Three students from Form 4 of the Bishop’s Conservatory Secondary School in Victoria, had the opportunity to take part in the ‘Gifted and Talented Sessions’ being held in Malta, organised by the Mathematics Section within the Curriculum Management.

During the first session held on Friday, the students were given a brief outlook on the history of secret codes.

Without being aware of it, secret codes play an important role in our lives – from the Automated Teller Machine where cash is withdrawn to the Internet.

The session was lead by Mr Alexander Ellul, who introduced the participating students to the world of cryptography – the science of sending secret messages and the important role of mathematics in it.

Thee students were provided the opportunity to encrypt and decrypt messages using a number of Substitution Ciphers. They were also introduced to modular arithmetic and the way it can be used to write secret codes.

The students from the Bishop’s Conservatory Secondary School, were able to work in groups together with students coming from different both church and state schools.

Mr Alexander Ellul graduated with a B.Ed (Hons) in 1997; his areas of specialisation include mathematics and Early & Middle Years. He taught mathematics in secondary schools for over 17 years, and is currently a mathematics Head of Department at St Thomas More College BSS.

In 2008, Mr Ellul completed the Master in Education course, specialising in educational research. The dissertation presented for this qualification was a PISA type study in mathematics among a sample of Maltese students, at a time when Malta was not yet participating in this international assessment.

He is also a visiting lecturer at the University of Malta, lecturing modules related to the quantitative aspect of educational research.

Photos show students attending the Secret Codes session trying to decrypt the secret message by using a cipher wheel.

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