The National Museum of Computing Bletchley Milton Keynes
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The National Museum of Computing, Block H, Bletchley Park, Milton Keynes, MK3 6EB
MONTHS OPEN
DAYS OPEN
AGE GROUPS SERVED
Listed under: Engineering | ICT | Mathematics | Science | Day Trip Destinations | Museums | STEM | Science Discovery Centre
What we offer on a school trip
The National Museum of Computing has the world’s largest collection of working historic computers. The collection includes iconic World War 2 codebreaking machines: Enigma, Bombe and Colossus. Not only is there the world’s oldest working electronic computer, but three of the world’s first electronic computers too! There are many interactive exhibits which enable you to use the machines yourself. These include a gallery of retro computer games for you to play. The museum is an exciting place to engage students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics topics.
What makes us a great choice for education?
This unique museum is at Bletchley Park, the home of the WW2 codebreakers. Our computer museum is distinct from the heritage site. Our story starts with how the earliest computing machines allowed codebreakers to break the German codes. To do this they performed near impossible feats of computation. As well as this, the museum also displays three of the world’s first electronic computers. Then we move onto the transistorized large computer systems of the 1960s and 1970s. From there, you can see the development of personal and portable computing. This takes us into the start of the digital revolution and smart technologies up to the 2000s.
Accreditation and Awards
We are working towards a Sandford award, the quality badge for heritage organizations.
What is typically included on our school trips?
Our school offer has both on-site and remote learning options:
On-Site Visit:
Mission STEM Visit - Supported by a tour guide, students have up to 2 hours to explore the museum and solve the puzzles in the Mission STEM book. This is available to school groups under the age of 16 who do not wish to have a full guided tour.
Full Day Computer Science or Mathematics - The day consists of 2 guided tours and 2 hands-on sessions. The tours cover World War 2 codebreaking and Modern Electronic Computing (from 1949-2000). Depending on the emphasis of the visit, teachers have a choice of guided tours and hands-on workshops.
For Computer Science you need to choose one workshop from each of the BBC classroom and the Hub:
The BBC micro classroom workshops are:
BBC 101 – For beginners to programming.
BBC Snake – Students create a game of Snake.
BBC Rocket – Students create a program to map the trajectory of a rocket.
BBC Assembler – A practical look at machine code, assembler and higher-level languages (recommended for higher GCSE and A level students).
The Hub workshops are:
Turing Test – Students will connect either to a student or a chat bot to guess if they are talking to a human or a machine. They will then create their own chat bot.
Virtual Block H – Using the Cospaces platform, students recreate a war-time Block H. This is the world’s first purpose-built computer centre. They explore what the site looked like during World War 2.
The Power of Primes – An investigation into the maths of cryptography using prime numbers.
For Mathematics, the workshops are:
Inside Enigma (Beating Impossible Odds) – This ‘unplugged’ activity enables students to become a human Enigma machine to understand how the wiring of an Enigma machine created the complex system for enciphering messages. They follow the system to encipher & decipher their own messages.
Statistical Attack – Students investigate how the hacking of the Lorenz cipher was made possible by using patterns, statistics and probability.
The Power of Primes – An investigation into the mathematics of cryptography.
Afternoon visits:
These are available after 3pm when our full day programme ends.
You can either visit the World War 2 codebreaking machines for an hour; or have a guided tour with activity for 2 hours.
These sessions are available to schools who wish to combine their visit with a nearby heritage venue. Choose one themed guided tour of either World War 2 codebreaking machines or Modern Electronic computing: and a choice of one workshop as above.
Remote Learning.
There are two themed sessions each lasting 90 minutes.
- World War 2 Codebreaking
This includes a tour of the famous World War 2 codebreaking machines: The Bombe, Tunny, Heath Robinson, Colossus and Lorenz. It includes a virtual reality session to create a Virtual Block H for Key stage 2/3 students; or an activity using a Python program to demonstrate Lorenz keys deciphering messages, for students at Key stage 3 and A level.
- Modern Electronic Computing
Modern Electronic Computing includes a tour of EDSAC, WITCH, Elliott 803 & 903, Large Systems and PC Computers. It gives an insight into the development of computing over the last 70 years and covers key concepts in the computer science curriculum. The interactive sessions offer the choice creating a program using the BBC emulator; or CoSpaces Virtual Block H. Both sessions cover the same content as a full day visit to the museum.
Group Sizes Catered For
Outside of Coronavirus restrictions, we can accommodate for up to 54 students for a full day visit.
We can accommodate up to 72 students by special arrangement (deposit needed).
Materials, Resources & Information Provided
All of our sessions are directly related to the National Curriculum and exam boards for the United Kingdom.
Curriculum links are shown on our website in the learning section.
On-site resource sessions are available as electronic copies if requested.
Remote learning resources are sent out to teachers on booking.
Photography, Filming & Audio Restrictions
For groups visiting the museum, they may freely take photographs when the guide is not speaking.
For remote learning visits, we do not allow recordings.
Risk Assessment Details
Risk assessment guidelines are available on our website and booking system.
Teachers can come for a free pre-visit.
Education Officer Information
On-site visits
https://bookwhen.com/tnmoceducation
For standard booking enquiries, such as dates, times, and costs, check the booking system in the first instance.
For non-standard enquiries, here are the contact details for the Learning Manager:
Anne-Marie Langford
Learning Programme Manager
01908 374798
Pricing Information
On-site visits:
Full day visits are £12 per student (minimum booking fee £168).
Afternoon visits are £8 per student (minimum booking fee £132).
1 member of staff goes free for every 10 students
Remote Learning:
£100 for 1 presenter 1 session.
£200 1 presenter 2 sessions.
£150 2 presenters 1 session.
£300 2 presenters 2 sessions.
Clothing Requirements
The museum is heated. However, it is recommended that students dress warmly in winter months as the museum is a heritage building of 1940s prefabricated construction, so it can get cold.
Available Facilities
There is a shop with sandwiches and a hot drinks machine.
There are Toilets (accessible).
There is also a lunchroom.
Testimonials
“We are running STEM Innovation lessons in school for all students... a realisation of the history and advances in technology is important. Also, being able to link this to a local (Milton Keynes) basis is very nice. The emphasis on the women (including their numbers) involved was very useful as this is often missing from students' knowledge. Being able to use technology to enhance this is awesome. Students loved the programming. CoSpaces was fun and intuitive for the students. BBC BASIC takes me back to my youth! Some of our students stayed after the lesson to continue and many took work home to try the emulator and programming. I have chatted about this experience to my family at home and the response has been of jealousy - they wish they could have been doing the same in their school.”
- Science Teacher, Watling Academy (5 Star Rating)
