A group of pupils enjoyed a trip to The National Museum of Computing in Bletchley Park as part of their studies. The Museum is an independent charity housing the world’s largest collection of functional historic computers, including the rebuilt Colossus, the world’s first electronic computer, and the WITCH, the world’s oldest working digital computer. The museum enables visitors to follow the development of computing from the ultra-secret pioneering efforts of the 1940s through the large systems and mainframes of the 1950s, 60s and 70s, and the rise of personal computing in the 1980s and beyond.

The museum runs a highly successful Learning Programme for schools and colleges and promotes introductions to computer coding amongst young people, especially females, to inspire the next generation of computer scientists and engineers.

Pupil Voice

The guides were very informal and friendly. When they found out I was in sixth form they talked in more detail to me which was very good and I was able to see some extra parts of the museum. They explained all the information in detail and the activities, for example coding on the old and new computing, were very interesting and engaging.

– Bethany, year 12

I enjoyed the Bletchley Park trip because it combined history and computing. We were able to see what is inside computers and how they have evolved since they were invented. This was interesting as we could see the computing behind the programmes that we use in lessons.

– Emilia, year 9