Exeter School's junior code-breakers

A team of Exeter Junior School pupils has beaten off strong competition from pupils much older than themselves in a mind boggling competition.

Team Omega, made up of Tom Harris-Deans, Bertie Hawkins and James Waddington, took part in the Alan Turing Cryptography Competition aimed at secondary school children up to year 11.

Now in its third year, the Alan Turing Cryptography Competition is organised by the School of Mathematics at the University of Manchester and celebrates the life of acclaimed mathematician Alan Turing, perhaps best known for his work breaking German codes during World War 2.

The challenging competition saw the trio puzzling over cryptographic problems and entering the solution online every week for six weeks.

Despite strong competition from nearly a thousand entrants, mostly from secondary schools, the trio ranked as the 39th best team in UK and as the top primary school in the South West region.

Year 6 teacher Mrs Goldsworthy said team Omega were a very enthusiastic group who took part in the entire competition virtually by themselves.

"They really got stuck into working out the solutions to the questions even during their holidays!" she said.

The team intend to take part in the competition again next year when they enter Exeter School as senior school pupils.
Photo caption:

Caption: Team Omega and their teacher Mrs Goldsworthy.