By Natalie Moore | CEO of Apps for Good
Reflecting on an inspiring year
I can’t believe it’s already been a full academic year since I returned from maternity leave, and, wow, what a year it has been. As always, our Showcase was a real highlight, and, this year, I had the opportunity to interview some of our student teams straight after they had pitched their app ideas to our judges. Their energy, confidence, and insights into their skills and interest in technology are exactly what a CEO wants to hear!
Celebrating achievements and championing women in tech
Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of joining an incredible panel of girls and women to celebrate Girls in ICT Day. It was inspiring to hear their stories and their commitment to promoting greater diversity in digital careers. Just this week I’m honoured to have been announced as one of ComputerWeekly.com's 50 Most Influential Women in UK Technology, which is a testament to the commitment of the entire Apps for Good family, from the team and Board to our volunteers, partners, and teachers. Also flying the flag for women in tech is our Senior Fundraising Manager, Georgie, who was awarded a much-deserved WeAreTheCity Rising Stars Award. Plus, our App for Social Action course was shortlisted for a 2024 Teach Award.
Alongside my CEO role, I’ve volunteered as a Governor for a local secondary school for the last three years. I’m grateful to have the opportunity to add value to the school, but I often leave those meetings with my eyes wide open to the daily challenges that our schools and teachers face.
Progress in education reform: a new hope?
Last year I reported on a gloomy bigger picture, however, some progress has been made with the potential for more change. In a promising development, the government has announced a review of the national curriculum, with recommendations expected to be published in 2025. This review aims to “develop a cutting-edge curriculum, equipping children and young people with the essential knowledge and skills” that will “break down barriers to opportunity, give every child the best start in life (and) support their future life and work.” This is something we’ve championed here at Apps for Good for many years. We know that, despite these positive prospects, a strong need will remain for us to continue supporting teachers by addressing ongoing challenges including the shortage of specialist teachers, teacher workload pressures, and budget constraints.
Measuring our impact
As we continue to grow, we're witnessing a remarkable impact on the young people at the heart of our work. This year we’ve collected even more qualitative and quantitative data from students, with 81% of survey respondents reporting an improvement in their computer programming skills, and 93% reporting developing more than one essential skill after taking part in an Apps for Good course.
In the 2023/24 academic year, thanks to support from the Hg Foundation, we have invested in our approach to impact management, ensuring our processes and data are robust. We’ve hired a Senior Impact Manager who is already adding huge value and we are working on an independent evaluation of the App for Social Action course with the Institute of Employment Studies to discover what impact our courses have on students' subject choices. We’re expecting to learn a lot along the way and it may result in some changes to the way we report our impact in the future. We are proud to be open and transparent about our impact journey, so stay tuned to hear how we continue to learn and evolve.
Thanking our community and looking ahead
The Apps for Good team has had a busy summer of planning and preparing for the 2024/25 academic year. I'm excited to see what we can achieve together as we put these plans into action.
As I write this, the team is preparing for our first face-to-face event in five years to celebrate the contribution of our volunteers and partners - without whom, we would not be able to offer our courses free of charge to our schools and teachers, which is fundamental to our mission. So a special thank you to, Hg Foundation, OVO Foundation, BNY, Google, Garfield Weston, Spectris Foundation, PA Foundation, Spotify, SAP, Sage, EPAM, Google DeepMind, Northern Consortium, and Balanced Impact.
And a final thank you to our volunteers and teachers who make Apps for Good course delivery possible, and continue to inspire our students every day.
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