On Wednesday 7 November, the pupils from Years 6, 7 and 8 visited the home of the Codebreakers, Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes.
Our pupils learnt that men and women working at Bletchley Park devised methods to enable the Allied forces to decipher the military codes and ciphers that secured German and Japanese communications. This produced vital intelligence in support of Allied military operations on land, at sea and in the air.
Bletchley Park also kick-started the information age with the industrialisation of the codebreaking processes enabled by machines such as the Turing/Welchman Bombe, and the world’s first electronic computer, Colossus.
The pupils had the opportunity to experience the life and work of these amazing people and put their own heads together to break some codes.
Here are few comments about this experience:
“It was a great experience and I really enjoyed looking around the huts and listening to the voices of people who lived during WW2” – Lily-Ann – Year 7
“The most interesting thing I saw today was the Turing/Welchman Bombe and Enigma machines. We also got to use one!” – Freya – Year 6
“I really enjoyed touching the Enigma machine and seeing Alan Turing’s office while completing the tasks in the booklet” – Frances – Year 6
“I really liked the mansion because of the intricate designs on the ceilings and learning how everyone felt whilst working at Bletchley Park” – Daisy – Year 8
“The most interesting things today were the Enigma machine and how they created the codes. Also how hard it is to crack it!” – Maddie – Year 7
“The best part for me was when I saw the Allan Turing’s office, because that was actually where he worked!” – Amaani – Year 7
“…learning about the Enigma machine, because the engineering going into building it, is so complex, it is almost impossible to solve.” – Eva – Year 7
“…there was a video about what life was like for the codebreaking women. It taught me about the important position that the women played in the war” – Naomi – Year 8
