Bletchley Park: “I Belong” Computer Science Trip

On Friday 27 September, we took ten Year 8 girls to Bletchley Park to take part in the “I Belong in Computing: Empowering Girls” event. This event was hosted by the NCCE’s St Clement Danes Computing Hub, which serves schools across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and West Berkshire. Bletchley Park, once the top-secret home of the World War Two Codebreakers, is a fascinating place to visit, offering immersive films and interactive displays.

Upon arrival, we were taken to the Auditorium for inspirational talks from Mandy Quinton (Computing Hub Lead – St Clement Danes School) and Su Adams (Ucantoo). Su spoke about her journey to owning a tech company, while Mandy shared how her daughter pursued a career in programming. Reflecting on the talks, Asmi (8P2) remarked, “I was shocked to discover that only 20% of girls do GCSE Computing. However, I hope these numbers change in the future.”

Following the talks, we enjoyed a guided tour. Debra, our guide, was incredibly knowledgeable and brought the history of Bletchley Park to life. Approximately 75% of the workforce at Bletchley was female, and it was particularly fascinating to learn that female messenger riders were allowed to carry firearms on their motorbikes—unheard of in those days! We also learned about the Polish contribution to codebreaking. In 1939, Polish mathematicians handed over their work on decoding the Enigma code to British and French authorities, having broken the code as early as 1932. This contribution was crucial, despite the Germans frequently updating their Enigma machines.

After a quick lunch, the girls took part in some self-exploration. They visited the Mansion, where the first Codebreakers worked before the workforce expanded into newly built huts and blocks. They explored Commander Denniston’s Office and the Library, followed by a visit to Hut 8, where the team breaking German Naval Enigma messages operated. One of the highlights of Hut 8 was Alan Turing’s office, which has been recreated to look as it did during World War Two.

Next, we headed to Block E for a workshop on “Past, Present, and Future Encryption.” Block E was once Bletchley Park’s World War Two communications centre, handling messages, encryption, and material distribution across the organisation. The workshop explored the principles behind modern-day encryption, and the girls tried a simulation of the Vigenère cipher before learning about symmetrical encryption.

We returned to the Auditorium for a final talk aimed at inspiring the girls to consider taking GCSE Computing. Alesha (8C3) commented, “I really enjoyed the trip because I loved the inspirational talk. It was amazing to think about how many things we can do today, and that we were standing in the place where they broke the German codes, which helped win the war. I also loved exploring because there was so much to see, like the dining room, the rooms where they coded, the lake, the mansion, and so much more.”

The trip offered a unique blend of history and technology, leaving the girls inspired. Tanishka (8D1) summed it up perfectly: “The trip was an amazing experience. I learned so much about the Codebreakers in WW2, and it was very interactive. Everyone was so friendly, and the activities were really fun. I’d love to go again and would definitely recommend it.”

Drama’s ‘twisted Tales’

Box House Theatre company performed an amazing show of ‘Twisted Tales’ last Tuesday, which was fast-paced, energetic and hilarious.

Their workshop was informative and extremely useful for all students in Year 10-13 taking either GCSE or A Level Drama to understand different performance skills and ways to explore more physical focused performance styles, such as mime and physical theatre. We got to know them as a company and built an understanding of their style, platform theatre.

Max Lewis and Saffron Robinson, Year 13 Drama Reps

Year 7 Outdoor Activity Day

Last week our Year 7 Curnock and Davis students headed out on a trip to the New Forest Outdoor Centre with tutors and our House teams. This was a great opportunity for the latest St Bart’s cohort to get to know each other outside the classroom.

Three groups spent the day rotating around raft building, low and high ropes, archery and fire building. We saw some fantastic demonstrations of our school’s BARTS values – brave, ambitious, respectful, trustworthy and safe – and teamwork skills. Some of the raft building was more successful than others but all the students tackled the challenges head on and with plenty of smiles! Tomorrow it is the turn of Evers and Patterson.

