HEADINGTONIUM Headington’s Science Magazine
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September 2016
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Issue 2
Contents
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Feature Headington’s British Science Week
Welcome to Issue 2 of Headingtonium As you will see inside, it has been another busy year across the sciences, with particular focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths) taking initiatives beyond Biology, Chemistry and Physics to Design Technology, wArt, Robotics, Engineering and Careers. Thanks must go to our devoted team of Science Ambassadors who’ve worked their magic in organising and supporting girls, teachers and school visitors to enjoy what we have on offer. If you have an idea for something new, fun and STEM related, why not let us know by emailing me at jmorris@headingtonschool.com Finally, I am very pleased to share with you news of our Science Wing renovation which sees four new, state-of-the-art science laboratories coming online in September 2016 with another eight planned for the following Autumn. These will certainly add an extra dimension to our learning environments in Science. J Morris Head of Science
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U6 Biologists in the Isle of Wight 2016 Biology Olympiad Success Brainy students @ Biology Club
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Dr. Peter Cole: Talk on the Biology of Pain Breast Cancer Awarness
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Headington Feature in the Oxford Times! STEM Lecture on Creativity and Design
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GCSE Science Live! Headington’s Young Scientists of the year
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Team Bath Racing Visit Headington!
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Chemistry in Action lectures The Chemistry of Murder: Salters Festival of Chemistry 2016 International RCS Chemisty Olympiad
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Headington’s very own Chemistry Challenges
GSA STEM conference
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Holly’s Robotic Breakfast with the BBC
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Eureka Science Club (Featuring the Hydroelectric Generator Project)
Talk by Hans Kraus: The Hunt for Dark Matter Physics AS Challenge Results
15&16 U3 and L4 at BigBang @ RAL
Crosswords & Puzzles
Institute of Chemical Engineers: Pulling the plug essay competition 2
FEATURE
British Science
Events that took place during 14th-18th of March at Headington
What is British Science Week? British Science Week (BSW) is a ten-day celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths, featuring fascinating, entertaining and engaging events and activities across the UK for people of all ages. BSW provides a platform to stimulate and support teachers, STEM professionals, science communicators and the general public to produce and participate in STEM events and activities. Anyone can organise an event or activity, and the British Science Association helps organisers plan by providing free activity and support resources. We welcome and support any type of organiser, from schools to community groups, from parents to large organisations. The resulting programme of events is a hugely varied and eclectic mix.
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British Science Week 2016 kicked off in school with an Ambassador led “Magic of Science� assembly for U3 and L4. Our dynamic sixth form scientists demonstrated fountains of chemicals, magnetic rats, spinning coins, and reversible reactions to the bewilderment of the audience. Those watching, bold enough to offer an explanation, did really well unravelling the science behind the spectacles and earned themselves edible prizes. Later in the week, tutor groups had the chance
to battle it out with the BSW quiz covering all manner of science history, discoveries, theories and current affairs. Tuesday saw balloon powered cars making their way in races across L4 lab. Wednesday provided an opportunity for L5 girls to attend the GSA-STEM conference at Edgbaston High School and the end of the week culminated with Mr Stephenson and his trusty sous chef Mrs Rickets preparing liquid nitrogen ice cream for the girls.
e Week
Liquid nitrogen is nitrogen at its liquid
state below its boiling point (-195.79 degrees Celsius). It is made in fractional distillation in which liquified air is passed into a column and separates into different fractions according to their boiling point. Its low temperature gives it multiple uses which include freezing and transport of food, cryopreservation of biological samples and coolant for superconductors, etc.
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BIOLOGY
Isle of Wight trip The added excitement of a ferry trip on the journey to the Isle of Wight field course at the Medina Valley Centre ensured the U6 Biologists were fully enthused on their arrival. We counted barnacles, limpets and small mammals; studied succession on a salt marsh; marked and recaptured snails to estimate their population; and of course managed to have an ice cream. The trip was intense but we learnt aspects of the course in fun and interactive way! Dissecting owl pellets was a particular favourite of mine. Lydia, U6
Biology Olympiad The Biology Olympiad is a national competition consisting of two very challenging papers. This January 12th, sixth form Biologists entered and we were delighted that all the girls received a certificate. Special congratulations go to Olivia Seifert who got a gold medal, only 6.6% students in the country achieve this.
