Uniformed Protective Service (UPS) students from Stratford-upon-Avon College recently visited world-famous code breaking facility, Bletchley Park.
First year Level 3 UPS students visited the historic site to learn about war time code breaking and the history of military intelligence. They tested their morse code skills at the national radio centre and got hands-on with a real enigma machine.
Bletchley Park, once the top-secret home of World War Two Codebreakers, now welcomes members of the public to its grounds to engage and educate visitors about the facility’s crucial role in the War.
Students took part in a range of practical activities including using morse code, going on a guided tour and taking part in a classroom session to learn about ciphers and code breaking.
Students tried out their code breaking skills!
They found it extremely interesting. Student Jack Nichols commented: “I enjoyed the trip. The class lesson simulated what breaking the enigma code would be like and we also got to use one of the enigma machines which was very cool as we were told there was four in the world.”
Oli Webster added: “The trip was good and very informative. The thing I enjoyed the most about the trip was the ability to explore the grounds and manor, learning about different parts of codebreaking and how everything was put together during WW2.”
UPS Lecturer, Natalie Parker, detailed why this type of trip is beneficial for students: “This kind of trip is important for students to see the real-world application of skills we teach them in college, to understand military history as many of them will be entering these services, and to put in to context the team work, personal discipline and leadership of those involved at Bletchley Park. It is also important to promote the contribution that women made. Over 70% of the workforce at Bletchley Park were women during the war – UPS isn’t just for the boys -now or historically!
Students also learnt how military contributes to civilian life, with the Bombe machine being the first programmable computer ever created and how that paved the way to technology right up to the very modern era with its development into AI.”
