I took a bunch of high-school students to the MLH Launch hack in London and they had an amazing time, and were really inspired by everything that was going on around them.
Unfortunately although MLH were very supportive of under 18s attending the hackathons, the venues weren't so accomodating, and it doesn't look like were going to get to go to another one.
It would be nice to see more under 18 hackathons being organised to help inspire and engage teenagers. We have YRS in the UK and it's fantastic, but it only comes around once a year.
Not sure about the UK scene, but I know hackathons for high schoolers in the US can also be challenging. I'm listing a few resources that have helped me below:
* CodeDay - These happen around the US multiple times a year, there's likely one near you. I've helped organize a few of Austin's and they're a great organization. I would reach out to them to see about possibly getting an event in London going, don't know if they're able to expand internationally though. http://codeday.org/
* HS Hackers - This is a Facebook group that was made a couple of years back at PennApps. It's now a community of 3,000+ young hackers. https://www.facebook.com/groups/PennAppsHS/
* HackEDU - Nonprofit started by @zachlatta that's starting hack clubs all around the country. I led ours in Austin and will lead it again next year: https://hackedu.us/
Both MHacks and PennApps accept high school students. Sadly, the venues are usually universities with strict policies but there are still many that allow <18, like CodeDay events.
Both provide travel reimbursements and there are tons of HS-friendly hackathons on the west coast. HSHacks, HackGenY, LAHacks (IIRC they were cool with <18). Definitely could use more though.
Unfortunately although MLH were very supportive of under 18s attending the hackathons, the venues weren't so accomodating, and it doesn't look like were going to get to go to another one.
It would be nice to see more under 18 hackathons being organised to help inspire and engage teenagers. We have YRS in the UK and it's fantastic, but it only comes around once a year.