Brainy Students
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On 23rd February, Unit scientists Dr Natalie Doig and Dr Emilie Syed made a return visit to Headington to engage with pupils of Years 11-13 in the student-led School Biology Club. Natalie discussed how the brain circuits controlling movement are organised, and experimental techniques used to investigate them. Emilie then introduced studies of the chemical transmitter dopamine
and its relation to movement and Parkinson’s disease. This was followed by a lively discussion with the pupils and an interactive practical session enjoyed by all.
Biology of Pain I found the talk given by Dr. Peter Cole on the Biology of Pain extremely interesting. He explained the differences between nociceptive and neuropathic pain and also talked about phantom limb pain. What was particularly interesting was his explanation of complex regional pain syndrome, which is the most painful condition known. He gave us an insight into his typical working week, including his work as an anaesthetist and pain consultant, describing also his work with plastic surgeons. Everyone was fascinated by what he had to say, and the images he showed gave us a true insight into life in an operating theatre. We particularly enjoyed the fascinating but slightly gruesome pictures showing before and after a tumorectomy on a woman’s arm. To finish off, using a skeleton model, he described to us the process of how he would anaesthe-
tise someone and what the potentiwwal risks involved are. This was especially interesting as he really portrayed how crucial and vital it is that the anaesthetic is injected in the correct place. The talk was most enjoyable and it really gave me an insight into what the real science is behind the pain that one would or has experienced. Nociceptive pain
Type of pain which is caused by damage made to body tissues and is usually described as a sharp, aching, or throbbing pain.
Neuropathic pain
Type of pain which is caused by actual nerve damage and is described as a burning sensation or numbness.
Phantom limb pain
Painful sensations that seem to be coming from a part of the limb that is no longer existent.
Complex regional pain syndrome
A chronic disease in which patients suffer from severe pain, swelling and changes in the skin.
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Breast Cancer Awareness Dr Nicola Winstone gave a talk to Biologists about breast cancer. Here is an account of the talk from Izzy in L6.
know, from studying Biology, that cancers are formed due to a mutation in cell DNA causing abnormal and uncontrolled cell growth but was intrigued to I was initially drawn to going to discover that the reason why the lecture about breast cancer cancers are more common in because it is an extremely relelderly people is because the evant topic affecting hundreds older cells are less effective at of thousands of women across correcting these mistakes in the world. I was also interested the DNA. to find out more about breast cancer and previous efforts to treat the disease. I was not disappointed. At the talk I learnt that the fact that it is not only women that are affected, but also men (even though this Every day, 350 women is a lot rarer). and 1 man are Every day 350 women and 1 man are diagnosed with breast cancer. This shocking figure makes it the most common cancer in the UK affecting over 50,000 women every year. I
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diagnosed with breast cancer.
Dr Winstone went on to explain her role in the charity as a research manager. She explained how new information obtained by large investigations, using blood and urine samples from over 3,000 patients over 15 years, and from international collaborations between other breast cancer charities has allowed the scientists to develop and enhance new treatments. I found the talk extremely interesting because the disease could so easily affect not only me in the future but also my loved ones and I feel following this talk I can support those going through breast cancer better now.
Following Dr Winstone’s talk, pupils ran a cake stall and raised £200 for the charity Against Breast Cancer.
CHEMISTRY
Chemistry in Action
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The explosions were brilliant and certainly made me jump! I love it when we get to see things that we normally don’t get to in school.”
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In November 2015, a group of L6 and U6 Chemistry students attended a series of talks at UCL Institute of Education in London. “Are diamonds more than just a girl’s best friend?” was the opening question, wowing the audience by the amazing world of Chemistry and inspiring This was continued with the gruesome world of food contamination science, where a Sherlock research into nano-diamonds. Holmes attitude and state of the art techniques helped highlight exactly what unexplained substances could rear their little heads in your microwave meal! Prof. David Smith from York University gave an inspiring talk entitled “From Breaking Bad to making good: the chemistry of drugs”, and detailed how amphetamines interact with neurostimulators in the brain, moving on to demonstrate how revolutionary gene therapy combined with new drug delivery systems may cure cystic fibrosis.
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No chemistry lectures would be complete without the awe-inspiring explosions, and the day culminated in a dramatic set of demonstrations – decomposition of hydrogen peroxide that squirted into the air, along with hydrogen-oxygen combustion to produce explosions as loud as a gun firing.
“I found the speakers really inspiring and it has encouraged me to look more into how chemistry can find new medicines.”
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The Chemistry of Murder
How concentrated should a solution be to let a Minions laser work for exactly three minutes? This was a challenging task. The whole day was enjoyed thoroughly by L4 pupils Claudia Rossington and Isabella Bayly, and U3 pupils Numa Shah and Tegan Knox Clarke and topped off by liquid nitrogen produced ice cream.
