This month, students at Swavesey Village College, part of Meridian Trust, celebrated being crowned winners of the National Language Challenge (NLC) with a visit to the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in Cheltenham.
The College participated in the NLC, organised by GCHQ, in November. 3000 teams from schools across the UK battled it out, putting their language skills to the test. Six teams from the school participated in the competition, with one of the College’s teams declared the overall winners.
The National Language Challenge is a prestigious competition which consists of language challenges, puzzle solving and cracking codes using language skills. A wide variety of languages are used throughout the competition including Russian, Arabic, Japanese and Zulu.
As winners of the challenge, students and staff were invited to the GCHQ in Cheltenham. Here, they received the NLC 2023 trophy from the Director of the GCHQ, Anne Keast-Butler. They also had the opportunity to hear briefs from GCHQ linguists and were given a tour of the GCHQ.
Students met with staff from the languages department who shared insights into their journey with languages as well as their career path.
The lucky students also collected Eastern Regional prizes for another one of their teams. The team, which was made up of Vidushi, Armelle, Pearl and Mayumee, finished second in the national competition and first in the South-East region.
Jim Stavrou, Principal at Swavesey Village College, said: “We are immensely proud of our students’ achievements in this year’s National Language Competition. Their passion for languages has shone through.”
“Visiting the GCHQ in Cheltenham was an incredible opportunity for them, extending the boundaries of their learning. They were able to witness first-hand, the importance of language in security and intelligence and I look forward to seeing where their linguistic journey takes them next.”
The students’ favourite part of the tour was visiting the Events Management Centre, where they were able to view the 24/7 offices. They then had the opportunity to sit in a room that the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary have used for Cobra meetings.
The trip ended with a tour of the museum which featured parts of the world’s first computer and the code-breaking Enigma Machine.
Jonty, Aidan, Toby and Kelson, part of the winning team at Swavesey, added: “We thoroughly enjoyed the many challenges of the competition and found the visit to the GCHQ headquarters fascinating. We were so lucky as it was a unique opportunity that very few people can experience.”
For more information about Swavesey Village College, please visit: https://www.swaveseyvc.co.uk/
