There is no birthday on which programming suddenly becomes appropriate. One young child may happily arrange commands with help; an older beginner may want to understand the whole point before touching the editor. A more useful question is: what kind of programming work fits this child now?
Signs of readiness
Beginners do not need fast typing, algebra, or a supply of technical words. Look for ordinary habits: following a short sequence, wanting to make something happen, noticing when the result differs from the plan, and being willing to try a second version.
These habits are not admission requirements carved in stone. A well-sized project helps develop them. The first working version should arrive before the child has spent the entire session wrestling with setup.
Choose the right material
Scratch removes much of the spelling and punctuation burden while keeping events, loops, conditions, variables, messages, and state. Students can think about why a character moves the wrong way without first hunting for a missing bracket. Logical errors remain, which is fortunate: they are where much of the programming lives.
Robotics can begin with a paper grid, a simulated route, buttons, or LEDs. Hardware is useful when it helps answer the question. It need not arrive on the first day carrying seventeen loose wires.
Start with something finishable
Four-direction movement, a two-state traffic light, or a short robot route can be a complete first task. The child meets one meaningful problem without also managing accounts, original artwork, hardware faults, and plans for a twelve-level epic.
Completion gives everyone something stable to discuss. Can the student explain one command? Follow a checkpoint? Ask a specific question? Try again after a mismatch? Those observations tell us more than a broad age chart.
The same project can have more depth
One student may make reliable movement. Another can add boundary handling, a second stage, or a pursuer that changes speed with distance. Both are working with coordinates, but the difficulty is different.
Group fit also depends on reading comfort, independence, previous experience, and whether the student will explain a problem aloud. Age is useful information; it is simply not the only information.
How to choose a starting point
Ask what the child wants to make. Stories can become interactive scenes. A fascination with systems can lead to traffic lights or robot mazes. A child who loves games may become interested when given control of the rules.
School of Code has not published a universal starting age while exact groups and schedules are still being prepared. A conversation about fit can use the child's interests and working habits to find a task that is neither automatic nor overwhelming.
A trial task should leave room for surprise. Some children who are impatient with step-by-step instructions will spend half an hour repairing a game they chose to make. Others love the idea but need shorter checkpoints or more time away from the screen. The first project is useful evidence, not a permanent label.