Bletchley Park Visit
Headington School’s academic scholars travelled to Bletchley Park on Friday 17th June.
Their lectures, seminars and events this year have been based on the theme of ‘communication’, and Bletchley Park offered another perspective on this. As a site of great mathematical and historical importance, Bletchley offered opportunities for learning and enrichment in a number of disciplines. The promotion of interdisciplinary thinking is a core aim of Headington’s Scholars’ programme and scholars enjoyed many elements of the visit. Some of their reviews are as below:
“I really enjoyed walking around the exhibits because it taught me a lot about how the code breaker teams expanded and how they weren’t all “geniuses”. I also learned how women were involved throughout the war. The Intelligence Factory was very engaging and I am interested in finding out more about the various code collections and the people involved in developing these systems”
“I really enjoyed spending time at Bletchley Park, especially because it linked very closely to my project (the communication of the Nazis). I was really interested in the rapid development and fast-paced changes that the Germans made to ensure their code was safely encrypted, and secure. This made the work of all those fascinating workers at Bletchley park seem even more incredible. Thank you for such a great day!”
“This was a truly epic trip and I have always wanted to go to Bletchley Park. The many aspects of code and cypher-breaking that went on during the war at this site were awe-inspiring, and since my project is on Morse code, some parts were particularly useful. The interactive displays helped teach me how certain techniques like ‘cribbing’ and ‘pinches’ were used and getting to see the Bombe machine and enigma machines was super cool. I would highly recommend visiting Bletchley, and would definitely go there again in the future. The scholars’ trip was very very good. “
The culmination of the year for the academic scholars is their project exhibition, which takes place after school on Monday 4th July. Some hugely ambitious and exciting projects will be displayed.
