Computing Course 04 · Online course
Python —
Your First Programme
Eight Saturday mornings, live online. No jargon survives the first hour — everyone leaves week one with a working programme.
- Starts
- Sat 14 Nov
10:00–12:00 - Where
- Live online
Link sent by email - Runs
- 8 weeks
24 places max
9 left of 24 places on the Sat 14 Nov batch
This batch starts in
Counting down to Sat 14 Nov 2026, 10:00. When it hits zero, this batch is in session.
No jargon.
Working code from week one.
A beginners' Python course designed by an engineer who remembers being confused. Sessions run live online on Saturday mornings: ninety minutes of teaching and building together, then thirty minutes of optional lab time with Dev on call.
You install nothing complicated — the course runs in a browser-based editor we set up together in week one. Every concept is introduced by using it: variables arrive because your programme needs to remember something, loops because copying code by hand is miserable.
The final project is yours to choose — past students have automated their photo libraries, built quiz games, and scraped their own running data. Dev reviews every project personally and replies within one working day.
The eight
weeks
Same shape every week: teaching first, then practice with the teacher close by. Open a block to see what you will do — and what you leave with.
Setup in the browser editor, then straight in: printing, asking questions, and a number-guessing game by the end of the morning. No jargon survives this hour.
You leave with: a working guessing-game programme.
Variables, lists and dictionaries through a real task: a contact book that stores, searches and sorts names. If-statements arrive because the programme needs to make choices.
You leave with: a searchable contact book.
Doing things a thousand times without typing them a thousand times. Functions as named recipes, and your first taste of reading other people's code.
You leave with: a text analyser that counts and ranks words in any file.
Reading CSV files, cleaning messy data, and producing a tidy summary — the skill most students say they use at work the following Monday.
You leave with: a programme that tidies a real spreadsheet export.
You plan your own small project with Dev's help in the session, then build it during the week with the course channel open for questions.
You leave with: your project, working, with a list of what you'd add next.
Everyone demos their project in five minutes. Dev live-debugs the group's favourite bugs, and the course closes with routes onwards: data, web, or automation.
You leave with: a demo, a review, and a next-step reading list.
Batch schedule
Python — Your First Programme · Live online
| Starts | Day & time | Teacher | Places left | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sat 14 Nov 2026 | Saturdays · 10:00–12:00 · 8 weeks | Dev Shah | 9 of 24 | Booking |
| Sat 09 Jan 2027 | Saturdays · 10:00–12:00 · 8 weeks | Dev Shah | 14 of 24 | Booking |
| Sat 06 Mar 2027 | Saturdays · 10:00–12:00 · 8 weeks | Dev Shah | — | Boards Sat 23 Jan |
Every batch is the same 8 weeks, the same teacher, the same fee. Later batches board on the 1st of the month, two months ahead.
Full course fee
£280
or 3 × £93.33 monthly — the same total, no extra cost.
- Browser-based editor — nothing to install
- Every session recorded for catch-up
- Personal project review included
- 15% concession for full-time students & over-60s
How paying works
-
1
Enquire — we hold your place for 48 hours
Send the form below. We confirm your place by email within one working day, and it is held for 48 hours while you pay. No payment is taken from the form itself.
-
2
Pay in full, or start instalment one
The confirmation email carries one payment link. Instalments leave your account monthly on the date you choose; the last one lands before the course ends.
-
3
Changed your mind? The rules are printed
Full refund up to 14 days before your start date. Inside 14 days, one free transfer to a later batch. If we ever cancel, you choose: full refund or free transfer.
Your teacher
Dev Shah
Dev spent eight years as a software engineer before retraining as a teacher. He built Meridian's computing courses from scratch, starting with the Saturday Python group he still teaches live online.
His rule for beginners is printed on the course page because he means it: no jargon survives the first hour. Every concept is introduced by using it, and every student finishes week one with a programme that runs.
Dev's other batches on the board
- Sat 09 Jan Next cohort of this course · Live online · 8 weeks · £280
Good to know before session one
- Nothing to install. The editor runs in your browser; we set it up together in week one.
- Sessions are recorded and posted the same day, so a missed Saturday is never a lost week.
- Cameras on, please. It’s a class, not a webinar — Dev teaches to faces.
- Questions between sessions go in the course channel; Dev replies within one working day.
Enquire for
this course
Two minutes, no payment taken. We reply within one working day (Mon–Sat) and hold your place for 48 hours.
Python — Your First Programme
- Next start: Sat 14 Nov · 10:00
- Live online
- £280 or 3 × £93.33 · 9 places left
Prefer to talk? Call 0113 496 0000, Mon–Sat 09:00–21:00.
Enquiry received
You're on the list.
Reference ENQ-0000
We reply within one working day (Mon–Sat).
Your place is held for 48 hours from our reply. If you don't hear from us, check spam — or call 0113 496 0000 and quote your reference.