Salter’s Festival of Chemistry On Thursday 17th March a team of Headington’s young chemists visited Oxford University’s Inorganic Chemistry Department to take part in a murder mystery challenge. Who committed the crime? Using chromatography and chemical analysis the pupils were presented with different pieces of evidence which might implicate a suspect. In the afternoon a different challenge was posed.
RSC Chemistry Olympiad The International RSC Chemistry Olympiad – one serious challenge
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The paper this year was particularly challenging, but despite this 9 students achieved amazing silver awards: Jenny To, Denise Yung, Avika Pulges, Rebecca Colquhoun, Sophia Lam, Jingyan Hou, Jaeyeon Bae,Yuxuan Lu and Tianyu Fu. A further 7 students achieved a bronze award. Many congratulations go to all those who stepped up to the challenge and participated, their willingness to push themselves during a very busy time was highly commendable.
Chemistry Challenges
Institute of Chemical Engineers
A half-term brain-teaser
Pulling the plug
The Chemistry challenges were initiated to celebrate the school’s centenary, and have continued to be received with delight this year. Did you identify sand as the odd one out from the other allotropes of carbon? What about determining a compound from a mixture? The most popular was the riddle to determine lead from a ‘What am I?’ rhyme. With so many entries it was hard to determine a runner-up and winner this year. Congratulations go to this year’s runner-up Emilie Walker in U5, and to the overall winner Georgia MacFarlane in L4.
The UK is still heavily dependent on getting its energy from conventional sources such as natural gas and coal. But how long can this continue? Does the UK need to look for new sources of energy to secure the future? This was the question posed to L5 and U5 pupils and was the basis of the essay competition for the Institute of Chemical Engineers, designed to involve pupils in the critical engineering issues that society faces. A range of imaginative ideas were offered: • The ‘sole’ energy detailed flooring tiles that are able to convert kinetic energy from our footsteps into electrical energy. • Wind turbines were discussed as an environmental advantage and buoyant air turbines were posed as an alternative to conventional wind turbines • Graphene – a new way of harvesting heat and electricity.
Particle Physics Crossword Puzzle Across 3. Negatively charged particles that circle the nucleus. 5. The name of one of the types of quarks found in protons and neutrons. 6. The name of one of the types of quarks found in protons and neutrons. 7. Protons and neutrons are made up of these particles.
Down 1. The central part of the atom. 2. Positively charged particles found in the nucleus of the atom. 4. Neutral particles found in the nucleus of the atom.
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PHYSICS
Team Bath Racing Visit Headington On Thursday 12th October, girls were lucky enough to be visited by a group of students from Bath university who were part of Team Bath Racing. Of the six students who came from Bath, four were women eager to promote girls in STEM subjects and gave a fascinating lecture in the evening about both the racing car that they had brought with them but also what benefits girls have in STEM related degrees and why it is important for girls to aspire to STEM subject based careers. Not only were Headington girls invited to this interesting and informative lecture, but there was also the opportunity for girls to see the car in action at the front of school at lunchtime which has been used in Formula Student races across Europe. Many girls seized this opportunity and turned up to see the car, as well as keen year 4 students walking over from the prep school in order to see it. Throughout the afternoon U4 students attended two workshops run by the students which inspired some to then come to the lecture in the evening. Overall the day was hugely enjoyable and really
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encouraged girls that straight sciences are not the only STEM subjects on offer! Jo Gent, L6
Read what TBR had to say... As part of their commitment to promote the uptake of STEM subjects to school children across the UK, six members of Team Bath Racing from Bath University visited the all-girls school Headington in Oxford to show them how exciting and rewarding studying mechanical engineering can be. Welcomed by Headington’s Head of Science Mr Jason Morris, TBR arrived with their multiple trophy winning car TBR15 which came top UK team in the annual IMechE Formula Student Competition. The Bugatti Trust has been an official sponsor of TBR since 2007 and already confirmed its support for their 2016 season. TBR15 did a number of highly entertaining (and loud – a combination of engine, tyres and girls cheering and applauding) runs up and down the school’s drive way before the Bath students proceeded to run STEM activities and lectures. Elsa Reeve who is Dynamics Lead for TBR and completing a Masters in Mechanical Engineering was one of the four women in TBR running workshops using modifiable Lego MindStorm race cars to explore gear ratios and tyre changes and the impact on performance in a fun and engaging way. This was followed by a lecture for the older girls to see what exciting and innovative career paths open up through the study of engineering and other STEM subjects.
