FireText were recently a part of the DVLA Code challenge, as advocate sponsors to the event. The challenge had six themes to choose from, all of which revolved around social and environmental situations.
The challenge gave two groups of children (7 – 11 Age Group and 11 – 14 Age Group) the chance to win thousands of pounds of IT equipment for their schools as well the opportunity to develop essential skills in problem-solving, communication and teamwork. There were over 300 entries from schools to take part and a total of 250 children and teachers attended the event accompanied with over 3000 people watching via the live stream!
We want to give the two winners, BlaenBaglan Primary School who based their entry on designing an ecological system for a brand new plant and Cathedral School who developed to program to identify phishing, a massive congratulations. They both happily took £2000 to their schools to help improve their IT equipment.
Photo: 4theRegion 
Photo: 4theRegion
We also want to give all the runners up a round of applause, for the effort that went into their projects! Please see below for all the awesome prizes they received, which I’m sure will give them great opportunities to expand on their IT skills:
7 – 11 Age Group
2nd Prize £1500 – Usk CiW Primary School
3rd Prize £1000 – Gwyrosydd Primary School
Runner Up £750 – Cadle Primary School
11 – 14 Age Group
2nd Prize £1500 – Caerleon Comprehensive School
3rd Prize £1000 – Dyffryn Conwy
Runner Up £750 – Cyfarthfa High School
Not only did the top four schools from each category win a prize, but a special prize was also rewarded to Pontlliw Primary School.
As a thriving company in the technology sector, FireText is over the moon to have sponsored an event with such a good cause. We are proud to be reinvesting into the younger generation and helping to provide them with as many opportunities to help develop their skills, in a fun environment. We believe that the DVLA Coding Challenge has managed to do just that – so also a big well done to them for hosting a great event 🙂