Two Gib teams make Cyber Centurion finals

Students on the Rock are making their mark in this year’s Cyber Centurion competition, with a senior team from Bayside and a junior team from Prior Park both reaching the finals.

For Bayside, it was a return to the final, having reached it previously. It was that very success that contributed to Prior Park attaining the final stage, with Jared Cruz, a member of Bayside’s 2016 winning team, now leading the juniors.

The annual competition is open to all schools across the UK, with only five schools competing in each level of the final.

This is the first time Gibraltar has two schools in the final.

The junior team from Prior Park, called PPSG Centurions, consist of four boys aged between 12 and 14, while the senior team from Bayside, called Bayside 2, is mixed with students from both schools.

Speaking to the Chronicle, Mr Cruz said he was very proud of the club and the mentoring he has done with them.

But he added that the dynamics of the team made that easy, as did his own experiences in winning previously.

He credits Stewart Harrison, who has led the Bayside 2 team to victory once again with, with laying the foundations for Gibraltar’s success.

Team Bayside 2 were trained by the new Gibraltar Digital Skills Academy, a spokesperson for which said it has been a very tough competition, with all challenges being based on the Linux software which a lot of students have had to learn.

This is the seventh time a team from Bayside has reached the finals out of eight attempts, a success no other competing school has matched.

The finals will take place in London in April.

“Once again hugely proud of the students from our secondary schools, and from Prior Park, for once again making sure that Gibraltar is represented at this top competition,” said the Minister for Education, Dr John Cortes.

“It says a great deal about our schools, and about the work of the new Digital Skills Academy, Stewart Harrison and his team, as well as those in the private sector that have supported this work through the years.”