{"id":48645,"date":"2026-11-02T15:50:19","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T15:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/south-west\/?p=48645"},"modified":"2026-11-02T15:50:19","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T15:50:19","slug":"gchq-opens-doors-to-40-cheltenham-students-to-explore-cyber-careers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/south-west\/news\/48645-gchq-opens-doors-to-40-cheltenham-students-to-explore-cyber-careers","title":{"rendered":"GCHQ opens doors to 40 Cheltenham students to explore cyber careers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Around 40 young people from across Cheltenham explored careers in cyber security, languages and technology at GCHQ&#8217;s headquarters.<\/p>\n<p>The Bright Futures Day brought together students aged 11-14 for hands-on activities including ethical hacking challenges, language tasters and cloud computing workshops.<\/p>\n<p>Students also examined historic devices including Enigma machines and heard from GCHQ staff ranging from junior analysts to senior leaders.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Danielle George, GCHQ&#8217;s chief scientific adviser for national security, said: &#8220;This partnership demonstrates how collaboration can create meaningful social impact; helping to build confidence, raise aspirations, ignite curiosity and open doors for young people across Cheltenham and beyond.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The event was run in partnership with Golden Valley Development, a business park development in Cheltenham.<\/p>\n<p>Hamer Boot, managing director at HBD, added: &#8220;Golden Valley is about creating real opportunities for local people, and this is a great example of what that can look like. GCHQ has given these young people a fantastic insight into the world of cyber and technology, and the careers it can open up.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Students were identified through their schools and family support networks for the event at GCHQ&#8217;s Cheltenham hub.<\/p>\n<p>Cllr Rowena Hay, leader of Cheltenham Borough Council, added: &#8220;Golden Valley is creating new opportunities for our community, and we want young people to see that they can be part of that journey. Events like this open the door to new possibilities, helping them explore the careers, skills and opportunities emerging right here in Gloucestershire.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Event part of Golden Valley Development partnership<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":48646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50204],"coauthors":[160],"class_list":["post-48645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-featured-story","tag-gloucestershire"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>GCHQ opens doors to 40 Cheltenham students to explore cyber careers - South West<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/south-west\/news\/48645-gchq-opens-doors-to-40-cheltenham-students-to-explore-cyber-careers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GCHQ opens doors to 40 Cheltenham students to explore cyber careers - South West\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Event part of Golden Valley Development partnership\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/south-west\/news\/48645-gchq-opens-doors-to-40-cheltenham-students-to-explore-cyber-careers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South West\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-11-02T15:50:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/_files\/images\/nov_26\/GCHQ_1800x1200.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rachel Covill\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rachel Covill\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/south-west\/news\/48645-gchq-opens-doors-to-40-cheltenham-students-to-explore-cyber-careers\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/south-west\/news\/48645-gchq-opens-doors-to-40-cheltenham-students-to-explore-cyber-careers\",\"name\":\"GCHQ opens doors to 40 Cheltenham students to explore cyber careers - 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