Burgess Hill Girls win silver medals in National Cipher Challenge

Burgess Hill Girls students Ashana Dhamrait, Lucia Peel and Melissa Coleman have won silver medals in the National Cipher Challenge organised by The School of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Southampton.

Now in its twenty second year, The National Cipher Challenge ran from the 7th September 2023 to the 6th January 2024. Each week during the challenge entrants must decode two different ciphers with the ciphers becoming progressively harder to ‘crack’.

Representing Burgess Hill Girls in its first year of entering the competition were Year 12s Ashana Dhamrait, Lucia Peel and Melissa Coleman. They worked determinedly as a team throughout the competition, attempting to solve the cyphers as accurately and as quickly as possible. After ten challenging but rewarding weeks, they were delighted to discover they had won silver medals, which they were awarded at a special ceremony as part of a day-long visit to Bletchley Park on February 28th.

Ashana Dhamrait found the challenge immensely rewarding: “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.”

Iain Regan-Smith, Head of Sixth Form at Burgess Hill Gilrs is delighted for the students: “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.”