.
They make: A deployed app with a written case study.
Safe by design
Safety and AI use
- All AI access runs through Aivy's own sandbox: pseudonymous logins, written parental consent, content filtering, full logging and a visible 'you are talking to an AI' notice.
- No public AI accounts are created, and AI is never presented as a companion.
- AI coding assistants are unlocked only after a student passes a hand-coded check, so the AI helps a programmer rather than replacing one.
What comes home
- 01
A weekly 60-second clip and question, milestone rubrics, and a term transcript listing the skills demonstrated.
- 02
Links to the student's portfolio site and hosted app.
- 03
The term badge and the AI-assist unlock certificate when earned.
Every term
Ends with Launch Night
Live app demos for parents, and the Code Sense Check that unlocks AI-assisted coding.
Holiday camps
Holiday camp
Build-an-App Week
Python on Monday and Tuesday, an AI chatbot with a personality and guardrails on Wednesday and Thursday, and a launch for parents on Friday.
Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 14:00 · Dates coming soon
Questions about Builders
What does my child need to bring?
Explorers and Makers use the academy’s own tablets and laptops, so nothing. Builders and Studio students bring their own laptop; we can lend one.
Does my child need a laptop?
Students bring their own laptop; we can lend one.
Join the founding families
We are opening our first cohorts in Dubai. Join the waitlist and we will message you first about free Open Build sessions and term dates.
Dates coming soon · Dubai, UAE