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Piggott pupils in national final

A QUARTET from a Twyford school are preparing to do battle in a quest to find the UK’s best cyber security talent of tomorrow.

Jess Peck, Megan Pickup, Zara Pristov-King and Callena Wylie – all from The Piggott School – were among 4,500 to enter the Cyber First Girls Competition, organised by the National Cyber Security Centre, which is part of GCHQ. They are in the top 1% of entrants.

They will now travel to Manchester to take on nine other teams in a live final that will test their intellect and technological skills to tackle a series of cyber security problems based on a real-world scenario.

Mrs Bhattacharya, head of computer science at The Piggott, said: “At Piggott, we are always looking for opportunities to encourage girls to consider careers in the fields of computer science and technology, so we grabbed this one when it came our way.

“The initial competition was held in school and the girls did a great job in researching and solving some challenging problems in coding, networking, cyber security and cryptography.

“We were absolutely ecstatic to hear that their team, Computifuls, with their dogged determination and amazing problem-solving skills, had made it to the finals in Manchester.

“A massive well done to all participants and good luck to the Computifuls for the finals. We are all immensely proud of them.”

Now in its second year, it is hoped that CyberFirst

Girls could spark a lifelong interest that could be turned into a fulfilling career in cyber security, helping make the UK one of the safest places to live and do business online.

In the preliminary online round there were 170 logic puzzles devised by GCHQ masterminds – only 14 remained unsolved.

Alison Whitney, director for engagement at the NCSC, said: “I’m sure everyone in Berkshire will join me in congratulating the school and wishing them the best of luck for the final.

“It is terrific that we have had such a encouraging response to the second year of the NCSC’s CyberFirst Girls Competition, and a testament to how interested girls can be in the subject.”

While the NCSC offers free CyberFirst courses for 11- to 17-year-old pupils, this contest is aimed specifically at female pupils because women make up only 10% of the global cyber workforce.

NCSC said that this means a huge swathe of talent in the UK are potentially missing out on a career they could excel in.