Connecting Classrooms: Cyber Hygiene with Wolmer’s Boys’ School in Jamaica
On Thursday, 13th February, we had the incredible opportunity to explore the topic of Cyber Hygiene in collaboration with Wolmer’s Boys’ School in Jamaica through a hybrid lesson. Established over 300 years ago, Wolmer’s is the oldest grammar school in the Caribbean and boasts an impressive legacy of alumni, including a prime minister and Olympic champions.
Our lesson, conducted via Microsoft Teams, began with an interactive “Do It Now” activity. Together, we created a collaborative word cloud in response to the question, “What is good Cyber Hygiene?” After gathering input from all 60 students, we analysed the collage of words and discussed the essential principles for maintaining strong cyber hygiene.
Next, we explored a real-time Cyber Threat Map, which displayed a global view of cyberattacks, including their volume, type, and geographical distribution. We were astounded to learn that around 15 million cyberattacks occur every day. Our discussions then focused on the three most common malware threats: mobile threats, phishing scams, and software vulnerabilities.
Following a presentation by Mr. King, we split into six groups of ten (five students from each country) and participated in interactive activities within Microsoft Teams breakout rooms. First, we tackled the Google Phishing Quiz, sharpening our skills to differentiate between legitimate and fraudulent phishing emails. Then, we took on the “How Safe Is Your Password?” challenge, where we learned that a strong password — combining letters, numbers, and special characters, and ideally at least 12 characters long — could take thousands of years to crack.
After reflecting on the activities in a group discussion, Mr. King introduced us to the internationally recognized Inspiring Digital Enterprise Award (iDEA). This free, bite-sized series of challenges is designed to boost our digital literacy, covering topics like cybersecurity, coding, and employability skills. As an added incentive, Mr. King promised five House Points to all students who complete the Bronze Certificate.
The lesson was engaging, informative, and gave us the chance to collaborate on a crucial global issue. We’d like to extend our thanks to Mr. King and Miss Green for their dedication in making this lesson possible. We look forward to continuing our cybersecurity journey with our new friends at Wolmer’s Boys’ School in the near future!
7 Henry
