Ireland · Summer holidays · Ages 6 to 18

Online coding summer course in Ireland

An Irish summer holiday is long, and it is not the same for every child. There is no national finishing date: the Department of Education sets the Christmas, mid-term and Easter breaks, but leaves the start and end of the school year to each school. Secondary schools stop teaching by the Friday before the June bank holiday, when the State exams begin, and primary schools, which must open for at least 182 days, usually run later into June. Almost all return in the week that contains 1 September. That gives a secondary student about three months and a primary child about ten weeks. This page is honest about what those weeks are for. We will not tell you your child will fall behind without lessons; the Department itself now says pandemic learning loss has diminished significantly for most children. The better reason to code in summer is time: enough of it to start a real project in June and finish it before school starts again.

Book the free first class When the holidays run Ask on WhatsApp

Live online since 2020 · 10,000+ students worldwide · one project across the summer

In short

Irish summer holidays are set by each school, not nationally: secondary schools stop teaching by the Friday before the June bank holiday and most schools reopen in the week of 1 September. A good summer coding course uses that time for one real project, a game, an app, a website or a data investigation, taught live by the same teacher each week. Modern Age Coders runs live online coding for ages 6 to 18 across the Irish summer, with no entrance test, in groups of five to ten placed by level or one to one. The first class is free; after that the cost is USD 100 a month in a group or USD 150 a month one to one, and a family can stop when September comes.

Start here

Three summer projects for three ages

One for primary school, one for the Junior Cycle years and one for older teenagers. Each card opens its syllabus.

Game Development for Kids course thumbnail

SUMMER / 01

Game Development for Kids

A whole game designed and built over the holidays, with levels, a score and a title screen, ready to play with cousins by August.

Open the syllabus →
App Development for Teens course thumbnail

SUMMER / 02

App Development for Teens

A working phone app started in June and in friends' hands before the return to school.

Open the syllabus →
AI and Machine Learning for Teens course thumbnail

SUMMER / 03

AI and Machine Learning for Teens

For older students with a long summer: a model trained, tested and explained, the kind of project that stands out later.

Open the syllabus →

Irish summer dates

When the Irish summer holidays actually run

Parents often search for a national list of summer dates. There isn't one. These are the rules that decide them, from the Department's circular on the school year for 2026/27 to 2028/29 and its school holiday page.

The rules behind Irish summer holidays
RuleWhat the Department says
National summer datesSchool summer holidays are not standardised; check the dates with your school
End of secondary teachingPost-primary schools will not be open for tuition beyond the Friday preceding the June bank holiday, when the State examinations begin
ReturnThe school year normally starts in the week in which 1 September falls, or the week before if a school needs it
Minimum school days182 for primary and special schools, 166 for post-primary
What the circular fixesOnly the Christmas, Easter and mid-term breaks, for the three school years from 2026/27

Put together, a secondary student is usually out of class from the start of June, though many sit or supervise State exams through the month. A primary child, with sixteen more required school days, usually finishes later in June.

Those are our readings of the rules, not published dates. Each school sets its own, so the summer course starts whenever a family is ready.

The return is more predictable. For the summer of 2027, the week in which 1 September falls begins on Monday 30 August, and most schools will reopen that week or the one before.

A summer course should end cleanly then. We move students back to a term-time slot or pause, whichever the family prefers.

Sources, read 16 September 2026: Circular 0018/2026, standardisation of the school year; gov.ie, School holiday dates.

Summer options

Summer learning options that already exist in Ireland

Ireland has some well-known summer programmes. They suit different children, and it helps to know how each one works before choosing.

Programmes of the Centre for Talented Youth, Ireland (CTYI) at DCU, and the Department's Summer Programme, as each describes itself
ProgrammeAgesFormatEntry
CTYI Summer Programme12 to 16Three-week courses in two sessions, June and JulyHigh ability: the 95th percentile, by Talent Search or psychologist's report
CTYI CAT Programme12 to 16Two weeksTypically the 85th to 95th percentile on the Talent Search
DCU Summer Scholars12 to 17 (1st to 5th year)Two weeks, non-residentialOpen to any student in that age range
CTYI primary summer courses6 to 12One-week half-day courses in July, some weeks onlineAssessment or psychologist's report
Department Summer ProgrammeSchool-ageTwo weeks at post-primaryStudents with complex special educational needs or at risk of educational disadvantage

These are good programmes, and a child with a CTYI place should take it. They are also short, concentrated and, for most of them, selective by test. Some run on campus, which means travel.

