Whitworth student devises fun quiz app for phone

Year 10 Whitworth Community High School student Lainey Sheridan

A student at Whitworth Community High School has combined her interest in music and technology to develop a mobile phone app and win a school competition.

Last year several teams of students from Whitworth Community High School took part in a national cybersecurity competition organised by GCSQ.

Computer science teacher Bilaal Hanif said: “During the last lockdown we were impressed by the work that students were producing and how well they transitioned to remote learning.

“After the success of the first national competition, we opted to run our own competition that was available to all students. This time the emphasis was on students showcasing their computing skills by creating their own fully functioning app.”

Year 10 student Lainey Sheridan was selected as the winner of the competition. She devised a 'guess the musician' app where players see a photograph of a singer or band and have four options to pick from to identify them.

Lainey, 14, said: “I really like music so I wanted to make my app something to do with music and thought why not make it into a quiz.

“If they click the right answer then it turns green and if they click the wrong one it goes red, you then go on to the next question. There are 10 in total.”

Lainey said the app had been used by her mum and stepdad Jeana and Jim Parker and they said it was very good.

She said: “I really enjoy technology, but had to choose either computer science or music as a GCSE and picked music.

“I enjoy singing and I am learning to play the keyboard. I sing in the school choir and I am looking forward to when we can get back to singing together.”

Lainey said she would like to be a singer or a medical scientist in the future.

The apps were judged by the computing department and based on a criterion which looked for the most fun, unique and inventive app.

Mr Hanif said: “After much deliberation, we selected Lainey’s app as the best. She has managed to download her app to her mobile phone and so have her friends and family.”