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GSA STEM Conference L5 girls recently attended a GSA STEM conference at Edgbaston High School where they met STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) ambassadors in a variety of events. Although the main guest speaker Lord Robert Winston captivated the audience with a superb overview of human development through the application of science and human ingenuity, the girls particularly enjoyed being able to express their own technical creativity by designing civic
buildings and structures from everyday materials. Career advice was on hand in the form of female company representatives from the STEM industries and the girls also got a glimpse into how mathematics is used in search engines and digital software programming. Dr Tilly Blyth rounded off the day by highlighting the pioneering work of Ada Lovelace within the context of women in science and technology. Headington School itself has already hosted several STEM events this year and judging from the positive response to these, the importance of STEM is now firmly on the map here at school.
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The Hunt for Dark Matter The Hunt for Dark Matter at Headington Oxford University’s Professor Hans Kraus visited Headington to give a lecture about his team’s search for Dark matter. Dark matter helps us to explain why the speeds of galactic stars are different to our predictions and also explains the strange effects of gravitational lensing where stars can be seen in two places at once. Dark matter is not visible and since it may be a WIMP (a weakly interacting massive particle) it is very difficult to detect. Professor Kraus’s search for dark matter has taken him to deep underground mines around the world and in particular the LZ xperiment in a converted gold mine in South Dakota. Dark matter, dark energy, baryonic matter, accelerating supernovae - this was a lecture which exercised our own grey matter and was a fascinating insight into the world of the particle physicist.
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Physics AS Challenge Results L6 physicists must be congratulated for rising so well to the conceptual and mathematical challenges posed in the British Physics Olympiad ‘AS Challenge’ . Collectively they secured 1 Gold, 3 Silver, 2 Bronze I, 2 Bronze II and 1 Commendation Award in this high end national
competition, making this one of the school’s best performances in recent years. Although the girls commented that this paper seemed much harder than previous versions, this clearly drove them on to succeed so convincingly.
BigBang @ RAL Headington girls from U3 and • A tour of ISIS Neutron L4 fully immersed themselves Spallation research facility on 20th January at the • Crystal Making with a BigBang @ RAL event last team of chemists, material week. This STEM day out saw scientists and physicists our two teams participating in • Wave Activities - including a wide range of activities guitar playing through a including: Ruben’s Tube of flames
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I really enjoyed Big Bang because you could see what real working scientists do and why science is important to the world. It was also an interesting place to go and there were many fun activities to get your mind engaged in science!
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Katerina de Jong
• A cryogenics show on how to cook eggs with liquid nitrogen
the day’s events.
• STEM’s Got Talent – the audiences chance to vote for their best visiting scientist
At every opportunity the girls shone through with superb questions and answers for the world leading scientists running
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FEATURED IN OXFORD TIMES
Creativity & Design
STEM Enrichment Lecture On Tuesday 17th November about twenty girls from Upper 3 to Sixth Form attended a STEM enrichment lecture on Creativity and Design. Set in the inspiring stage of the art school, two visitors (assisted by two current students) from Coventry University presented an interesting and useful talk on their 3D design courses, which consist of subjects such as; Architecture, Interior Design, Product Design and Automotive and Transport Design. This provided
an insight into the various attributes of jobs in the creative industry which may also involve science, technology, engineering and/or maths, and it was great to see examples of student’s current work. It was a fantastic opportunity to hear from those who know what universities are looking for - being the people who interview prospective students - and to learn more about those courses and careers that involve both creativity and science. Bethany Kippin, L5
GCSE Science Live! On January 20th, half of the Lower 5 girls had the incredible opportunity to hear 5 world-class scientists speak at the New Theatre in Oxford for GCSE Science Live. All working at the cutting edge of their specialisms, it gave the girls a chance to see where the sciences could take them in the future as a possible career. The girls also heard from an experienced science examiner, with top tips on how to succeed at GCSE.
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First hearing from Professor Mark Miodownik, a well-known materials scientist and engineer, the girls learned about self-assembling and self-healing materials and how these could be used to solve 21st century problems. An ambassador for women in science, Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock shared her passion for space and observing the universe with ground-breaking technology in telescopes. As an award-winning speaker, she was very inspiring to listen to and explained complex ideas about the universe in a clear, comprehensive way. Professor Andrea Sella, an inorganic chemist, performed simple but intriguing experiments on stage to illustrate his ideas and captivate the audience.
