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Bletchley Park
Maya in 9T sent this report:
On Thursday, 23 January, Invicta Computing students from Year 9 went on a trip to Bletchley Park, a historical site where code breakers like Alan Turing worked during WWII. We arrived at school at 7am to get on the coach. When we got off, we were taken to Hut 8, Hut 6 and Hut 11A to look at recreations of old offices used by many different employees of Bletchley Park. We got to look at blueprints of the Enigma and a few interactive information boards. They told the fascinating history of many different cryptanalysts and how different cyphers were decrypted.
After lunch, we were given a guided tour of different jobs at Bletchley Park, such as cooks and engineers. We were told about The Official Secrets Act everyone had to sign, and how messages were sent to Bletchley. We even saw a motorbike that was used to deliver messages!
Finally, we participated in a workshop where we were to find the name of a real Russian spy called John Cairncross who was at Bletchley during the war from encrypted messages using ciphers like the rail fence or pocket enigma. We even got to see an enigma machine being used!
Overall, it was a very fun day, and everyone learnt a lot about different cyphers and the history of Bletchley Park. We would like to thank all the teachers who took us on the trip, as we all thoroughly enjoyed it!