CyberFirst Celebration in the West Midlands: Reflections on What Makes Cyber Special

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A reflection on the CyberFirst Celebration in the West Midlands, marking its transition to TechFirst. The event highlighted achievements, explored what makes cyber unique, and underlined the importance of maintaining the sector’s distinctive strengths, especially its uniquely inquisitive culture, as the programme broadens.


Contents

Table of Contents

Introduction

On Wednesday, the 10th of September 2025, Andy and I attended the West Midlands CyberFirst Recognition Celebration Event hosted by IN4 Group at KPMG, 1 Snow Hill Queensway, Birmingham B4 6GH.

This wasn’t my first CyberFirst event in the West Midlands. The programme has been active here for about eighteen months, kicking off in March 2024, and we were both at that original launch at BCU’s Steamhouse. That day, DSIT and NCSC shared the now-famous spider chart showing the region’s community coherence as just 2 out of 5. It was funny because it was true, and as a proud Brummie, it was painful to take on board.

That moment lit the spark that led me to step up with the West Midlands Cyber Working Group (WM CWG), and ultimately to the creation of the West Midlands Cyber Hub. In many ways, last week’s celebration felt like a milestone in that journey: CyberFirst marking its successes while also evolving, moving from NCSC to DSIT, becoming TechFirst, and showing how far the region has come in just a year and a half.

It was also a reminder of how the threads connect. That first launch event, delivered by In4Group, kicked off the thought process that helped shape the Cyber Hub. Now, with the Hub preparing for its inception and In4Group continuing to lead on CyberFirst delivery in the region, the conversations are turning to how we work together to make the whole ecosystem stronger.

The Celebration

The event brought together the familiar faces who have worked so hard to establish CyberFirst locally:

The mix of people in the room reflected the real depth of the West Midlands ecosystem: schools, universities, industry, and government, each playing a part in building the region’s cyber pipeline.

The Awards

A highlight of the evening was the recognition of twelve West Midlands schools and colleges achieving Bronze, Silver, and Gold CyberFirst Awards. From BOA Digital Technologies Academy, Saltley Academy, and Hereford Cathedral School at Bronze, through Yardleys, Thomas Telford UTC, and University College Birmingham at Silver, to King Edward VI Aston School, Bromsgrove, and BMet at Gold, each award reflected real commitment to embedding cyber in education. These schools are the roots of the pipeline that CyberFirst, and now TechFirst, are designed to grow.

For me, there was a special pride in seeing my alma mater, King Edward VI Aston School (aka KEGS Aston), receive their Gold Award. Their Head of Computing, Andrew Russell, represented the school, and we gave him the warmest of welcomes when he went up to the stage. Other familiar faces included King Edward VI Handsworth Grammar School, where I’ve given talks to students in past years, assisting Aston University, and BMet, where Andy studied before starting his career in IT and his journey to become CEO of Cyber Tzar. Each of these schools has played a part in our journey, and it was inspiring to see them recognised on the same stage.

It was great to meet and catch up with Johnny Palmer, who spoke warmly about the work at Bromsgrove School. Their recognition in the awards was richly deserved, and Johnny’s reflections reminded me how much impact teachers can have when they weave cyber into everyday learning. His enthusiasm for creating opportunities for young people in the region came through strongly. See Johnny Palmer’s reflections.

The Apprenticeships

Another inspiring part of the evening came from Del Heppenstall of KPMG, who spoke about their apprenticeship programme. It struck me as a genuine pathfinder model for bridging the gap between newly qualified cyber practitioners and the demands of major employers.

I had the chance to speak afterwards with Anisah Tahir, herself a KPMG apprentice, whose insights reinforced the value of this route. Hearing first-hand how the programme had opened doors and given her both confidence and opportunity was powerful.

It left me thinking: this is exactly the kind of template we need to carry forward into the West Midlands Cyber Hub, connecting students and newly qualified talent with enterprises, not just in principle but in practice. If we can scale models like this, the Hub can become the place where pathways into industry are visible, viable, and celebrated.

I also had the chance to speak with Lola Rose Freer, who raised the importance of representation for T-level students. Her point was simple but vital: if we want to make pathways into cyber work for everyone, then they need to be visible and accessible at every level of education. It was encouraging to hear how these conversations are happening not just in boardrooms but among students themselves. Lola Rose Freer shared her perspective online.

The Panel

The sense of celebration was echoed by colleagues like Lauren Monks and Suzie Short, who have both been central to making CyberFirst a success in the West Midlands. Their reflections captured the energy of the evening, a mix of celebration, recognition, and forward-looking debate. Lauren Monks and Suzie Short both give a great flavour of the event.

The centrepiece was a panel featuring:

They tackled the big themes: demand-led skills needs, the legacy of CyberFirst, and the ambitions for TechFirst.

I asked the following question, which I’d been sitting with for a while:

What I haven’t heard a lot about is what makes cyber special.

What is unique about cyber that requires sectoral support?

And building on from that, there’s the future of CyberFirst — as it transitions and is potentially subsumed into TechFirst.

How do you believe you will ensure the magic elements that make cyber unique are not diluted?