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We were lucky enough to have Professor Lord Robert Winston speak at Oxford’s GCSE Science Live. A renowned scientist and engaging speaker, he spoke about his fertility and genetics research and how important it is to have women in scientific roles. The day of lectures was finished with Professor Steve Jones, a prominent geneticist and research biologist, who did well to scare people in audience by the end. He succeeded in conveying the power of science and how important it is in everyday life and for the whole human race.
Young Scientists of the Year Congratulations go to Headington U6, three of whom received awards for Young Scientist of the Year 2015. Tania Tsao, Jenny Bae and Holly Rowland were selected for their outstanding efforts and achievements in Biology, Chemistry and Physics respectively. This year’s high profile award ceremony at Oxford’s Natural History Museum hosted guest speakers including Sir Peter John Ratcliffe FRS (Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine), best known for his work on cellular reactions to hypoxia.
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I really enjoyed the event as it opened my eyes to the diverse career paths and exciting discoveries that science has and will continue to bring to society. The enthusiasm exhibited by the speakers had further stimulated my inquisitiveness not only towards the medical branch of science, which is what I hope to study in the future, but also the physics of neutron beams.The entire experence was a humbling one and it was a pleasure to be able to share this with my classmates and teachers.
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Holly’s Robotics Breakfast with the BBC
Following success as a Winner of the Student Robotics League, Holly Rowland in U6, was invited to speak on BBC1’s “Breakfast Time” about her experiences and success in Student Robotics. She also told the audience about her career aspirations for Computer Engineering and more generally about STEM’s (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) place in her life. Student Robotics is an exciting annual European competition that challenges teams 21
of students to build fully autonomous robots. Participating teams must design, build and test their robots, ready to compete against other teams. In 2015 Headington School came first in the league & in 2014 won overall first place and took the Student Robotics Trophy. Headington was one of only two girls’ schools at the competition with no other schools presenting an all-female team and the first girls’ school to take part in the competition.
For more information, follow them on twitter: @HSOComputing
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Student Robotics was the first time I’ve used my programming skills for something practical! It was a fantastic way to learn how to build a real, autonomous robot which could look around and interact with its environment. It’s been really exciting to watch the robot evolve and get better through our improvements, but we definitely didn’t expect to win when we started!
Holly Rowland
Hydroelectric Generator A Eureka Science Club project Article by Shirley Chiu
With great power comes great electricity! We were a group of scientist hungry for power and that was what the five of us aimed to achieve in embarking on this mission to construct a hydroelectric generator‌ from scratch!
twisting and twirling insulated wires into an electromagnet, another was measuring, drawing and cutting out precisely shaped cardboard pieces.
Our structure consists of a turbine fashioned out of 8 disposable plastic spoons and Dislodging the bottom of a a cork, fitted within the milk plastic milk carton marked the container. This is attached, by start of our journey and roles a rod through the middle, to were divided amongst us. While a disk outside the container, one concentrated on with 4 electromagnetic coils 22
arranged and secured on one side. The coils are arranged to face strong magnets and thus when a stream of water turns the turbine-and-disk component, the conductor (coiled wire) cuts across the lines of the magnetic field… generating electricity! The experience was no doubt perilous and eventful. We had to overcome strong forces of magnetic attraction and were trusted with gnarly glue guns. There were times when we had to follow instructions with careful precision, followed by moments when we were encouraged to think out of the ‘lab’, for example using rubber bands to form an adjustable stopper instead of gluing the template onto a rod.
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Along the way, we had exciting discussions about the amount of renewable electricity that could be produced from hydroelectric generators of a bigger scale, such as the Three Gorges Dam. Other than that, we expressed an impressive number of ideas on how our production could actually be used as an energy-saving gadget in our daily lives, which included installing versions of it at the mouth of taps to power the lights in bathrooms. Just imagining the potential of our creation motivated us in our progress. It was not long before we completed the structure, connected the circuit to an ammeter and turned on the tap. Seeing the positive ammeter reading on the small
screen was a very satisfying and empowering moment for every one of us, and has reinforced our passion in experimenting in laboratories… of course with safety in mind! The Eureka Science Club takes place every week. If you have an idea and want to make or investigate something, or just have some fun, come along on Monday lunchtimes!
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Get involved...
Special thanks to Mr. Morris, all the science teachers, and everyone who contributed to the making of Headingtonium. SCIENCE AMBASSADORS Izzy Brewster Feel free to speak to any Shirley Chiu of our sixth form science Joy Chow ambassadors about anything Jo Gent science related! Tosca Herson Eunice Lo MAGAZINE EDITORS Joy Chow Jenny To Maggie Zhang
Janice Lo Andrea Mak Sophie Riddell Jenny To
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