An enthusiastic group of Year 10 students have been meeting at Horizon Community College with Craig Burgess and Richard Keys of Genius Division to learn what it takes to develop an iPhone/iPad app.

Thursday fortnightly lessons focused around developing an app for the Barnsley Church of the Nazarene. This will help community organisations that partner with the church better communicate. The church is a home to numerous organisations, including youth club, art group, Ward Alliance, Ward Surgeries, Royal British Legion, Crime & Safety Group, and Residents Group.

The students learned about design, layout, business and community applications, finance, and customer engagement. Jayne Manley, community enterprise leader at Horizon Community College, brought students, staff, programmers, and Barnsley church Pastor Ian Newton together.

“It has been a pleasure to facilitate the project by coordinating Horizon Students and a local company who was willing to invest their time and expertise into a worthwhile community spirited project," said Ashley Clark, strategic ICT manager at Horizon Community College. "The outcome of the project will hopefully benefit our local community in accessing the services and groups offered by the Church of the Nazarene. Students have also benefited by gaining essential skills that link to their computer science lessons, as well as seeing a real example of what they can achieve when they enter the world of work!”

The app contains a calendar, directions, photos, videos, live streaming of church services, and information about the church.

“It was a joy and a privilege to work with such a group of committed and creative people and see their ideas become a reality," Newton said. "The Church of the Nazarene is involved [with] numerous community groups. Local people can now see with the touch of a button when the following groups meet: youth club, art group, residents group, Ward Alliance, crime & safety group, Royal British Legion, Ward Surgeries, breakfast club, etc. Moreover, those meetings that are streamed can be watched live or later via the app. The staff and students at Horizon should be proud of what they have achieved. Likewise, the dedicated team from Genius Division are equally inspiring and put in long hours outside of the classroom.”

The project has inspired the pupils to think about further applications, including an updated app for their own school.

“It was fantastic to be asked by Horizon to get involved with this project to help younger people understand how the app industry works," said Craig Burgess, Genius Division creative director. "A lot of people don’t even consider that there’s people out there making apps for a living, and I think that possibility excited the students. It was great to see the students begin to understand how to design an app, and how that knowledge will help them with their future work in other lessons. Our hope is that we’ve opened the eyes of the students a little bit more to show them you can make a career out of something a little more unusual, and anything’s possible if you put your mind to it.”

--NCN News submissions via Barnsley Church of the Nazarene

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