Code Crackers!

On Friday 28th June, a group of 40 students embarked on a trip to the famous Bletchley Park, the home of famous WWII codebreakers to discover and explore its occupants’ history.

For the first half of the day, we explored the grounds surrounding the mansion house and the museum displaying objects from the Second World War. We watched a short film outlining the crucial work of Alan Turing and William Tutte and looked inside the huts where the codebreakers worked to decode the encrypted messages.

After lunch, we were led by a tour guide around the grounds. We discovered many things, such as the reason why the government chose to use Bletchley Park specifically and heard about the often-overlooked Polish codebreakers, such as Marian Rejewski, who helped to pave the way for codebreaking at Bletchley Park. We also learned about the crucial role the codebreakers played during D-Day and the tour provided us with a new sense of respect for the codebreakers.

Finally, after a quick stop for ice cream in the warm weather, we attended a workshop where we practiced cryptography. We came across the Lorenz code and machine, which were used by Hitler and the more prominent members of the Axis to send messages, as well as the many steps taken to decipher the code, including the building of the first computer at Bletchley Park. We tried to decipher some code ourselves, and even got to see a real Enigma machine!

Overall, we had a fantastic day and would like to thank Mr King, Mr Hawkins, Ms Marriner, and Ms Brown for such an interesting trip.

Darren Lounguedy (9 William)