Colin from IBM pointed to the obvious drivers: global demand, the ever-present risk of attacks, and examples like WannaCry. Fair points.

But for me, the most striking aspect of cyber is cultural rather than technical. Ours is a sector with a systemically unusually high level of neurodiversity. Time and again, I’ve seen how the creativity, focus, and sheer exploratory drive of neurodiverse people give cyber its edge. My son Andy (who came with me to the event, and is our CEO at Cyber Tzar) puts it plainly: “They need people like us to help solve these problems, because we have the imagination to try anything”.

It isn’t about exclusion. It’s about recognising that the sector’s diversity, in thinking styles, in approaches, in backgrounds, is a strength that makes cyber genuinely special.

On the risk of dilution, Gwilym Williams from DSIT captured it best: TechFirst isn’t about weakening CyberFirst; it’s about amplifying what has worked. Taking the successful model of skills engagement and broadening it across other technical sectors. Less dilution, more replication.

Also present was Holly Foxcroft, award-winning cyber risk specialist and leading advocate for the neurodiverse community. Holly has recently joined One Advanced, a Birmingham-based risk management platform company. Her work is widely recognised across the sector, and it was good to see her contributing to the discussion in Birmingham, speaking about what has worked for her in Bristol and Portsmouth. She asked about how to embed digital parenting skills into families, an important reminder that skills and awareness must start early, not just in classrooms but in homes. The panel responded warmly, though the practicalities are still to be worked out. It’s exactly the kind of question that ensures the conversation goes beyond frameworks and funding into lived experience.

The transition from CyberFirst to TechFirst also resonates with our own work on the West Midlands Cyber Hub. Both are about taking what works and scaling it, ensuring the skills pipeline and community foundations built in cyber aren’t lost, but strengthened, as they extend into wider tech domains. The Hub has always been about connecting students and newly qualified professionals with employers, and the evening’s focus on apprenticeships made that vision feel even more tangible.

CyberFirst: Origins, Evolution, and Role in TechFirst

CyberFirst was launched by the UK Government, through the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), to inspire and prepare young people for careers in cyber security, computing, and related tech fields. Key early phases included CyberFirst Schools & Colleges, CyberFirst Futures, CyberFirst Explorers, and other enrichment/competition-style programmes that aimed to give pupils real exposure to cyber skills.

While its reach is national, CyberFirst had a strong early presence in places like Manchester and the North West, where institutions (e.g. universities) engaged with NCSC to deliver courses, competitions and awareness-raising among schools. Over time, delivery partners such as IN4 Group and others in the Northwest and later the West Midlands were engaged to scale up the Schools & Colleges strand.

Transition, Growth & Role in DSIT Strategy

  • In 2025, the programme was formally evolving: CyberFirst is now being transitioned into TechFirst, under the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT). The idea is not to eliminate CyberFirst’s identity, but to build on its successes, broaden its scope (including AI, general tech, etc.), and deploy its proven models across more regions and age groups.
  • The TechFirst scheme is supported by £187 million of government funding. That level of investment shows how strongly DSIT believes in the programme — not as a one-off initiative, but as a central pillar of its national skills strategy. It aims to train one million secondary school pupils over three years, expand partnerships, build digital and AI skills, and leverage CyberFirst’s programmes like Explorers (which already has around 100,000 students registered) as a foundation.
  • DSIT sees CyberFirst (and the evolving TechFirst) as a “jewel in the crown” for skills development at the school level, part of its national strategy to close skills gaps in cyber and tech. The goal is more coherent coverage, better regional equity (making sure places like the West Midlands aren’t underserved), and ensuring that early engagement with cyber becomes routine rather than exceptional.

How It’s Changing — Not Dilution, But Scaling

What’s important is that as CyberFirst transitions:

  • It is retaining many of its core things: competitions, school recognition (Gold/Silver/Bronze), enrichment activities, apprenticeships/futures.
  • But it’s scaling: becoming broader in emerging tech areas such as AI and quantum (via TechFirst), engaging more schools, more students, more delivery partners.
  • There is higher government investment and formal strategy alignment, showing that the UK government is doubling down on its belief in these kinds of programmes.

Reflections

As ever, what struck me most wasn’t just the programme but the people. The West Midlands cyber ecosystem really is made up of some of the warmest, most committed individuals I’ve met in my career. It deserves championing.

And yes, I probably bored half the room by talking about the WM Cyber Hub (again). But people listened kindly, because they understand that what we’re building here is all part of the same story: creating a genuine home for cyber in the West Midlands.

That’s why I keep turning up, keep asking questions, and keep sharing the journey. Because this community matters. It’s a community that spans schools, industry, government, and academia, and events like this remind us how much stronger we are when all those parts come together.

The official CyberFirst West Midlands post summed it up neatly: this was about celebrating progress, but also about signalling a new chapter. For me, the most important part was seeing how those national messages translate into real, local impact here in Birmingham.

In many ways, the celebration echoed the same ambitions we hold for the WM Cyber Hub: building coherence, drawing in investment, creating flagship moments, and establishing a lasting home for cyber in the West Midlands.