Teens tackle cyber bullying

The winning Felpham Community College team. PICTURES: GRAHAM FRANKS

The Rustington company organised the third annual senior school competition at Worthing Rugby Club on Tuesday, setting the task ‘to build a social media platform or mobile app for young people in education’.

Recent news reports have shown the rising concerns of teenagers online being caught up in cyber bullying and inappropriate comments, known as trolling, on social media.

Clear Computing, based on Brookside Business Park, Brookside Avenue, realised it would be the perfect opportunity to hear from teenagers how they would design a social media platform or App for teenagers, tied in with Internet Security Day on February 8.

Pleased with their finished work, students from Felpham Community College

Teams of four from 13 schools across West Sussex took part, including Durrington High in Worthing, Millais and The Forest in Horsham, and Felpham Community College.

Barnaby Hall, managing director of Clear Computing, said: “The day was everything we hoped it would be. Thank you to everyone who took part to make it another successful event.

“The mentors applauded all the student ideas and were highly impressed with their knowledge on the issues surrounding internet safety in a social media context.

“We are already looking forward to next year’s challenge.”

Durrington High School pupils practise their presentation

The brief was to present an idea considering design, functionality, finance, security and marketing.

The students were supported by mentors from a variety of industry sectors, including Scerri Solutions in Worthing, NatWest, Brightec in Brighton and D3R in Chichester.

The teams had many innovative ideas and these were then presented to the experts on a judging panel, in a similar format to the BBC programme Dragon’s Den.

The three finalists were The Forest, Millais and Felpham Community College. Judges said it was a close call but named the Felpham Community College as the winner.

Assistance for students from Clear Computing customer relationship manager Sheila Hall

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Students from Durrington High School enjoying the challenge

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