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Year 9 Code Breakers
Year 9 Trip to Bletchley Park
On Tuesday 19 March 2024, 47 eager Year 9 pupils went on a day trip to Bletchley Park, the home of code breakers, in Buckinghamshire.
Throughout history, and still today, governments and military leaders of all persuasions try to keep their communications secret by using codes and cyphers; and intercepting and decoding the other side's messages is of paramount importance.
On this Maths and History cross-curricular trip, our pupils learnt more about the role of Bletchley Park in helping the war effort during World War Two, especially during the D-Day landings. Enigma machines were used by the Germans to transmit coded messages and work was done at Bletchley Park to decipher the military codes used by Germany and its allies. Our pupils learnt about the process of decryption at Bletchley Park, from when a message is first intercepted until the intelligence is used.
In an interactive workshop, our pupils had a go at encrypting and decoding messages using an Enigma machine. They worked as a team and applied problem-solving and strategic thinking skills to obtain and apply scenario-based intelligence.
The pupils also had time to explore the Mansion and the Huts in the mild Spring sunshine.
This was a very successful day about minds and machines and we hope to be able to return next year!
"I liked exploring the Mansion because it was very informative with lots to discover."
"My favourite part was the code breaking activity because it was great to learn about how they managed to do it in WW2."
"The tour was very informative and great to learn about how important Bletchley Park was to the war effort."
"I loved the trip to Bletchley Park, it was very interesting and inspiring."
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