The IMA Teacher Challenge

[Harry]

Welcome to this special early peek at the 21st National Cipher Challenge. We are still working on the site ready for the opening of the competition in September, but in the meantime The Mathematics Teacher Training Scholarships have partnered with the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications to sponsor a special Taster Challenge for teachers and trainees based in the UK. You can read more about it on the Challenge pages, and we would encourage you to take part. It opens on July 1st so head over to the registration page and sign up.

The cipher text for the IMA challenge sets the scene for the story we will follow in the Autumn, but if you don’t have time to decipher it yourself, don’t worry we will publish the decrypt after this mini-competition ends on 31st July.

The Forum is a hotbed of discussion between competitors throughout the annual National Cipher Challenge, so we thought you might like to use it too. You can set your own discussion topics/threads, or just post in this one. It is a great place to give us feedback, to ask questions, to support one another and to spend some time getting to know the others taking part.

If there is anything we can help with that you don’t want to make public then email us at [email protected]. We are always pleased to hear from you.

[matthewlinney]

Hi there, my first time supporting students with the Cipher Challenge. Could you please give me a a rough timeline of when they open to students? I’m thinking of promotion and prep work etc. Many thanks, Matt

[Ms_Ali]

Hi

I have deciphered the text but not sure how to submit an answer. There is no box to submit anything.

[Harry]

Dear Zali, you need to register and log in first to submit your solution. Let me know if it is still not working for you.

All the best,

Harry

[Harry]

@matthewlinney, I think you already found this (I deleted your follow up) but the dates should all be in the teacher pack. Harry

[matthewlinney]

I have the same issue, I’m signed up and have an account

[ashah46]

Hello ,

I am also struggling to find the box to submit my answer in. I am registered and logged in. Could you please help me find the box to submit my solution

[ashah46]

Ignore it. I worked out how to.

[Harry]

Apologies for slow replies recently. We are looking into the mystery of the vanishing submission box!

[SylvianneLH]

Phew, just found this on the final day and succeeded.

I’m looking for display materials to create an eye-catching focus for all students joining the college and hoping that those that aren’t studying computing may wish to take part too, as my display cabinet is where ALL our new students will be walking past to enrol, this is a fabulous opportunity to showcase codebreaking and cyber security.

Do you have any materials that I could use?

A great afternoon spent decoding 😁

[Harry]

We will be sending out an A2 colour poster for the start of term, and there are some resources you can find in the BOSS pages here too. If anyone has some suggestions for us to add, please let us know.

[Author]

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