Delivered by IN4 Group in the North West, the CyberFirst Schools & Colleges initiative from the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), a part of GCHQ, aims to provide educational enrichment by encouraging a diverse range of young people to pursue careers in the cyber sector.
North West Cyber Corridor
The CyberFirst Schools & Colleges initiative recognises schools and colleges across the UK that are committed to encouraging young people to develop cyber skills, with the NCSC awarding them with a gold, silver or bronze status.
A major objective of the initiative in the North West is to encourage girls to take an interest in technology during their school years. It aims to engage over 500 schools from across the region in the next two years.
Pioneering fair access
This is part of a bigger ambition to ensure that local young people have the desired skills needed for more than 2000 job opportunities in cyber security, technology and intelligence in the coming years – thanks to the National Cyber Force’s move to Lancashire and £5 billion investment into the region being a significant step in creating the North West Cyber Corridor.
The pioneering CyberFirst North West programme has resulted in £1.57m of social impact in less than 12 months, establishing 13 local schools and colleges from Lancashire and Greater Manchester as among the best in the UK for cyber and STEM education.
Our Partners
“In a rapidly evolving online world, it is imperative that cyber security is a pillar of young people’s education so that they can access the careers of the future and stay safe online.”
National Cyber Security Centre
“Recognition for Kingsway Park High School is a great step forward for us and reinforces our motto of ‘We co-operate – We Pioneer – We Belong.’ We feel this recognition is part of our pioneering spirit. It allows us to give our students opportunities we would not be able to offer otherwise.”
Kingsway Park High School
“Seeing everybody, seeing the number of females here, and just seeing the girls come to life outside of a classroom. You try and teach them as much as you can in the classroom but bringing them to an event like this, you can see that spark happen and even if only two or three of them go into a tech career then we’ve done our job.”
St Ambrose Barlow RC High School
“Gaining cyber college status will allow us to highlight our current work in this area to parents and future students but also create new links with industry partners to offer further experiences for our learners. Our students join us by wanting to work in cyber security, but will hopefully leave with an understanding of what is required, a skillset to begin that journey and knowing the next steps in their journey.”
Winstanley College
Read our Social Impact report
£1.57m of value has been created through IN4 and HOST’s CyberFirst activity, giving a Social Return on Investment (SROI) of £2.57 for every £1 invested.
Find out more