Carlton Bolling College have been crowned as the winners of the West Yorkshire Police and the Police and Crime Commissioner’s latest schools cyber crime competition.
Pupils from years 7, 8 and 9 from schools across the county to design a resource to help keep people safe online.
Batley Grammar School, BBG Academy, Carlton Bolling College, Fulneck School, The Grammar School at Leeds (GSAL) and North Halifax Grammar School all competed to win the contest.
The resource could take any form and among the finalists were a rap, a play, a spoken word performance as well as websites, videos and a leaflet.
17 projects were entered into the competition with a handful of schools going through to the grand final held at West Yorkshire Police’s Learning and Development Centre in Wakefield.
The final, which was broadcast live on Facebook, consisted of each school presenting their idea to a judging panel of experts.
Carlton Bolling College won the competition with their entry, a play and rap covering online grooming.
Mr Akhtar, IT Teacher at Carlton Bolling College, said: “It’s an amazing achievement for the students, from all the schools that entered going down all the way to number one.
“The students have really thought about their entry, how new students can learn from it, and what the new generation are in to so they can get the message out more effectively.”
Mark Burns-Williamson, West Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, said: “Well done to Carlton Bolling College for winning this year’s schools competition and a huge thank you to all schools, students, teachers and parents who helped support all the hard work that led up to this final, and of course Asda for kindly sponsoring the competition.
“The calibre of entries was exceptionally high and choosing a winner really was quite a task!
“Tackling cyber crime and keeping our communities safe is a key focus in my Police and Crime Plan and a major part in tackling these issues is raising awareness of the relatively simple steps you can take to keep yourselves and your loved ones safe.
“Who better to help with that than young people themselves who are often at the forefront of technology and much more digitally aware than most adults, something these students definitely proved in bringing the issue of cyber crime awareness to life.”
John Robins, T/Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police, said: “Cyber enabled crime is becoming an increasing threat to the communities of West Yorkshire – for many criminals the computer is the new weapon of choice to commit crime.
“It is important that we all work together to recognise the knowledge and understanding young people have about the cyber world but we must ensure that we help and empower them so they can stay safe.
“Competitions like this help to get young people involved and make a real difference to their community. I was particularly impressed by the calibre of the entries and well done to Carlton Bolling College for their successful and enlightening project.”
The competition, which is in its second year now, was sponsored by Asda.
Phil Tenney, Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Asda, said: “Ensuring our customers stay safe and secure online is hugely important to all of us at Asda, so we’re pleased to be working alongside the Police and the PCC to promote cyber safety in our home county of West Yorkshire. Raising awareness and encouraging the next generation to think about their online safety is crucial, and it was fantastic seeing the ideas that the students came up with.”
For further information on how to stay online, including information for businesses visit https://www.westyorkshire.police.uk/cyber.
