Parents might only just be recovering from the long summer holiday, but it is already time to start thinking about how to entertain the children over October half-term. 

Although it is relatively easy to keep youngsters busy when the weather is warm outside and the sun is shining, it can be much more challenging when it is dark and drizzly. 

Instead of just taking them to a playground or letting them enjoy the paddling pool, you will need more structured activities during the autumn break. 

What’s more, as it is harder to stay active when the weather is cold and wet, they will need to keep busy another way. 

One option could be to send them to a half-term coding camp in London, as this will give them the chance to pick up lots of skills, as well as have lots of fun. 

There are plenty of things for them to learn at a tech-based holiday camp, including creating robots, honing their Minecraft skills, building a 3D printed model, and understanding more about machine learning. 

This kind of camp could be of particular interest to parents of girls, as the recent GCSE and A-Level statistics showed that STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects are still being dominated by boys. 

Indeed, just 15 per cent of those taking computing A-Level were female, while 77 per cent of physics and 62 per cent of maths students were male. 

Although fewer girls are choosing these topics for their exams, they are outperforming boys. In computing A-Level, nearly half (47.9 per cent) of girls got A*-B grades, in comparison with 43.9 per cent of boys. 

Therefore, it is important to encourage girls to get into STEM from a young age, as these results show they perform well in them.