Perse Coding Team Challenge Preparation

In short

The Perse Coding Team Challenge runs from The Perse School and is "open to UK pupils up to Year 11 (S4 in Scotland) and is free to enter". Round 1 falls between 25 January and 5 February 2027 and is sat in "pairs (or solo, if necessary) sharing one computer" for "40 minutes". Round 2 runs from 1 to 12 March 2027 in "teams of up to three", with "a maximum of two Years 11 students allowed per team", for "60 minutes", across a four-level format from basic text and number processing up to algorithmic complexity, where "every question is worth an equal ten points each". A Sixth Form Gold Rush follows from 15 to 19 March 2027: six questions from Round 2 material, solo, in 50 minutes. Teams may code in "Python, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript and Visual Basic.Net" and may bring up to 20 A4 sides of code snippets. We teach the programming, live online. The first class is free; a group place is USD 100 a month and one-to-one teaching USD 150.

Where to start

Three courses for a coding team

The level a pupil should work at is set by what they can debug alone, not by their year group.

PCT / 01

Python and AI for kids

For Years 6 to 8: a first typed language, taught until a program can be read back before it runs.

Open the syllabus →

PCT / 02

Python from start to finish

The main route: strings, lists, loops and functions until they are automatic under a clock.

Open the syllabus →

Problem Solving for Teens course thumbnail

PCT / 03

Algorithms and data structures

For the Level 3 and Level 4 questions, where a working answer is not yet a fast one.

Open the syllabus →

The two rounds

Forty minutes in pairs, then an hour in threes

Facts read at the organiser's own pages on 20 September 2026.

The Perse Coding Team Challenge as the organiser describes it
	Round 1	Round 2	Sixth Form Gold Rush
2027 dates	25 January to 5 February	1 to 12 March	15 to 19 March
Who sits it	"pairs (or solo, if necessary) sharing one computer"	"teams of up to three", with "a maximum of two Years 11 students allowed per team"	Solo, for older students
Length	"40 minutes"	"60 minutes"	"50 minutes"
Questions	Navigators: seven questions at three points each. Pathfinders: questions 1 to 5 at three points, 6 to 10 at five	A four-level format, and "every question is worth an equal ten points each"	"six questions selected from Round 2 material"
Levels	Two tracks by experience	Level 1 basic text and number processing, up to Level 4 algorithmic complexity	Drawn from Round 2
Prize eligibility	UK pupils up to Year 11, S4 in Scotland	The same	Certificates

The two tracks in round one matter more than they look. Navigators and Pathfinders are not age bands; they are experience bands, and a school entering a Year 10 pupil who started Python in September should think hard before putting them in the harder track. The competition is free, so there is no cost to entering a pupil at the level they can actually work at.

International schools may take part for certificates but cannot compete for prizes, which is worth knowing before a family abroad gets their hopes up.

Round two's four levels are the useful part of the design. Level 1 is basic text and number processing and Level 4 is genuine algorithmic complexity, with every question worth the same ten points. A team that can reliably finish the lower levels scores more than one that gambles on the top level and runs out of time.

That equal scoring is a strategy in itself. In a competition where all questions are worth the same, the right order is easiest first, always, and a team that has agreed that in advance does not argue about it at minute forty.

Sources: Perse Coding Team Challenge and its competition information, read 20 September 2026. Modern Age Coders is not connected with The Perse School or the challenge.

The method

You are told that you failed, not why

The organiser marks automatically and gives "feedback regarding the number of test cases passed or failed", while "the test cases themselves are not shown". That one rule decides how a team should work.

Imagine a question asking for the second largest number in a list. In Python the obvious answer is one line: sort the list and take the second from the end. A team writes it in fifteen seconds, submits, and is told that it passed four of seven tests. Now what? They cannot see the three that failed. They can guess, or they can have a checklist.

