Emma's Story

Emma Darcy, Director of Technology for Learning at Denbigh High School, has been an advocate for Apps for Good for over a decade. As an Apps for Good Trustee, AI in Education workstream lead, and member of the Digital Futures Group, Emma is a driving force behind embedding purposeful technology learning in schools.

At Denbigh High School, over 200 Year 7 students take part in the Innovate for Climate Change course each year. Under Emma’s leadership, the programme has expanded across 16 schools in the Chiltern Learning Trust, culminating in the launch of the Climate Changing Digital Innovation Summit (CCADIS). This annual event gives students the opportunity to pitch their app ideas to real industry experts. Emma said, “We were looking for a way to get more industry involvement into school; we wanted to have industry experts talking to students and inspiring them in their future careers.”

Emma believes Apps for Good offers accessible, ready-to-use resources that support both students and teachers, even without a computing background. The courses help young people build essential skills such as creativity, collaboration, and resilience, while also showing them that their ideas can lead to real-world impact.

Emma said, “Students aren’t just coming up with an app idea – they’re building it, marketing it, and presenting it to real industry experts. That helps them realise anything is possible.” Emma’s work empowers students to believe in themselves, and to shape their world through technology.