I'm also going to chime in that I think the best way to handle boilerplate is to put it in a separate module, and to load it via a magic "import" incantation at the top.
Not only does this keep things out of the way, but it's editor-independent and settings-independent. And user-input-independent! If you rely on folding, you KNOW someone is going to either accidentally or through curiosity hit the unfold button.
If even a single import line is too scary, then I'm not sure these kids are ready for programming. At least not in Python (which I agree is already a pretty learner-friendly language). There are other languages/environments specifically designed for *kid* programming, like Alice (http://www.alice.org/). In a pinch, you could use Python's interactive prompt and turtle module as a kind of Logo (not sure if this is the way Kevin meant, but I agree with him that Python's turtle module is way cool, even as an adult).
But I don't know how well those other avenues would fit in a curriculum centered around the Raspberry Pi.
John