Our run of 20 September 2026: the one-line answer against a checklist written from the question alone
The case	The list	What the one-liner does
The ordinary case	3, 9, 4, 1	Returns 4, correct
Already in order	1, 2, 3	Returns 2, correct
All negative	−5, −2, −9	Returns −5, correct
Two equal at the top	9, 9, 4	Returns 9: the largest again. Is that what the question wanted?
Every value the same	7, 7, 7	Returns 7, for the same reason
One item	4	Crashes
No items	empty	Crashes

Three found in a minute

Two crashes and one genuine ambiguity, all discovered before submitting anything, by a checklist that took less time to run than one failed submission.

The checklist itself

Empty, one item, everything the same, duplicates at the interesting end, negatives, zero, and the largest size the question allows. Seven lines, and they apply to almost every task in a contest like this.

The ambiguity is the lesson

Is the second largest of 9, 9, 4 equal to 9 or to 4? The question decides, the judge has decided, and a team that notices the ambiguity can read the wording again instead of guessing.

Hidden tests feel unfair to pupils and they are the honest version of programming. Nobody who writes software gets to see the inputs their program will meet, and the profession's answer is not better guessing: it is to invent the awkward cases yourself before anyone else finds them.

For a forty-minute round, the practical rule is that a checklist run costs about thirty seconds and a failed submission costs a minute of confusion. The arithmetic favours the checklist every time.

It also changes how a pair should split the work. One types, one reads the question again and works out what the awkward inputs would be. That is a genuine division of labour rather than a polite way of taking turns.

A pupil who enjoys this side of programming should look at the British Informatics Olympiad, where the tests are hidden too and the programs get considerably longer.

The task, the checklist and the run are ours, written and executed on 20 September 2026. No Perse Coding Team Challenge question is reproduced; the organiser publishes its own past papers and solutions.

The twenty sides

You may bring notes, so bring the right ones

The organiser allows "up to 20 A4 sides (10 double-sided pages) of printed or digital code snippets". Most teams either ignore that or fill it with the wrong thing.

What belongs in twenty sides of notes, and what does not
Worth the space	Why	Not worth it
Reading input and printing output in your language	Every question begins and ends with it, and it is the commonest thing to forget under pressure	Long tutorials on syntax already known
String handling: split, join, slice, case	Level 1 and 2 questions are mostly text manipulation	Whole language reference pages
Sorting with a custom key, and reversing	Appears constantly and is easy to get subtly wrong	Theory about sorting algorithms
A working loop template with a counter	Blanking on an off-by-one costs more minutes than anything else	Code nobody on the team has actually run
The edge-case checklist	It is the highest-value page in the pack and nobody thinks to include it	Anything copied without being understood

The rule the organiser sets, code snippets readable at normal zoom, quietly tells a team what the notes are for. They are a personal library, not a textbook, and the useful version is built during practice by writing down whatever the team had to look up.

Six languages are permitted: Python, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript and Visual Basic.Net. A team should pick the one everybody in it can debug, not the one that sounds most serious. In a forty-minute round, familiarity beats power comfortably.

It is worth remembering that submissions can be repeated and the highest-scoring one counts, so a team that fixes a bug and resubmits loses nothing except time. That makes the checklist even more valuable: it converts a wasted submission into a fixed one.

And the whole competition is free, which is unusual enough to say plainly. A school needs a room, some computers and a teacher willing to register, and nothing else.

Getting ready

Four rungs to a team that finishes

Level is set by what a pupil can fix alone, not by what they can write with help.

From a first program to a checked submission
Stage	Rung	The sign it is secure
Years 5 to 7	1. A program that runs	Writes and fixes twenty lines without a template
Years 7 to 9	2. Text and numbers	Splits, joins and converts without looking anything up
Years 9 to 10	3. The checklist habit	Invents awkward inputs before submitting, unprompted
Years 10 to 11	4. Complexity	Notices when a working answer will be too slow, and says so

If round one is close

Practise in pairs on one computer, with the non-typing pupil reading the question aloud and listing the awkward cases. That is the round.

