FROM taking down hackers to developing apps, thousands of secondary school pupils have been learning key digital skills thanks to a local campaign.

#Techgoals, a ground-breaking push to improve digital teaching in schools across the Leeds City Region, has now reached more than 10,000 pupils aged 11 to 16.

The initiative, the first of its kind in the UK, used a £50,000 budget to allow secondary schools to cover the cost of releasing teachers for specialist training.

The teachers’ workshops brought together expertise from digital employers such as Sky, Barnsley Digital Media Centre, the Digital Health Enterprise Zone and NHS Digital.

The teachers then went back to their schools ready to teach modules such as ‘Countdown to Chaos’, in which pupils learn about cyber-security by being tasked with catching a hacker before the lights go out, and ‘IBM Wimbledon’, in which they have to develop an app to help a new tennis player navigate the All England Club’s famous grounds.

One of those who took part in the training was Rachael Duchovny, a computing and English teacher at Beckfoot Thornton School, in Thornton, Bradford.

She said: “Digital is becoming an increasingly important element of every subject.

“Any job my students have in the future will use information technology in some form.

“It’s vital that they know how to use them safely and effectively, right down to how to send an appropriate email. #techgoals has been brilliant in helping me to provide exactly that experience and knowledge.

“My Year 9 students have raced through the #techgoals resources and have found them incredibly engaging. By attending one of the continued professional development workshops and having access to these fantastic, fully-packaged resources, I’m able to make my lessons and digital skills in general that much more engaging and fun.”

Nathan Greenwood, a Year 9 pupil at Beckfoot Thornton, said #techgoals had made his computing lessons “more exciting”.

He said: “I have learnt lots about HTML code and now we’re learning how to debug an app.”

The workshops formed part of a four-year strategy to raise awareness of digital skills and careers in schools, in a bid to help make the Leeds City Region a global leader in computing and digital technology.

And the model has since been adapted by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, for use in the capital’s schools.

Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, the leader of Bradford Council and the skills lead for the Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “Leeds City Region has an ambition to become a globally recognised digital centre.

“Cultivating the potential of our future workforce, by overcoming our barriers to growth in manufacturing, infrastructure and digital through pioneering initiatives such as #techgoals, is fundamental to achieving this and I am thrilled by the success of the campaign so far.”