Slough Central Mosque

As part of the GCSE RE course, Year 9 students had a unique opportunity to visit the biggest mosque in Slough during the July Curriculum Days. The aim of this visit was to provide students with an opportunity to see how the learning of the Islam they had completed throughout Year 9 in the classroom is lived out by Muslims in everyday life. Students received a warm welcome from an experienced team of volunteers who ran interactive sessions including; calligraphy, food tasting, wudu demonstration, Qur’an Q&A and Islamic clothing and optional dress up! After lunch, students observed the afternoon prayers in the main prayer hall.

Our students were a great credit to the school and were highly praised by the team at the mosque for their engagement and good manners. We are privileged to have built up such an excellent relationship with Slough Central Mosque over many years and we look forward to taking our new Year 9 cohort there at the end of this academic year. More information about the GCSE course, including the trip, will be offered at the Year 9 options evening.

Bart’s 4 Bees Trip

Bart’s 4 Bees took a small group out on our first trip to a working apiary last week.  Once we were all dressed up in our safety suits, we were shown around by our beekeeping mentor, Stephen.  Some of the students were a little apprehensive about being around the open hives but were so fascinated by these charismatic insects getting on with their work that the nerves soon disappeared.  All the students were brave enough to hold a frame of bees and get up close to see all the nectar and pollen they had collected along with the brood cells full of developing baby bees!  We even spotted the queen (marked with a blue dot) surrounded by her attendant bees.

It was a great experience and certainly captured the interest of the students – the number of ‘wows’ that were heard as the frames full of bees came out of the hive was brilliant.   The students were impeccably behaved and a credit to us, but my favourite bit of the trip was listening to them congratulating themselves and each other on their bravery – what a fabulous demonstration of our BARTS values! Bart’s 4 Bees club meets every week after school on a Thursday and is open to all years – come along!

Year 12 Trip to Harwell

On Wednesday 26 June, we took 22 Computer Science and Physics students to Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell, to take part in their open week. RAL welcomed 2400 students over the course of two days, opening up their facilities for the students to take part in workshops, talks, and tours.

We arrived at 10:45 and went straight into a talk on the Boulby Underground Mine and their search for dark matter. The live feed with a member of the lab team was incredibly interesting as they discussed the various experiments undertaken at the mine, including the Rosalind Franklin Rover, Nuclear Security in conjunction with the AWE, and the use of muons as an early tsunami warning indicator.

After lunch, we were given a tour of the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, where we saw their high-energy particle accelerators and discussed different projects they had undertaken, including the scanning of the hominin skull ‘Little Foot’ – the most complete Australopithecine fossil ever recovered. Verity said “I particularly enjoyed the tour of the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, and learning about the ways in which the site operates and the many complex and important uses of the equipment, that are helping advance our knowledge of the world around us every day.” Upon exiting ISIS, the students had the opportunity to manipulate a large mechanical robotic arm to pick up a rubber duck!

Next up was our computing and electronics workshop. The students were set a challenge to repair the Ada Lovelace, an imaginary spaceship that had damaged critical hardware and software systems following a solar flare. The students had to design and implement hardware and software solution using Arduino microcontrollers and TinkerCAD.

Our final stop was the Wonder Marquee, where the students got hands-on experience with various STEM technologies, including a PlaySeat, VR headsets, and a Hot Wheels accelerator. The students were incredibly positive about the experience, with the overwhelming majority rating the tour of the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source as their favourite part of the trip. Vipul said “The Harwell trip enabled us as students to explore the different aspects of applied Physics and Computer Science in solving real world problems and using resources effectively. I particularly enjoyed the ISIS Muon and Neutron Source tour which was intriguing. It added to the current understanding of the contemporary applications of Neutrons and helped to further developed a deeper understanding of Muon sources.”

It was a very enjoyable and insightful trip, bringing the wonder of STEM subjects and careers to life.