Build the twenty sides from whatever the team actually looks up in practice, not from a template found online.

After the challenge

The British Informatics Olympiad is the next step for a pupil who liked the hidden tests.

The competitions calendar has every other contest open to a UK pupil.

The full list

Programming courses for a challenge team

Sorted by what a pupil can already do alone, with each syllabus a click away.

I

Before typing

Ages 6 to 11

PCT / A / 01

Scratch for kids

Loops, conditions and variables in a visual language.

Open the syllabus

PCT / A / 02

Coding for kids, blocks to AI

Games and apps, then a first look at AI.

Open the syllabus

PCT / A / 03

Maths through coding

Programs that check whether a method works.

Open the syllabus

II

The competition language

Ages 10 to 16

PCT / B / 01

Python and AI for kids

A first typed language, taught patiently.

Open the syllabus

PCT / B / 02

Python from start to finish

Strings, lists and functions until they are automatic.

Open the syllabus

PCT / B / 03

Java for teens

For schools and teams that work in Java.

Open the syllabus

III

Levels three and four

Where speed matters

PCT / C / 01

Algorithms and data structures

Searching, sorting and how long a method takes.

Open the syllabus

PCT / C / 02

Competitive programming

Correctness under a clock, against hidden tests.

Open the syllabus

PCT / C / 03

GCSE Computer Science

Taught to the board the school uses.

Open the syllabus

IV

Building things

For pupils who want more than contests

PCT / D / 01

Full stack web development

A site with its own database, built in slices.

Open the syllabus

PCT / D / 02

AI and machine learning for teens

Models built and evaluated honestly.

Open the syllabus

PCT / D / 03

App development

Interfaces, events and state.

Open the syllabus

How lessons run

Weekly programming, with the awkward inputs written first

Lessons are live on video from India, five and a half hours ahead of the UK in winter and four and a half in summer, at a time fixed in UK time.

Early weekday evening

For pupils in Years 6 to 9.

Later weekday evening

For Year 10 and 11 teams.

Weekend morning

For a full practice round, start to finish.

Checklist before submit

Every task starts by listing the awkward inputs, before a line of code is written.

One keyboard practice

We run pair tasks the way round one does, with one pupil typing and one reading.

Five to ten learners

Enough for two solutions to be compared, small enough for every program to be looked at.

Our own tasks

Written by us in the same style. The organiser publishes its own past papers.

One to one when useful

For a pupil working well above their year, or one with a specific gap.

Nothing promised

We cannot register a team and promise no score, certificate or prize.

Student work

What our students build

Four published projects by students at our school, built outside any competition. More on the student labs page.

AI and ML

NutriLife

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

by Bhavya · Open it

AI and ML

Misti

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

by Harshit · Open it

AI and ML

GuardianX

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

by Vivaan · Open it

Web app

SkyCast

A weather forecasting site with live conditions for any location.

by Krish

Fees

A single monthly rate in US dollars for families outside India, with no registration fee and no minimum term.

Free first class

USD 0

no card required

A full lesson on a real task
A straight read on the right level
No card details taken

Book it

Group batch

USD 100

a month, billed in US dollars

Five to ten learners at one level
The same teacher weekly
Code read line by line
A certificate at the end

Start here

One to one

USD 150

a month, billed in US dollars

A teacher working with one learner
Shaped around the specific weakness
Useful in the weeks before a round

Enquire

What families say

Rated 4.9 across 547 Google reviews

Reviews families have left on Google, printed as 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

Perse Coding Team Challenge questions

What teachers and parents ask

Who can enter the Perse Coding Team Challenge?

The organiser says the competition is "open to UK pupils up to Year 11 (S4 in Scotland) and is free to enter". International schools may take part for certificates but cannot compete for prizes.

When are the 2027 rounds?

