Ireland · Junior Cycle · Coding short course

Junior Cycle Coding short course help

The Coding short course is one of the few places in the Junior Cycle where a student builds real software, and it ends in a single piece of assessed work that the school, not the State, judges. Parents often hear about it for the first time when that work is due, and then the questions arrive together: what exactly has to be handed in, who marks it, what the words on the report mean, and what help is fair. This page answers those questions from the NCCA's own documents, the June 2025 specification and assessment guidelines, together with the Framework for Junior Cycle. It then explains what live lessons can do for a student taking the course: build the programming, web and AI skills behind it, on different examples, so the student arrives at the assessment able to do the work themselves. We never write, edit or check a student's assessed work, and the guidelines explain why that line matters.

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In short

The Junior Cycle Coding short course has one Classroom-Based Assessment, called Putting the Pieces Together. Students choose a Software Project, built in a team of two or three but assessed on each student's own role, or an individual Coding Portfolio of 3 to 5 pieces with reflections. It takes place in second or third year, after all three strands, over about six to eight hours, and the school awards one of four descriptors, which appears on the Junior Cycle Profile of Achievement. Modern Age Coders teaches the skills behind the course live online, on separate examples, in groups of five to ten or one to one. We never touch assessed work. The first class is free; later a group place is USD 100 a month, and one-to-one USD 150.

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Three courses that match the short course's ground

Programming, the web and AI are the three things the course asks students to handle. One card for each, each opening its syllabus.

Python for Teens course thumbnail

JC / 01

Python for Teens

Typed programming practised until loops, functions and debugging feel ordinary, the base for either assessment option.

Open the syllabus →
HTML & CSS for Beginners course thumbnail

JC / 02

HTML and CSS for Beginners

Real web pages from the first tag, matching the course outcome that asks students to build a small website.

Open the syllabus →
AI Literacy for Kids (Ages 8 to 14) course thumbnail

JC / 03

AI Literacy for Kids

What AI models are, where they are used in coding, and their limits and risks, for learners up to fourteen.

Open the syllabus →

The assessment

The Classroom-Based Assessment: Putting the Pieces Together

The 2025 guidelines give the short course one Classroom-Based Assessment, and students choose between two ways of completing it.

The two options, from the NCCA assessment guidelines (June 2025)
Software ProjectCoding Portfolio
Who does itA team of two or three, each student assessed on their own role and contributionThe student alone; group work may be included if the student's part is clearly marked
What is producedOne piece of software of the team's choice, researched, designed, implemented, tested, documented and presented to peersBetween 3 and 5 pieces of work from the three strands, each with a reason for choosing it and a short reflection, plus an overall reflection
AspectsFive: research and planning; design, implementation and testing; documentation of work and code; presentation; assessment of feedbackFour: choosing the pieces; curating them; explaining and reflecting on each; an overall reflection
FormSoftware, its documentation and a presentationDigital, physical or a mix of both

When it happens

Students prepare for it over a suggested period in second or third year. The guidelines are firm that assessments for the Junior Cycle Profile of Achievement cannot be conducted in first year, and that work completed in year one cannot be included.

The assessment begins only after the work in the three strands is complete, and either option is expected to take approximately 6 - 8 hours.

Questions the portfolio asks

Students writing portfolio notes are given guiding questions, among them: "Why is the piece of work a good example of my learning and skills?" and "If there is a mistake in the work can I explain how I learned from it for a later piece of work".

Those questions reward a student who understands their own code. A portfolio built from work the student cannot explain has nothing honest to reflect on.

Sources, read 16 September 2026: NCCA, Junior Cycle Coding: Guidelines for the Classroom-Based Assessment (June 2025); NCCA, Short Course Coding specification (June 2025); Framework for Junior Cycle 2015. Schools may adapt the short course and its assessment, so always check the school's own version.

How it is judged

Four descriptors, a best-fit judgement, and a line on the JCPA

There are no marks or percentages. The teacher chooses the descriptor that best fits the work, measured against published Features of Quality.

The four descriptors, in the guidelines' words
DescriptorWhat it describes
ExceptionalWork that reflects the Features of Quality to a very high standard; while not necessarily perfect, its strengths far outstrip its flaws, which are minor
Above expectationsWork that reflects the Features of Quality very well
In line with expectationsWork that reflects most of the Features of Quality well, shows a good understanding of the task and is free from significant error
Yet to meet expectationsWork that falls someway short of the demands of the assessment and its Features of Quality

The guidelines describe a "best fit" approach: the teacher selects the descriptor that on balance describes the work. They also say results should not be assumed to follow any distribution, because each student is judged against the Features of Quality, not against classmates.

Descriptors are discussed at a subject review meeting in the school before students are told, and any query is dealt with by the school. Short courses are assessed by teachers and reported by the school; there is no State examination for them.

The result is reported to parents and appears on the Junior Cycle Profile of Achievement, which students receive in the autumn after third year. The Framework allows a maximum of four short courses on the profile where a student sits eight examination subjects, and two where they sit nine.

