Author: pencoedcomp

Year 7 Take on the CyberFirst Enigma Challenge!

Our Year 7 students were fully immersed in an exciting CyberFirst Enigma Room event, where they stepped into the shoes of wartime codebreakers at Bletchley Park such as Alan Turning. As part of the mission, learners took on the role of intelligence agents working to protect British ships from German U-boat ambushes during World War II.

Bletchley Park, the historic heart of British codebreaking efforts, played a crucial role in the Allied victory by cracking encrypted enemy communications, most famously those using the German Enigma machine. It’s also regarded as the birthplace of modern computing, thanks to pioneering technologies like the Bombe and Colossus.

In this challenge, students used CyberChef.io, a real-world encryption and decryption tool, to crack Morse code and Enigma-style ciphers. Their task? Track down hidden submarines and prevent attacks, all under the pressure of time and competition. The event sparked curiosity, collaboration, and problem-solving across all classes, with 1st to 3rd place prizes awarded in each group. Judging by their enthusiasm and skill, we may already have some future cyber analysts in Year 7!

First Give Finals

You may remember back in April, we posted about the success of Year 9’s Easter Fayre. This was undertaken as part of the FirstGive project, which encourages learners to take part in social action, and support charities in their local area.

Each of our Year 9 Humanities classes selected a charity to support, researched their mission, and spoke with charity representatives to learn more about what they do.

However, there was a slight competitive edge to the project! Each class had the opportunity to win a further £1,000 for their chosen charity from FirstGive…all they had to do was impress the judges!

This Wednesday, a representative team from each class presented their case to our panel of judges: Luke Fletcher MS; former student and Marketing and PR graduate, Jade Evans; Maureen Harris, School Improvement Partner at CSC; First Give Trustee, Jeremy Langley; and Director of FirstGive, Isaac Jones.

One by one, the teams took the floor and spoke passionately about their charities, and the social causes they support. Some learners were even brave enough to share their own personal experiences. They shared what they had learned throughout the project, and how their chosen charity would spend the £1,000, if they were to receive it.

Then, it was time for the judges to deliberate! It was an incredibly tough decision, and they praised learners enthusiasm, the detailed knowledge they had of their charities, and the confidence they showed in their presentations.

In addition to the grand prize, the judges were so impressed by learners that they awarded two special commendation awards, recognising the bravery and effort learners had shown.

However, only one group could win the £1,000 donation for their charity, and the judges awarded it to Breakthrough T1D, supported by 9.5.

We are incredibly proud of the maturity that all of our Year 9 learners have demonstrated throughout this project, and it was a pleasure to see them come together to support so many fantastic causes. Da iawn, pawb!

If you would like to find out more about the charities Year 9 supported, click the links below: