Two Luton schools celebrate award-winning students helping to save the planet

Challney High School for Boys and Denbigh High School are celebrating their student’s successes after they won awards at the annual Apps For Good Showcase.

The showcase is an annual celebration of student creativity and tech innovation, with the aim of inspiring and encouraging young people to pursue careers in technology, take action on the things they care about most and develop a great set of life skills.

To achieve an award, teams of students from across the UK had to pitch their app idea for tackling climate change and helping reduce carbon emissions in front of a ‘Dragon's Den’ style panel of industry experts.

After 270 entries, 18 student pitches and over 5,000 public votes, the winners of each category were announced.

Included in the award winners were team Carbon GPS which won the People’s Choice Award. Hasnain, Humza and Sohidul, aged 13 and Mahdi, aged 12 from Challney High School for Boys received the award for designing an app that aims to track your carbon emissions and encourage people to make better carbon-conscious decisions.

Bhadra Kara, Assistant Subject Team Leader of Computing at Challney High School for Boys, said: “We were absolutely thrilled to learn that our Apps For Good team, Carbon GPS, has won the People’s Choice Award for 2022. We are so proud of our students in the team. They are remarkable young men who are committed to using technology, to help improve the environment for all of us.”

Daniel Connor, Headteacher at Challney High School for Boys, said: “This is a great achievement by this very talented group of students. Congratulations to all of them. Team Carbon GPS has reminded us of the great wealth of potential in our children and young people to make a positive difference to society. I would like to add an enormous thank you to everybody at the Apps For Good programme who have made this opportunity possible – it really is a terrific initiative for schools.”

Another team celebrating success was Electro-Saver from Denbigh High School. Hafsa, Mariam, and Ruqayyah, all aged 12, won the System Thinkers category for creating an app designed for children to help them remember to complete simple home-based tasks, which, in turn, could decrease electricity usage and reduce household bills.

Adrian Rogers, Chief Executive Officer of Chiltern Learning Trust, of which the schools are a part, said: "I am delighted that we have two teams from Chiltern Learning Trust recognised with awards at the Apps For Good National Showcase. The students from Challney Boys and Denbigh High are passionate about helping to combat climate change with their app ideas.

"This great work also ties in with one of the Trust’s sustainability objectives, which focuses on preparing our students and communities for the ever-changing world by incorporating modern and adaptable ways of working and the efficient use of technology into our student's learning. It’s great to see our students using technology for such a worthwhile cause and look forward to them becoming our technology innovators of the future."