Black Belt: Java & AP Computer Science
Java & AP Computer Science in Wellesley
Java, databases and a deployed application — the last belt.
- Boston Parents Family Favorite seven years running
- Macaroni Kids Favorite 2026
- FIRST LEGO League & VEX Judges Award
- State finalists, FLL & VEX
- STEM.org accredited
- CSTA & NGSS aligned
Not a drop-in coding club. A ten-month program with a cohort, a competition team, and a monthly report that shows you exactly what your child built and why it mattered.
What your child leaves with
A portfolio
Working apps, games, robots and websites they built themselves — not a certificate of attendance. Everything is saved to their own profile.
A team
The route into our VEX and FIRST LEGO League competition teams, with a real season, a capped roster and tournament results.
A transcript
A written report every month explaining what they covered, the concept behind it, and what comes next. A fuller one at the end of each belt.
Black Belt · iCode of Wellesley2026/27 year
Java & AP Computer Science — the Black Belt
- Time
- Two hours a week, same day and time, across the ten-month program
- Group size
- Around six students to one instructor
- Length
- Ten months to complete a belt. Most students go on to the next one. 80 hours of instruction across the year.
- Start dates
- New cohorts in September, November, January and April. Seats are capped.
- Stage
- Typically ages 13 and up
- Entry
- The final belt. Assumes several years of programming.
- Reports
- A written report every month, and a fuller one at the end of each belt — see a real one
- Location
- 73 Central Street, Wellesley
See Black Belt class times
Book a free evaluation
Not sure this is the right belt? The free evaluation exists to answer exactly that — we place by what a student can do, never by age alone.
The Black Belt is a software engineering course wearing a school-friendly name. Java, object-oriented design, UML, SQL and database modeling, REST architecture, security, and a full application designed, built and deployed.
It is also the most direct AP Computer Science A preparation available locally, because AP CSA is a Java exam and this is a Java year — taught as engineering rather than as exam drill, which tends to produce better exam results anyway.
What students actually learn
- Java and SQL — the language and the database, properly
- Object-oriented design and UML modeling
- REST architecture and web applications
- Software architecture, integration and security
- Deploying something real, not just compiling it
The year, sprint by sprint
The Black Belt runs in sprints across the school year, each one building on the last and ending in a final project.
- Introduction to Java
- Java OOP
- Spring into the Web
- Crafting Relationships with a Workbench
- Improving the Display
- The Beginning of Something Big
- Designing like a Pro
- Interactivity 2.0
- Final Project
What they finish with
- An industry-aligned web application, designed and deployed
You will know exactly what your child learned
Most parents six weeks into a coding class cannot say what their child has actually learned. A written report arrives every month: the topics covered, the concept behind each one in plain language, what your child actually built, where they found it easy and where they had to push, an instructor’s specific observation, and what is coming next. At the end of the belt there is a longer completion report — the whole ten months as a narrative, the skills portfolio, the capstone, and the natural next step.
The competition team runs alongside it
Our VEX and FIRST LEGO League teams are not a separate Saturday activity. A team place runs parallel to the belt, so the season feeds the same progress record — the robot goes in the portfolio and the season goes on the transcript. Rosters are capped and we hold the cap.
- Entry — FIRST LEGO League Explore · VEX IQ intro. Grades 2–4, About 16 weeks, 1.5 hours a week.
- Core — FIRST LEGO League Challenge · VEX IQ competitive. Grades 4–8, About 20 weeks, two hours a week.
- Advanced — VEX V5. Grades 8–12, About 20 weeks, two hours a week, eight students to one coach.
A place is conditional on being an enrolled student, and tryouts run in September. See the teams, rosters and season dates.
The question parents actually ask
“Is this really equivalent to AP Computer Science?”
AP CSA is a Java exam covering object-oriented programming, data structures and algorithms — all of which this belt covers and then goes past, into databases, architecture and deployment. Students sitting AP CSA alongside it are generally over-prepared. We would rather say that plainly than claim it is an AP course, which it is not.
If it is not working
Four sessions — about a month — then decide.
If your child is not engaged after four sessions, tell us and we refund the balance and release the seat.
How this differs from a club
A club is one hour a week for ten weeks, in a larger group, on a single topic — a good way to start and a good second activity. The Belt Program is two hours a week across a ten-month year, in a group of about six, with a written progress report every month and a capstone project. It is the deeper commitment and the one most families end up in. See the clubs if you would rather start smaller.
If two hours a week is too much right now
Studio — One hour a week, ongoing. A flexible, AI-driven path with its own milestones, supervised by an instructor. The on-ramp for families who cannot give us two hours a week yet. Students move across to a belt when they are ready. It is a different product rather than a shorter belt, which is what keeps the belt itself meaning the same thing for every student who finishes one.
Questions
Is this only for students heading into computer science?
No, though many are. It is also the belt that produces something concrete for a college application — a deployed application with their name on it is rarer and more persuasive than another certificate.
What if my child has never written Java?
That is expected. The belt starts at the introduction to Java. What it assumes is real experience in some other language, usually Python from the Green Belt.
Where does ChatGPT come into it?
As a working tool, the way a professional developer uses one, and with the judgement to check what it produces. Students who cannot read the code themselves are not helped by it, which becomes obvious quickly.
Where you’ll be
iCode of Wellesley · 73 Central Street, Wellesley, MA 02482
781-291-3131
Five minutes from Wellesley Middle School and a short drive from Schofield, Bates, Hardy, Hunnewell and Upham. Street parking on Central Street, plus the Municipal Way lot behind the building for pickup.
Ready to start?
Book a free evaluation and we will tell you honestly which belt your child belongs in — or go straight to the Black Belt class times.
Book a free evaluation
See Black Belt class times
The ten belts, in order
Students move up the ladder as they are ready, not on a timetable. Most join partway up — the free evaluation is how we work out where.
- Junior Belt — Junior STEAM
- Foundation Belt — Scratch Coding & AI Foundations
- White Belt — Robotics, VEX & 3D Printing
- Gray Belt — Minecraft & Roblox Coding
- Orange Belt — Web Development & Design
- Yellow Belt — Mobile App Development
- Green Belt — Python, Drones & AI
- Red Belt — Game Development
- Blue Belt — Networking & Cybersecurity
- Black Belt — Java & AP Computer Science — you are here