St Bart’s at Wembley

 

On Friday 7 June, 10 staff and 90 students made their way to Wembley to watch England play their final warm-up game before the Euros against Iceland. Traffic, as always, was bad, especially getting into the car park but we all made it in good time. We had an extremely long walk from the car park to the stadium, as we were the other side of the stadium and in the upper tier! Once we had got all the students in their seats, they were allowed to grab some food and drinks. Despite the attendance being over 80,000, the queues for food and drink weren’t too long, thankfully.

Sadly, the performance from the England players was nothing short of terrible, which made the game much less enjoyable for those of us watching. However, our students made the most of the experience and managed to start multiple Mexican waves, which continued around the stadium. Despite the result and performance, the students and staff still had an excellent time, and it was fantastic to experience the atmosphere of a home England game at Wembley right before a major tournament. We still got to see some of the best players from the Premier League this season, with Phil Foden, Cole Palmer and Declan Rice all starting. The performance didn’t fill us with confidence that football is coming home but it’s the hope that kills us!

Thanks to Miss Ostinelli, Mr Fry, Mr Sullivan, Mr Bandy, Mr Bateman, Mrs Stevens, Mr Wilder, Mrs Shopland and Miss Broome for giving up their time to support on the trip and to all the staff behind the scenes who helped organise it. We hope everyone enjoys the Euros – come on England!

 

Business Studies Cotswold Wildlife Park Trip

On Tuesday 4 June, A Level Business students and L3 BTEC Business students visited Cotswold Wildlife Park. The day included a business lecture. Students got an insight into the ownership and structure of the business and the way in which external factors, for example legislation and technology, affect the management of the park. The talk also covers the way in which the park undertakes its marketing and how it has changed over the years, with the growing importance of sites such as Trip Advisor and social media.

Students then got the opportunity to spend some time in the park, which was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

“It was amazing! I enjoyed seeing the giraffes”– Charlie (12E6)

“The talk was very interesting and helped us to understand the running of the business” – James (12P4)

“We found the trip a lovely day out, visiting all the animals and the talk was very informative, as we learnt all about marketing strategies, which helped us to match our learning with real life situations” – Eva (12E4) and Beth (12E7)

 

 

“Insightful” Paultons Park Trip

On 23 May, Year 10 Students went on a Business Studies trip to Paultons Park. The students attended a workshop on Paultons Park’s business plan. This was an interesting and relevant workshop; the speaker spoke about marketing techniques that are used and explained why Paultons Park used different strategies in comparison to their competitors.

The speaker spoke about various business aspects, which had the students engaged and intrigued. The talk was an excellent source of relevant and realistic examples of the topics that the students have covered in class or will be covering in future in their GCSEs. The students were also given the opportunity to enjoy the rides, which were enjoyed by all! This is what the students had to say:

“It was very good, especially the workshop. It was very insightful and also having fun on the rides was always a plus’”

Alrayaan Hussain (10D3)

“Overall, I think the trip was beneficial to us and will help with upcoming exams and next year’s topics. The workshop was interactive and interesting.”

Mia Martin-Flaven (10P2)

 “The workshop was very informative and really put into perspective the content we have been learning when applied to a real business. It helped me grasp the concepts of Business Studies GCSE better and it was also nice to have time to go on rides on this trip. Would definitely recommend to potential Business Studies and Enterprise students.”

Year 9 Legoland Trip

On Friday 26 April, Year 9 Computing students went on an exciting trip to Legoland! They attended a robotics workshop where they built their own robots and coded movements, sounds and light using a coding programming called SpikePrime. The students thoroughly enjoyed this and were able to put their coding skills to the test! They were tasked to get their robot from one point on a miniature Legoland map to another. When students did not have a workshop they enjoyed the rides! We were lucky enough to be one of the few groups to enjoy the new racer rollercoaster which was great fun!

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