Storm Aviation

Dr Allen and Mr Chumbley accompanied fourteen of our Maths students from Years 10 to 12 to Storm Aviation at Stansted Airport. Storm Aviation is keen to forge links with Birchwood and for our students to have an idea of the opportunities available to them with south-east based companies. We were given a fascinating tour of the company’s facilities which included a maintenance hangar and a teaching room – in which we learned about some of the applications of Mathematics in flight as well as aircraft maintenance and engineering. The students were enthusiastic and fully engaged throughout the day, asking many intelligent questions and came away with a sound knowledge of the opportunities available to them in the aviation industry.

UKMT Senior Challenge

Last month, our top A Level Mathematics students, plus our most talented Year 11 student took part in the UKMT Senior Mathematical Challenge. These star mathematicians faced 25 multiple choice questions covering a broad range of topics that severely tested their problem solving and reasoning skills.
This is a nationwide competition in which the top-performing participants receive a gold, silver or bronze certificate. Birchwood achieved one gold, three silver and 15 bronze certificates with Sam Sloan (Year 11) achieving the school’s highest score. With his gold-winning performance, Sam has qualified for the next round, which is an incredible achievement.
Well done to all those who participated and a huge congratulations to all of those who achieved a certificate. We are very proud!

Break the code at Bletchley

On 6 July, almost fifty Year 9 students went to visit the wartime code-breaking centre at Bletchley Park. They took part in a guided tour of the site, hearing about the history of “Station X” as it was referred to, and finding out about some of the people who worked there, both the well-known such as Alan Turing, and the not so famous. They saw some wartime vehicles and the memorial to the Polish code-breakers who laid the foundations of the work done at Bletchley during the Second World War. The students also heard about some of the jobs that young people their own age would have had at the site in the 1940’s.

The group got the chance to explore some of the wartime huts and exhibitions, which house a fascinating array of memorabilia from the site, including Enigma machines, a model of the “Bombe” which was used to crack the Enigma codes, and a wide collection of letters and documents, including one from Winston Churchill himself.

Students were then given the chance to see a real wartime Enigma machine up close and even got to have a go at pressing the keys. This was followed by a challenging code-breaking puzzle which involved using different sorts of codes to establish the identity of a spy. Miss White, Maths.

Finally, we all got a chance to make the most of the sunshine as we enjoyed a picnic in the pleasant grounds of the Victorian manor house which sits at the centre of Bletchley Park. Thank you to everyone at Bletchley Park for making our day such a pleasure.

Daniel Summers

Maths Teacher