We believe it is important to bring cyber security awareness and education to schools so that we can help pupils of all ages to better protect themselves and attract some of them to study cyber security related (not limited to computing-related) subjects in the future.
Professor Shujun Li, iCSS Director and Outreach Lead, oversees iCSS’s school outreach activities. For more information, or if you’d like to get your school involved, please email us at cyber-info@kent.ac.uk.
KMCSN (Kent & Medway CyberSchools Network)
As an important new initiative in the 2023-24 year, iCSS set up the local schools network KMCSN (Kent & Medway CyberSchools Network), together with The STEM Hub and KMCC (Kent & Medway Cyber Cluster Ltd). We welcome local schools and teachers in Kent and Medway to join the Network to discuss how we can all work together and with other stakeholders on pre-university cyber security and online safety education and awareness raising activities. If you are interested in this initiative, please visit this dedicated page for more details about the KMCSN including how to join as a member.
A cyber security awareness video
We partnered with Scriberia to make an animated video for young children and schools to understand more about the interdisciplinary nature of cyber security, the diverse career options and the importance of continuous learning and collaboration. This is a free resource for all to use.
Cyber security awareness books
The above animated video has been converted to an e-book (download from here) so that children can read it as a book rather than a video, which can help reduce screen time and engage those who like books more than videos.
In addition, working with Cyberlite Books Pte Ltd in Singapore, iCSS ordered 1,000 hard copies of Ready, Get Set, Connect!, an online safety book for children of 7-12 years old, for distributing to member schools of the KMCSN.
We plan to make more such books in the future. Please make suggestions on what books you’d like to see.
CyberFirst activities
iCSS represents the University of Kent as a member of the NCSC (National Cyber Security Centre)’s CyberFirst programme. Visit this dedicated page for more details about iCSS’s CyberFirst activities for local schools and pupils.
School visits
On Safer Internet Day 2023, iCSS visited the Junior School of St Edmund’s School Canterbury to deliver two sessions on “How to be a cyber superhero” to their Years 7 and 8 pupils, and also the Simon Langton Girls’ Grammar School to deliver a session on misinformation, disinformation and media literacy (which is based on the content of this Futurum Careers article) to their Year 9 pupils. On 10th Feb 2023, we also visited Kent College in Canterbury to deliver a session on misinformation, disinformation and media literacy to their Year 7 pupils.
On Safer Internet Day 2022, iCSS engaged with the Junior School of St Edmund’s School Canterbury, to give two sessions on misinformation, disinformation and media literacy to their Years 3-5 pupils, and two sessions on online risks to their Years 6-8 pupils (read the Kent news story for more).
If you are interested in arranging a visit for your school, please email cyber-info@kent.ac.uk.
Inspiring next-generation cyber experts
iCSS is actively working with schools and other organisations to promote cyber security as a future career for pupils who are interested in ICT.
On 4th and 5th October 2022, iCSS held its Kent Cyber Security Festival 2022 as part of this year’s University of Kent Youth Summit. The Festival was an opportunity for school pupils in years 9, 10 and 11 to learn how they can stay safe online, as well as what cyber security might mean in a personal context and as a potential future career. Watch the highlights below.
Jason Nurse was featured in Fantastic Jobs and How to Get Them, a book published by Oxford University Press as part of its famous Oxford Reading Tree TreeTops series (Kent news story).
Cyber security articles and activity sheets
We worked with Futurum Careers, a school-facing magazine for attracting teenagers to study STEM subjects, to produce three cyber security awareness articles, each with an interactive activity sheet (see below for the links and citation information), as well as a ‘top tips’ video that can be used to engage school pupils, parents and staff. All material is released under the Creative Common License Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) and we welcome all to use them for cyber security outreach activities with schools. Please inform us via cyber-info@kent.ac.uk if you use the material and find it useful.
- Jason Nurse and Jamie MacColl, “Can cyber insurance combat cyber crime?” Futurum Careers, July 2023, DOI:10.33424/FUTURUM408
- Shujun Li, Sarah Turner, Rahime Belen-Saglam and Virginia N. L. Franqueira, “Online battles: combatting false information and reducing online risks,” Futurum Careers, October 2022, DOI:10.33424/FUTURUM302.
- Shujun Li and Jason Nurse, “How to Beat the Cybercriminals and Stay Safe Online,” Futurum Careers, Issue 4, pages 32-33, March 2020, DOI:10.33424/FUTURUM43.
iCSS Cyber Ambassadors
We have appointed a number of University of Kent UG/PGT/PGR students as iCSS Cyber Ambassadors, who help the University and iCSS to conduct cyber-related school outreach and other cyber security awareness raising activities.