A short course is also a lighter commitment than a subject: the Framework asks for its time over three years, against a minimum of 200 hours for most subjects and 240 for English, Irish and Mathematics.

AI in the course

What the 2025 specification asks students to learn about AI

The revised specification gives artificial intelligence its own topic in the second strand, and brings it into the first strand's look at computers in society.

AI and related outcomes in the June 2025 specification
OutcomeWordingAssessed in
2.8identify different AI models and how they can be applied in codingThe Coding Portfolio option
2.9discuss the use of AI models when applied in coding, their potential advantages and limitations and any ethical and safety issues which may ariseThe Software Project option
2.5create a small website using HTML and CSS to showcase their learningTaught in the strands

The first strand, taken before the others, includes a topic on the importance of computers in society, "including the ethical uses of computers, software, and Artificial Intelligence (AI)".

The specification leaves room for choice: students may use a programming language of their choice in the third strand, and free and open-source software should be used where practical, so students can examine the source code of their tools.

Discussing AI's advantages, limitations and risks, as outcome 2.9 asks, is far easier for a student who has used AI tools with guidance and seen them get things wrong. Our lessons give students that experience on practice projects.

For how AI tools and a student's own work fit together under Irish guidance, see understanding the code instead of copy-pasting.

Fair help

What help is fair, and what we do

The guidelines draw the line clearly. We teach on the right side of it.

The rule

The guidelines state that "Work which cannot be authenticated by the teacher cannot be accepted" for the profile, and that only work which is the student's own can be accepted.

What we teach

The programming, web and AI skills the strands cover, on practice projects that are not the assessed work, so the student can do the real thing alone.

What we never do

Write, edit, debug or review any part of a student's Software Project or Coding Portfolio, or draft their reflections. During the assessment weeks our lessons move to different examples.

After the short course, the specification itself points to what comes next: coding and computer science through Transition Year modules or, where the school offers it, Leaving Certificate Computer Science. Our pages on the Transition Year coding course and on Leaving Cert Computer Science grinds take up both paths.

The ladder

Five rungs across the three Junior Cycle years

The rungs follow the course's own order: the introductory strand first, then programming and the web, then the kind of work the assessment asks for.

Building towards the Classroom-Based Assessment
UsuallyRungThe student can
First Year1. Computers in societyExplain how computers, software and AI shape everyday life, and their ethical questions
First Year2. First programsWrite and fix small programs with loops, choices and variables
Second Year3. The webBuild a small website in HTML and CSS
Second Year4. Bigger projectsPlan, build, test and document a program of their own on a practice project
Second or Third Year5. Reflect and presentExplain their own work, what went wrong and what they learned

Why practice projects matter

A student who has already planned, built and presented two or three practice projects meets the real assessment knowing the shape of the task. The assessed work then stays entirely their own.

The full order of subjects is on the coding roadmap.

Around the school's timetable

Schools choose when the course runs and may adapt it. We ask what the school is covering and fit practice around it, pausing during the assessment weeks.

Students not taking the short course can follow the same rungs; see the best online coding classes in Ireland.

The catalogue

Nine live courses for the Junior Cycle years

Grouped by the course's three kinds of work. The free first class decides where a student starts.

I

Programming

From blocks to typed code

JC / CODE / 01

Scratch Coding for Kids

Blocks for students not yet ready for typed code.

Open the syllabus

JC / CODE / 02

Python for Teens

Typed programming, learned for depth.

Open the syllabus

JC / CODE / 03

Problem Solving for Teens

Breaking problems down and testing solutions.

Open the syllabus
II

The web

Pages, then interactive sites

JC / WEB / 01

HTML and CSS for Beginners

Real responsive pages from the first tag.

Open the syllabus

JC / WEB / 02

JavaScript for Teens

Interactive pages and small browser games.

Open the syllabus

JC / WEB / 03

Git and GitHub for Teens

A record of the student's own work over time.

Open the syllabus
III

AI

Understanding it before relying on it

JC / AI / 01

AI Literacy for Kids

How AI works and where it fails, up to age fourteen.

Open the syllabus

JC / AI / 02

AI Tools for Teens

AI tools used well and safely, from thirteen.

Open the syllabus

JC / AI / 03

AI and Machine Learning for Teens

Models built and tested by the student.

Open the syllabus

How lessons run

Lessons that fit beside the school course

Lessons are live and taught from India, at a regular hour set in Irish time; Irish time is five and a half hours behind India time in winter and four and a half in summer. Junior Cycle students usually take one or two lessons a week after school.

After school

A weekday late afternoon, Irish time.

Weekend

Saturday or Sunday, for longer practice projects.

Assessment weeks

Lessons switch to unrelated examples while the CBA is under way.

A first class, free

A short task in code, so the teacher can see where the student stands and suggest a starting point.

Small groups

Five to ten students at the same level, many of them taking school computing courses of their own.

One to one

For a student who wants the teacher's full attention, or who is far ahead of their class.

Practice, not the real thing

Every project in our lessons is separate from school assessed work, by design.

Irish terms kept

Strands, CBA, descriptors and JCPA are used as Irish schools use them; lessons are in English.