The Department's programme is something different again: support for particular students, run by schools, not general enrichment.

A live online course fills a different gap. There is no entrance test: a child is placed by what they can already do. It runs across the whole summer instead of a fortnight, and it moves with a family, including to a holiday house or relatives abroad.

None of these options excludes the others. A student can do two weeks on a campus in July and keep a weekly project going either side of it.

Sources: DCU CTYI, Secondary School Programme Overview, Primary School Students and Summer Scholars; Department of Education, Summer Programme 2026. Read 16 September 2026. We have no connection with DCU or CTYI.

An honest reason

No summer-slide scare: why code in summer at all

Summer courses are often sold on fear. We would rather quote the Department. In the terms of its 2026 Summer Programme it writes that "it is hoped that for the majority of children, the impact of pandemic-related learning loss has diminished significantly in the following years."

Time for a long project

In term, a child codes for an hour a week between everything else. In summer there is room to stay with one idea for weeks, which is how real programs get finished.

Choosing what to build

Summer projects are chosen by the child: a game about their dog, an app for a club, a chart of the weather on holiday. Owning the idea is what keeps them coming back.

A calm restart

A child who has been building all summer comes back in September with a finished thing to show, and often with a clear idea of what to learn next.

A summer project

A summer data project: where in Ireland does it rain most?

Every Irish family has an opinion about summer weather. CSO table MTM01 lets a student test it: monthly rainfall at 15 Met Éireann stations from 1958 to 2022.

Total rainfall in 2022 at two stations, CSO table MTM01
StationTotal rainfall, 2022
Valentia Observatory, County Kerry1,681.5 mm
Dublin Airport686.3 mm

Trap 1: silent stations

Five stations stopped reporting years ago: Birr in 2009, Galway in 2011, and Clones, Kilkenny and Rosslare in 2008. Their later rows are blank. Treat a blank as zero and those towns look like deserts.

Trap 2: three measures in one file

The table mixes total rainfall in millimetres, the most rain in a single day, and a count of rain days. Add a station's rows together and you add millimetres to days.

Trap 3: an old table

The table was last updated in January 2023 and stops at December 2022. A student who wants this summer's rain has to go to Met Éireann's own data and join the two.

Younger children do a simpler version: a rain gauge in the garden, a daily tally in Scratch, and a bar chart at the end of the holidays. Teenagers load the table in Python and ask which month is really the wettest where they live.

Either way the lesson is the one every programmer needs: check what a number means and whether it is really there before you draw a conclusion from it.

Source: CSO table MTM01, Rainfall, read 16 September 2026; the figures come from Met Éireann stations.

The summer plan

Five stages from June to the return to school

Secondary students can start in early June; primary children usually join towards the end of the month. The plan stretches or shrinks to fit.

A summer coding project in Ireland
WhenStageThe student
First week1. Pick the ideaChooses a project and sketches what it will do
Next two or three weeks2. Learn what it needsLearns the blocks, Python or tools the project calls for
July3. BuildMakes the first working version, piece by piece
Early August4. Test and improveLets family and friends try it, then fixes what breaks
Before school reopens5. Finish and showPresents the project and picks what to learn in term time

Holidays and trips

Families go away in summer. Lessons move with a laptop, pause for a week, or switch to a different slot while a child is abroad.

For what comes after the summer, the coding roadmap sets the whole route out by stage.

Two courses a summer?

Some older students take two lessons a week in summer and one in term. Others do a CTYI or DCU fortnight in July and keep their own project going around it.

Children coming from a coding club can start further on; see after CoderDojo.

The catalogue

Nine live courses for an Irish summer

Grouped by school stage. The free first class decides which one a child starts with and at what level.

I

Primary school

Ages 6 to 12

SUMMER / PRIMARY / 01

Coding for Kids

Blocks and movement for the youngest coders.

Open the syllabus

SUMMER / PRIMARY / 02

Game Development for Kids

A holiday game, from title screen to high score.

Open the syllabus

SUMMER / PRIMARY / 03

Python and AI for Kids

Typed code for older primary children with time to spare.

Open the syllabus
II

Junior Cycle years

Roughly 12 to 15

SUMMER / JUNIOR / 01

Python for Teens

A summer to become properly fluent.

Open the syllabus

SUMMER / JUNIOR / 02

App Development for Teens

An app finished before September.

Open the syllabus

SUMMER / JUNIOR / 03

Roblox Game Coding

Lua scripting inside a game world they already know.

