On Monday 27th June, we were delighted to host a Cyber Security enrichment workshop for Year 6 students which was sponsored by the Royal Air Force and delivered by Tablet Academy. 

Students were provided with a scenario whereby cyber terrorists from a group called Kryton had taken control of the RAF’s latest space asset, the Earth observation satellite Carbonite 2. If their ransom demands were not met in the next 90 minutes they will de-orbit the satellite and it will burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere. UK Police had successfully apprehended a suspected Kryton cell commander and all their hardware is currently with the computer science forensics team who needed our students help to gain access to their files.

Year 6 students were tasked to analyse the evidence retrieved and obtain access to the secure server which is hosting the satellite uplink that has been used to hijack Carbonite 2. Working together as a team and using a range of cryptographic and cyber security skills to solve this within the 90-minute time-frame. 

The curriculum aims of the workshop were to: 

• Responsible, competent, confident and creative use of information and communication technology.
• Evaluate and apply information technology, including new or unfamiliar technologies, analytically to solve problems.
• Develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world.

We received the following feedback from Ross Hunter, the external facilitator for the day, "You have some lovely students, they were all very polite, appreciative, and hard-working, with everybody taking an active part in completing the activity. As I told your students at the end of the sessions, the activity was originally written for Yr 9’s so they should all be proud of their efforts as 2 groups in each session completed the activity fully, with all remaining groups getting up to the final step prior to completion."

We are exceptionally proud of the of our students and how well they represent themselves and the school when we have external guests and visitors.