14
Worcesterian | 2020/21
Worcesterian | 2020/21
15
Physics
SC I E NC E
FACU LT Y
It is virtually impossible to discuss anything Science related without mentioning the tragedies that the Covid-19 pandemic has inflicted globally. The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted, and continues to highlight, the need for greater connectivity of ideas between multi-disciplinary teams in order to create workable solutions. The author Mathew Syed, in his latest book Rebel Ideas, highlighted the importance of this: for a team to be successful, it is not about talent, knowledge or skill but about cognitive diversity. Differences in race, gender, age, class and religion, amongst others, increase group wisdom. Any teacher holding a classroom debate will wholeheartedly align with this statement, and we could all do with a bit more wisdom in these challenging times.
Biolo gy In a competition designed for Upper Sixth students, our Lower Sixth pupils performed
This year has produced some outstanding achievements from pupils, most notably the fantastic successes across Senior, Intermediate and Junior Olympiad competitions. In the Senior Olympiad, a competition designed for Upper Sixth students, a strong set of results was achieved by our Lower Sixth students, with Bronze Medals awarded to Angus Day, Will Fallows and Josh Oldnall, Silver Medals for Aaron Lad, Jensen Lee, Will Paterson, Nicolas Kaye and Ben Gaubert with Katy Marsh and Adrian Fok both gaining prestigious Gold Medals. These excellent performances bode well for next year. This success was mirrored in the Intermediate Olympiad by our Year Eleven pupils: Oliver Blunt, Tobey Butler, James Robinson and Dave Varughese achieving Silver Medals. The Junior Olympiad produced a huge haul of medals for our pupils; 102 in total. Year Ten and Year Nine pupils achieved 71 Bronze, 22 Silver and most pleasingly nine Gold Medals: Jacob Bunyan, Matthew Dale, Noah Davison, Summer Hipkins, Luke Jones, Oskar Matysiak and Dylan Cowling from Year Ten and Abigail Crabbe and Elizabeth Crookall from Year Nine. My thanks go to all the pupils who took part and my congratulations to those who were rewarded with medals.
at a very high standard as much of the material examined had not yet been covered. Eight pupils received the Commended Award and six pupils received the Highly Commended Award. In addition, Freddie Davies achieved a Silver Award, the best RGS performance in recent times, well done. We wish Freddie all the best for his Cambridge application next year. Outside the classroom, the Biology Department has afforded its students opportunities which has sparked interest and curiosity in the natural world. Head of Biology, Mr Henderson, dissected a rat for the Billingham Society, explaining along the way key features of the anatomy as the dissection progressed. The lecture was filmed, edited and produced by Mrs Bishop and subsequently shared with pupils so all had the opportunity to learn about rat anatomy during lockdown. Ms Briggs organised an Environmental Awareness Outreach Activity with Grimley and Holt Primary School where Year Ten students designed and produced Environmental Projects detailing the impacts humans are having on the environment, and what actions we can take to limit these. The projects were then shared electronically with Grimley and Holt Primary School, and used to educate the Year Six pupils on the issues of Global Warming. The Grimley and Holt pupils then judged the projects and awarded a prize to the most popular. Miss Briggs said: “We had such a super morning. The pupils were motivated, keen to learn and interact with all aspects of the lesson. We used Nearpod with their school iPads and set up a practical experiment to show the effects of land ice versus sea ice, melting on sea levels. Thank you to the staff and pupils of Grimley and Holt Primary for hosting us this week.”
Outside curriculum lessons, our Lower Sixth Physics pupils took part in a Masterclass on Particle Physics. The event, hosted by the University of Birmingham’s Department of Physics and Astronomy together with Universities from Brazil, Italy, the USA and most importantly CERN, was an excellent opportunity for our pupils to interact and question scientists who are working at the cutting edge of Particle Physics. During the day, pupils were able to explore virtually the Large Hadron Collider and ask questions about its operation. Pupils were also tasked with making measurements and experienced life as a researcher in particle physics for the day. They had access to real, unused data collected from the Large Hadron Collider which they were able to process to aid scientists looking at the Charm quark and its decay. The processed data is now included as part of the project. The day finished with a Particle Physics quiz in which Nicolas Kaye came second out of 150 Physics students taking part from around the world; a stand-out performance. Well done to all, especially Nicolas.
