Teenage codebreakers from Burgess Hill Girls win silver medals in National Cipher Challenge

Year 12s Ashana Dhamrait, Lucia Peel and Melissa Coleman took park in the event, which ran from September 7, 2023, to January 6 this year.

It was organised by The School of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Southampton.

Each week during the ten-week challenge entrants had to decode two different ciphers with the ciphers becoming progressively tougher.

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Ashana said: “The National Cipher Challenge was such a worthwhile experience. We learnt the importance of trying things out even when you don’t know where to start, because you could discover something new which will help guide you towards the solution. We learnt not only about code breaking, but also about problem solving, perseverance and working together as a team.”

The National Cipher Challenge is in its 22nd year but this was the first year Burgess Hill Girls entered. The school said Ashana, Lucia and Melissa worked determinedly as a team over ten weeks while they tried to crack the cyphers as accurately and quickly as possible. The trio received their medals at a special ceremony during a day-long visit to Bletchley Park on Wednesday, February 28.

Iain Regan-Smith, head of Sixth Form at Burgess Hill Girls, said: “It is fantastic to see the students rewarded for all their hard work. They have also honed their team working and problem-solving abilities, two attributes we know leading companies and institutions massively value when looking for new recruits.”