Round 1 runs from 25 January to 5 February 2027, Round 2 from 1 to 12 March 2027, and the Sixth Form Gold Rush from 15 to 19 March 2027.

How big is a team?

Round 1 is sat in pairs, or solo if necessary, sharing one computer. Round 2 is teams of up to three, with a maximum of two Year 11 students per team.

How long is each round?

Forty minutes for Round 1, sixty for Round 2 and fifty for the Sixth Form Gold Rush, which takes six questions from Round 2 material.

Which programming languages are allowed?

The organiser lists Python, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript and Visual Basic.Net. A team should choose the language everyone in it can debug rather than the most powerful one.

Can students bring notes?

Yes. The organiser permits up to 20 A4 sides, or ten double-sided pages, of printed or digital code snippets, readable at normal zoom.

How is it marked?

Automatically. Teams are told how many test cases passed or failed, but the test cases themselves are not shown, and where more than one solution is submitted the highest-scoring one counts.

How do you debug a test you cannot see?

With a checklist written from the question. Empty input, one item, everything the same, duplicates at the interesting end, negatives, zero and the largest allowed size will find most failures in under a minute.

What are the four levels in Round 2?

The organiser describes a four-level format running from Level 1, basic text and number processing, to Level 4, algorithmic complexity, with every question worth an equal ten points.

What do classes cost?

The first lesson is free. A group place is then USD 100 a month and one-to-one teaching USD 150, with nothing to pay to register.

Related pages

Other coding contests for school pupils

What comes before this one, what comes after, and where the whole year is listed.

UK Bebras Challenge

No programming at all, and half a million entrants.

Oxford University Computing Challenge

The coding round that follows Bebras.

British Informatics Olympiad

Three hours, three questions, hidden tests.

UK competitions calendar 2026-27

Dates for every contest, checked with the people who run them.

Coding classes in the UK

The four school systems, and every UK page.

GCSE Computer Science tutoring

The qualification most of these pupils are heading for.

Start here

Book a free programming lesson

Tell us the year group and which language the team codes in. The free lesson is a real task, checklist and all, and we say afterwards what we saw.

Rather read first? Syllabuses sit on the course pages, the method on how we teach, and the order of topics on the roadmap.

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

WhatsApp costs a UK mobile nothing and usually reaches us first. Our number is an Indian one, which we state on every page, and there is no British office.

Three courses for a coding team

Python and AI for kids

Python from start to finish

Algorithms and data structures

Forty minutes in pairs, then an hour in threes

You are told that you failed, not why

Three found in a minute

The checklist itself

The ambiguity is the lesson

You may bring notes, so bring the right ones

Four rungs to a team that finishes

If round one is close

After the challenge

Programming courses for a challenge team

Before typing

Scratch for kids

Coding for kids, blocks to AI

Maths through coding

The competition language

Python and AI for kids

Python from start to finish

Java for teens

Levels three and four

Algorithms and data structures

Competitive programming

GCSE Computer Science

Building things

Full stack web development

AI and machine learning for teens

App development

Weekly programming, with the awkward inputs written first

Checklist before submit

One keyboard practice

Five to ten learners

Our own tasks

One to one when useful

Nothing promised

What our students build

NutriLife

Misti

GuardianX

SkyCast

Fees

Rated 4.9 across 547 Google reviews

What teachers and parents ask

Who can enter the Perse Coding Team Challenge?

When are the 2027 rounds?

How big is a team?

How long is each round?

Which programming languages are allowed?

Can students bring notes?

How is it marked?

How do you debug a test you cannot see?

What are the four levels in Round 2?

What do classes cost?

Other coding contests for school pupils

UK Bebras Challenge

Oxford University Computing Challenge

British Informatics Olympiad

UK competitions calendar 2026-27

Coding classes in the UK

GCSE Computer Science tutoring

Book a free programming lesson

Keep exploring Modern Age Coders

Related courses and guides

Learn more

Free resources

From the blog

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