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On Friday (3rd February), students from Years 12 and 13 performed in Patrick Barlow's wonderful comedy adaptation of this nail-biting thriller.

Codes, ciphers, secrecy, intrigue, perseverance and collaboration are all words that spring to mind following Year 6’s day at Bletchley Park, in the company of their counterparts from the Junior School in Cambridge.

The pupils were informed and intrigued during their guided tour and, as always, were ready with their searching questions and quick answers. After a quick snack in “Hut One” it was off to the “classroom” and a chance to do some real code breaking of their own but only, of course, after they had all signed the Official Secrets Act!

The task involved firstly deciphering the Morse code and then translating the coded messages, before plotting the positions of the ships and submarines on the map, then finally trying to decide what the evasive action should be in the face of the enemy onslaught.

This was superbly realistic for the children and really brought home to them how vital the decoding of Enigma was to the outcome of the War. As ever there was not quite enough time to see everything, but a quick dip into the “Secrecy and Security” exhibition at the end of the visit cemented the link between the work that was carried out in such secrecy at Bletchley and the overt nature of the internet with which our pupils are so familiar today: and, above all, how easy it is for one small error to have catastrophic and far-reaching consequences. A fitting link with this week’s Safer Internet Day.

On Wednesday 1 February, we were joined by two enthusiastic young structural engineers, Helen Leung and Mike Kovacs, from the engineering firm Ramboll. They delivered a special activity for Year 6, under the auspices of our Junior Inspire programme.

The thrilling prequel to our last blog about the journey of the Stephen Perse teddy!

On Wednesday Dame Bradbury's played host to Cambridge International School in both netball and football. All Year 5 pupils and some Year 4 boys took to the netball courts and football pitches to play against the visitors. The girls played some good netball and with some excellent attacking and defensive play on show, our 3 teams came away with two victories and one drawn match. Well played girls.

Thirteen students from Year 9 went on a half day trip to FlexEnable last Friday as part of their ten week Go 4 SET project on 'Our electronics environment'.

On Wednesday, all pupils from Year 5 & 6 took part in the Saffron Walden Schools Indoor Athletics competition. With a variety of track and field events taking place each pupil competed in at least one track and field event each.

The noise levels were high and competition was fierce. With Radwinter, Katherine Semar and St Thomas More all in attendance our pupils performed excellently with some superb and individual performances.