- Santander UK to sponsor the Birmingham-based School of Code to address the growing need for coding and programming skills in the UK
Santander UK and School of Code Ltd are proud to announce the launch of the second School of Code bootcamp in Birmingham, beginning in Spring 2019.
This follows the success of this year's inaugural School of Code bootcamp, which saw 20 coding novices transformed into skilled programmers in just 16 weeks. As a result, 90% of the participants have gone on to achieve employment in a role where they utilise their new skills on a day-to-day basis.
Founded by Dr Chris Meah in 2016, the School of Code aims to teach people programming skills in a free, immersive short-course as a means to address the UK’s growing IT skills gap. The programme is open to everyone regardless of work experience, information technology proficiency, age or background, making a coding education available to all. The School's mission is to use technology to tackle inequality and give anyone the skills, tools and opportunity to create and innovate with technology.
Learners on the course can expect to gain experience in a number of different programming languages as well as other key skills in database management, project management, and presentation skills.
Dr Chris Meah, Founder, School of Code, said: “There's an ever increasing number of jobs and opportunities in technology, but they’re not reaching everyone. With rising automation and technology's influence only set to grow in the future, we want to give everyone the chance to learn skills that will help them thrive.”
Vicky Wallis, Chief HR Officer, Santander UK, said: “Santander is proud to partner with Chris and his team at the School of Code. We are acutely aware of the impact of digitalisation on people and businesses across the globe and the role large organisations can play in supporting the development of digital skills. We hope through this partnership that many more people will be given the opportunity to change their lives through learning to code.”
Applications for places on the course commencing in Spring 2019 have now opened and will close in December 2018. For more information about how you can apply for a place on the programme, please visit www.schoolofcode.co.uk.
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Notes to Editors:
School of Code aims to get more and different types of people benefitting from technology. It does this primarily through a free, 16-week coding bootcamp that takes people from absolute scratch all the way through to software developer, and then helps them into technology careers. The bootcamp focuses on helping people become collaborative, creative coders that add value to organisations and help grow the tech economy. The pilot bootcamp finished in February 2018, achieving 90% employment. The cohort included those from a wide range of backgrounds from the local community: return-to-work mums, long-term unemployed, refugees, bakers, musicians, artists, retail workers, warehouse workers, academics, linguists, personal trainers, and more. School of Code also has a free online coding platform that helps schools teach kids to code through creating pixel characters and has seen over 100,000 users since its launch.
Santander UK is a financial services provider in the UK that offers a wide range of personal and commercial financial products and services. It has brought real competition to the UK, through its innovative products for retail customers and relationship banking model for UK SMEs. At 30 June 2018, the bank has c24,200 employees. It serves around 15 million active customers, via a nationwide branch network, telephone, mobile and online banking; and 64 regional Corporate Business Centres. Santander UK is subject to the full supervision of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) in the UK. Santander UK plc customers are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in the UK.
About Us
Banco Santander (SAN SM, STD US, BNC LN) is a leading retail and commercial bank, founded in 1857 and headquartered in Spain. It has a meaningful market share in 10 core markets in Europe and the Americas, and is the largest bank in the euro zone by market capitalization. At the end of June 2018, Banco Santander had EUR 981 billion in customer funds (deposits and mutual funds), 140 million customers, 13,500 branches and 200,000 employees. Banco Santander made attributable profit of EUR 3,752 million in the first half of 2018, an increase of 4% compared to the same period last year.
Media Enquiries
Leonora Burtenshaw
T: 0207 756 4543 M: 0770 100 4107 E: Leonora.burtenshaw@santander.co.uk
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