Pupils qualify for elite final stage of Cyber Discovery – Hull Collegiate School
12 Jun 2019
Two of Hull Collegiate students are to continue their cyber security journey throughout the summer.
Pupils from Hull Collegiate School have progressed to the final stages of the Government’s flagship cyber security training programme, Cyber Discovery. Josh (Year 10) and Zoltan (Year 12) ranked in the top 200 out of over 30,000 initial participants and, as a result, have qualified for the final stage of the programme – CyberStart Elite. Josh will attend a three-day and Zoltan a six-day cyber camp featuring advanced hands-on challenges as well as demos and presentations from industry experts.
One of Cyber Discovery’s creators, James Lyne, Head of Research and Development at SANS Institute, a key partner behind Cyber Discovery, said: “We’ve watched the progress of all of our top students throughout Cyber Discovery, some of whom didn’t even previously realise they had an aptitude for cyber security. The Cyber Discovery team is excited to now get the chance to meet them face to face at the Elite Camps. We will be taking these students on to the next stage, teaching them what it is actually like to work in cybersecurity, using real-life examples of the problems and challenges they would be facing if they were to jump into a career right now. With the current scale of the cyber security skills gap, the more we can prepare and inspire the next generation of cyber security warriors, the better chance we have of creating a safer and better place for people to be online, do business, and go about their daily lives in the UK.”
As part of CyberStart Elite, the successful pupils – who largely completed the challenges of earlier stages of Cyber Discovery in their spare time – have the opportunity to attend one of three residential camps throughout the summer period, where they will develop further cyber security skills whilst also finding out more about jobs in cybersecurity.
Head of ICT, Graham Carmicheal commented, “This is an outstanding achievement. Most of our GCSE and A Level Computer Science students registered, and all progressed incredibly well, with the majority reaching the third round. I was fortunate to be able to adapt our curriculum to support the pupils throughout this process, which can be rather demanding particularly in periods of examinations. To have one pupil make it through to the final round is outstanding, to have two is quite simply incredible. Both pupils now have the opportunity to be trained by the best of the best in terms of Cyber Security, and both have the determination and skills to go far.”
The aim of Cyber Discovery is to give young people (in schools years 10-13) an opportunity to learn the skills needed to either enter the cyber security industry at a junior level, or go on to further study in the area, and was designed to grow the UK’s cyber security workforce of tomorrow. Delivered for the UK Government by SANS Institute, the programme looks to identify those with a talent for cyber security at a younger age and to encourage them towards a career in cyber.