A visible record

Practice work stays in the student's own folder, a record of how their skills grew.

Student work

Projects built by our students outside school

Four live projects by our students. More on the student labs page.

NutriLife AI nutrition coach project screenshot

AI and ML

NutriLife

An AI nutrition coach that reads what you eat and works you toward a target.

by Bhavya · Open it

Misti AI chatbot for maths and coding screenshot

AI and ML

Misti

A chatbot that answers mathematics and programming questions, built and deployed by a student.

by Harshit · Open it

GuardianX AI internet safety assistant screenshot

AI and ML

GuardianX

An assistant that helps a young person recognise unsafe situations online.

by Vivaan · Open it

SkyCast weather forecast application screenshot

Web app

SkyCast

A weather forecasting site with live conditions for any location.

by Krish

Fees

Fees

A single monthly price in US dollars for families anywhere outside India. Joining costs nothing extra, and there is no contract for the school year.

Free first class

USD 0

no card required

  • A short coding task with a teacher
  • A suggested starting point
  • No payment details
Book it

Group batch

USD 100

a month, billed in US dollars

  • Five to ten students at one level
  • One teacher all term
  • Practice work reviewed each week
  • A certificate at the end
Start here

One to one

USD 150

a month, billed in US dollars

  • A teacher for one student
  • Fitted around the school course
  • Paused for assessment weeks
Enquire

What families say

Rated 4.9 across 547 Google reviews

Reproduced from Google without changes. No review here was written or paid for by us.

★★★★★

"The one step solution for my son. Modern Age Coders make learning coding so simple that kids love it. The teachers explain complex concepts clearly with practical exercises and interactive content."

Ria Mukherjee

Parent

★★★★★

"Modern Age Coders has been a game-changer for me. I struggled to grasp IT concepts and coding before joining, but their classes transformed everything. I can now confidently write complex programs with ease."

Samriddha Mondal

Student

★★★★★

"One of the most wonderful education centres out there. Education is not limited to school syllabus but focuses on skill development."

Vansh Agarwal

Student

★★★★★

"My child Dhairya is really enjoying the Modern Age Coders classes. This is his first online class and he eagerly looks forward to it. I can already see his improvement, and the teachers are very cooperative."

Sonam Oswal

Parent of Dhairya

★★★★★

"Modern Age Coders have wonderful teachers who teach in a clear, easy and practical way. The teacher boosts students' confidence and inspires them to learn without hesitation."

Sonu Goyal

Parent

★★★★★

"I highly recommend this computer coding class! The teachers are incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about coding."

Ritu Kedia

Parent

Questions from Junior Cycle families

What parents and students ask about the Coding short course

How many Classroom-Based Assessments does the Coding short course have?

One. It is called Putting the Pieces Together, and students complete it as either a Software Project or a Coding Portfolio.

Can the assessment be done in First Year?

Not for the Junior Cycle Profile of Achievement. The guidelines say it takes place in second or third year, after all three strands are complete, and that first-year work cannot be included.

How long does the assessment take?

The guidelines expect either option to take approximately six to eight hours.

Is the Software Project marked as a team?

No. Students work in teams of two or three, but each student is assessed on their own role and contribution.

What do the descriptors mean?

There are four: Exceptional, Above expectations, In line with expectations and Yet to meet expectations. The teacher picks the best fit against published Features of Quality, and the result appears on the JCPA.

Is there a State exam for the short course?

No. Short courses are assessed by the student's teachers and reported by the school, including on the Junior Cycle Profile of Achievement.

Can you help with my child's CBA?

We teach the skills behind it on separate practice projects. We never write, edit, debug or review the assessed work itself, because only work the teacher can authenticate as the student's own can be accepted.

What does it cost?

The first class is free. After that, lessons cost USD 100 a month in a group or USD 150 a month one to one, paid in US dollars, with no joining fee and no year-long contract.

What time are lessons?

After school or at the weekend, at an hour fixed in Irish time. Our teachers are five and a half hours ahead in winter and four and a half in summer.

What happens after I fill in the form?

Someone from our team calls a parent at a sensible Irish time and books the free first class. Nothing is charged unless the student carries on.

Elsewhere on this site

What comes before and after the short course

Pages for the years around the Junior Cycle.

Transition Year coding course

The year after the Junior Cycle.

Leaving Cert Computer Science grinds

For students who take the subject.

Understand the code, do not copy-paste

AI tools and a student's own work.

Best online coding classes in Ireland

The whole school path, stage by stage.

After CoderDojo

For students coming from a coding club.

Coding classes in Ireland

The national page.

Start here

Book a free first class for a Junior Cycle student

Leave a parent's number and we will call when it suits an Irish household. In the first class the student tries a short coding task, and the teacher suggests where to begin, well away from any assessed work.

To read more first: the way we teach, the individual course syllabuses, and the order in which topics build.

WhatsApp us · +91 91233 66161 · contact@modernagecoders.com

Messaging on WhatsApp is free from Irish phones and tends to get the fastest answer. The number belongs to our team in India; we have no premises in Ireland.

No card details and no obligation. A single call to arrange the class.

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