21 March 2018
Can you Crack that Code?
Ever wondered how to write a secret note? Or pass on a message that doesn’t get into the hands of your enemies?
J D Welch, author of The Einstein Code and The Darwin Code, and expert code cracker herself, enthralled Year 7’s and 8’s with her knowledge and enthusiasm for all things mysterious. Students learnt about the Caesar Code, Arabic Pairing Ciphers and the much harder Playfair Ciphers that were used in the First World War. It was fascinating discovering how much Codes had changed the course of history, including the Babington plot, that uncovered the treason of Mary Queen of Scots and allowed Elizabeth I to reign as Queen and how World War II would have been very different without Alan Turing and his determination to beat the Enigma code.
“I learnt so much from the workshop” commented Ms Hockey. “I had no idea how many codes and ciphers there were. The main comment from students after the sessions were that they would have liked them to go on longer!”. One of our Year 8 students said after the session. “ I really enjoyed meeting J D Welch, cracking some of the codes and learning about their history!”
As well as being author of two books, J D Welch also runs a website full of information on all the above ciphers and many more, including a monthly code cracking challenge.
Click here to learn more: JUNIOR CODE CRACKERS
