An enigma in residence

On Tuesday 15 March our Year 7 students were fortunate to see first-hand one of the famous Enigma machines – the machines used by the German intelligence during the Second World War to communicate with troops in code. The impact of the machine was such that, as seen in the news this week , Alan Turing and his code-breaking team at Bletchley Park were able to reduce the length of the war by two years (as depicted in the recent film featuring Benedict Cumberbatch, ‘The Imitation Game’).

James Grime, Mathematician and keen code-breaker who chaperoned the machine, highlighted the importance of code-breaking skills through history, and inspired the students to think of themselves as code-breakers of the future – MI5 and MI6 code-breakers have to start somewhere!

In the afternoon, Mr Grime spent time with each class, providing practical code-breaking tasks for the girls to complete. It is a real pleasure to welcome Mr Grime in to school each year - and is an excellent opportunity for our students to consider one of the many real-world applications of Mathematics.