Last Thursday the maths department held a mufti day honouring the work of Alex Turing, a British mathematician and computer scientist who is widely considered to be the father of artificial intelligence and creator of the first model of a general computer, The Turing machine. You may also recognise his name from ‘The Imitation Game’, a film based on his life during World War II in which he led a codebreaking team and developed the Enigma machine, used at the time to crack German ciphers.

During this ‘Maths Day’ of celebration students worked in teams within their form classes to crack logical puzzles and dressed up in in outfits with numbers on them. During break, we held a ‘Pi’ throwing, which consisted of students paying to throw a whipped cream plate at a line-up of willing teachers in order to raise money for the Turing Trust. With the help of many maths students, we also held a bake sale during lunchtime with plenty of themed cakes and cookies, as well as a Pi reciting competition in which students competed to recite Pi to the largest number of decimal places. Congratulations to the winner, Lola Hodges, who recited Pi to 120 decimal places and the runner-up, Emily Parker, who managed a great 60!

Throughout the duration of the day, students raised over £700 in aid of the Turing trust, a charity founded by Alan Turing’s family, seeking to continue his legacy by using technology to empower disadvantaged communities. In honour of his altruistic spirit, the Trust refurbishes IT equipment, installing a range of educational software to provide it for those who need it most. In their first 10 years they have enabled access to computers for over 55,000 students across Africa, working toward a world in which one day, every child will be able to enjoy the transformative power of technology that Alan envisioned.

Sonya, Sophia & Michelle, Maths Prefects