Open the syllabus
III

Senior students

Roughly 15 to 18

SUMMER / SENIOR / 01

AI and Machine Learning for Teens

A model built and honestly tested.

Open the syllabus

SUMMER / SENIOR / 02

Data Science for Teens

Irish open data, questioned properly.

Open the syllabus

SUMMER / SENIOR / 03

Full Stack Web Development for Teens

A full website over a long summer.

Open the syllabus

How the classes run

Summer hours, including mornings

Every class is live with a teacher in India, at a fixed time set in Irish time. Through the Irish summer our teachers are four and a half hours ahead, so a ten o'clock class in Ireland is mid-afternoon for them, and summer is the one season when morning lessons are easy to arrange. From the end of October the gap widens to five and a half hours.

Morning

Popular in summer, before the day gets going.

Afternoon

For families with morning camps or sport.

Evening

Carries on into term time without a change.

A free first class

The child starts a tiny project with a teacher, who then suggests a course and a level.

Groups of five to ten

Children at the same level, from Ireland and other countries, showing each other their summer builds.

One to one

For shy children, very quick ones, or families whose holidays make a group hard.

No entrance test

Placement is by what a child can do in the free class, nothing else.

From anywhere

Home, a holiday house or grandparents abroad: a laptop and a steady connection are all it takes.

A finished project

Every summer ends with something to show, saved so it can be shown again in September.

Student work

What our students have built

Four projects our students built and published online. The student labs page gathers many more.

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

Summer fees

The same monthly price in US dollars that families pay in every country except India, with no summer surcharge, no registration fee and no commitment past the month you are in.

Free first class

USD 0

no card required

  • A tiny project started with a teacher
  • A suggested course and level
  • No card at all
Book it

Group batch

USD 100

a month, billed in US dollars

  • Five to ten children at one level
  • The same teacher through the summer
  • Projects looked at each week
  • A certificate on completion
Start here

One to one

USD 150

a month, billed in US dollars

  • A teacher for one child
  • Slots that move around holidays
  • Right for shy or very quick children
Enquire

What families say

Rated 4.9 across 547 Google reviews

Straight from our Google reviews, untouched. None were bought or ghost-written.

★★★★★

"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 parents

What Irish parents ask about summer coding

When do Irish schools break for summer?

There is no national date. Secondary schools stop teaching by the Friday before the June bank holiday, primary schools usually later in June, and each school sets its own dates.

When do schools go back?

The Department expects the school year to start in the week in which 1 September falls, or the week before if a school needs extra days.

Will my child fall behind without summer lessons?

We do not claim that. The Department has said it hopes pandemic-related learning loss has diminished significantly for most children. Summer coding is about time for a real project.

Is there an entrance test?

No. A child is placed by what they show in the free first class. Some other summer programmes in Ireland do select by assessment.

Can my child do this and a CTYI course?

Yes. Many families combine a short campus programme with a weekly online project either side of it.

What if we go away on holiday?

Lessons can continue from anywhere with a laptop and a steady connection, or pause for a week and resume.

What ages is the summer course for?

From 6 to 18. Younger children start with blocks and games, and teenagers work in Python on apps, data or AI.

How much does summer coding cost?

A first class costs nothing. Continuing is USD 100 a month in a group or USD 150 a month one to one, billed in US dollars, with no summer surcharge and nothing past the current month.

Are morning classes possible?

Yes, and summer is the easiest time for them. Our teachers are four and a half hours ahead of Ireland in summer, so a morning class in Ireland falls in their afternoon.

What happens after I send the form?

We phone at a convenient Irish time and book the free class. You pay only if your child carries on.

Elsewhere on this site

After the summer

Pages for term time, by age.

Best coding classes for kids in Ireland

Term-time coding for primary school.

Best coding classes for teens in Ireland

The secondary years.

Transition Year coding course

A project for the whole TY year.

After CoderDojo

For children who started at a club.

Best online coding classes in Ireland

How to choose any class.

Coding classes in Ireland

The national page.

Start here

Book a free first class for the summer

Leave a number and we will ring at a good time for you in Ireland. In the free class your child starts a small project with a teacher, and you find out which course fits the summer ahead.

You can also read up first: how we teach, the course syllabuses and projects from our students.

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

On WhatsApp we usually reply fastest, and messaging from an Irish phone is free. The number is based in India, where our teachers are; there is no office in Ireland.

No payment details and no obligation. A single call to book.

Keep exploring Modern Age Coders

Related courses and guides

Learn more

Free resources

From the blog

Start here