Educational establishments offering the best cybersecurity instruction in the United Kingdom have been recognized by Britain's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
Under the NCSC's CyberFirst Schools initiative, fourteen schools and sixth-form colleges across the country have been issued with special awards for the quality of their teaching.
In Wales, gold, silver, and bronze awards were received by six different institutions, while five establishments in Northern Ireland received awards. In England, one school in Gloucestershire and two in the northeast were recognized for their efforts to educate a new generation in cybersecurity skills.
All the schools went beyond offering standard classroom sessions to engage their students, drawing youngsters into cybersecurity by setting up coding clubs, projects linking computing to medical sciences, and internet of things (IoT) device pitching sessions.
“Congratulations to all the schools and colleges that have been awarded CyberFirst Schools status for their first-rate approaches to teaching cyber security skills,” said Chris Ensor, the NCSC’s deputy director for cyber growth.
“It is inspiring to see the wide range of opportunities being offered to pupils and I am delighted to welcome the schools to our growing community from around the UK.
“Through the CyberFirst Schools initiative, the NCSC continues to work with schools and local communities to inspire the next generation of cyber security experts.”
Cardiff High School, Cardiff and Vale College, Coleg Cambria near Flint, and Saint Ronan’s College in Lurgan all received gold awards from the NCSC.
Silver awards were given to Corpus Christi Catholic High School in Cardiff, Denmark Road High School in Gloucester, North East Future UTC in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Royal Grammar School Newcastle, Rougemont School in Newport, South Eastern Regional College in County Down, St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic High School in Newport, and St. Patrick’s College in Dungannon.
Dalriada School in Ballymoney and Knockevin Special School in Downpatrick both earned a bronze award.
The CyberFirst Schools initiative was piloted in 2018 in Gloucestershire. Since then, the scheme has been rolled out to Wales, Northern Ireland, southwest England, and northeast England.
Closing dates for the next round of award applications is June 18, 2021.