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News, events & Activities
News Events and Activities The School Archives
Visitors to the archive this year have undertaken research on Frank Pick for a forthcoming biography and St Peter’s relationship with Elmfield College.
Other visitors, as part of their academic studies, have been researching the St Peter’s connection with the early Australian rugby rules, in addition to many family queries about Old Peterites.
Work has begun on a website alongside the Marketing Department to mark the part that Old Peterites played in the First World War. John Armstrong has kindly shared his research and we are working to add to the information about individuals and link to further sources of information.
Digitisation continues with the oldest whole school photographs and some issues of The Peterite which we hope will be available in due course on the archives website.
Donations have been gratefully received from:
Mrs Gill Vivian - 2 whole school photographs (1951 and 1965). Mr Richard Hill – a metal plate with links to St Peter’s. Rev. Jeremy Howat – Programme for a York Minster concert involving St Peter’s Schooland Queen Margaret’s School.
Once again I would like to thank Angela Sanderson for the time she has spent over the year helping in the archives and for her great enthusiasm.
Please remember the archives if you are planning to part with any school related photographs or artefacts. There are many gaps to fill and everything helps!
Mrs P Chandler
The Alcuin Library
Reading for Pleasure has been in focus this year following the findings of the influential Boys Reading Commission Report (2012) compiled by The Literacy Trust. This emphasises the importance of young people’s attitudes to reading in the process of becoming lifelong readers and learners. As a result more time to read for pleasure has been created in the school day and more visits from authors have taken place to encourage everyone to share the books that they have enjoyed.
In addition to new bookstock we have trialled new e-resources in the form of Literary Reference Center, Digital Theatre Plus and Green File, which have been well used by pupils.
Man Booker Shadowing - October 2012
Once again Mrs Lawrence chaired the balloon debate in the Library following a few frantic weeks of devouring the shortlisted books. In what was probably the best Man Booker debate to date our select band of GCSE and A level English students (Ben, Jamie, Oliver, Bea, Dewi and Ed) were on top form and presented the assembled crowd with a difficult choice. Mrs Lawrence gave us an extra task—which book would we most want to read after the debate? Bea persuaded us that this was going to be Swimming Home. The inevitable decision had to be made and there was only one book in the competition—Bring up the Bodies. Ben gave us every reason to read this book and we all knew it was a winner (not so closely followed by Umbrella).
National Poetry Day 2012
This year’s competition theme was Stars and pupils were invited to find poems on a star theme hidden around school. The swiftest poem hunters and winners of the competition were Ashraf Harun and Tom Pycock.
Author visits – G P Taylor
Although fasting, G P Taylor (The Reverend Graham) spent an energetic morning with Fourth and Third Year pupils. In his own colourful style Graham spoke about how his background led him into writing and the adaptation of two of his books, Shadowmancer and The Mariah Mundi stories into forthcoming films.
Phil Earle
Phil gave us two engaging book presentations: one to our Third Years and one to all of the J5s at St Olave’s. It was refreshing to hear his message as to what counts as reading and how you can use your reading to help you to write imaginatively. In between, Phil fitted in lunch with the entrants of the English Department’s creative writing competition, a book signing and ran a creative writing workshop with a group of Third and Fourth Years.
… and Sophie McKenzie
Sophie popped in at the end of her book tour to promote the appearance of Sister Missing in paperback. Alongside pupils from The Mount and Millthorpe School Sophie spoke to Third Years about her writing life and how she puts together her stories.
World Book Day, March 2013
The Library Committee decision this year was to run an activity linked to groups of book characters. Departments chose their books and sported character labels. Pupils were challenged to collect as many book titles as possible during the day. Sebastian Dobson managed to collect most titles and was declared winner.
Christmas Lit Quiz
A new feature for this year, the House Lit Quiz, took place in the Library in early December. Despite the large numbers of participants we all managed to fit in nicely. Queen’s held off the Staff Team to become the first ever winners of this award. Mention must be made of our excellent Quiz Master, Jack Harrison, who kept us on the right track with good humour.
Library Committee 2012/13
I would like to thank to this year’s Library Committee members for their hard work and suggestions on behalf of their Houses and determination to promote the library over the past year(s).
Clifton Matthew Chan Dronfield Alla Petrichei Grove Jack Harrison/ Bea Rhodes-Blangsted Hope Frankie Whitaker Linton Gabriel Chan Manor Daniel Harding Queen’s Angus Freeman Rise Alicia Cranston School Will Fynn /Alex Payne Temple Georgina Ward
Duke of Edinburgh Award
Congratulations to the fifteen pupils have completed the Bronze Award, four who have completed the Silver and 5 pupils who have worked towards Gold over the year undertaking a range of library skills.
Donations
Donations have been gratefully received from the following leavers and their parents, grandparents or guardians at the time of writing:
Lavinia Taylor, Joseph Williams, George Brook, Joshua Frost, Jonathan Bell, Freddie Jagger, Hannah Gee, Joseph Himsworth, Oliver Hicks, Jamie Hatzel, Jamie Fenton, Niels Pampus, Chloe Lister, Helen Williams and Charles Cornock.
Your generosity is much appreciated. Mrs P Chandler
St Peter’s School Half Marathon Monday 4 March 2013
Nothing can stand in front of the runners from St Peter’s: floods, gas-leaks, road works, wolves (ok, so they were tame ones on a lead), all of which featured in this year’s half school marathon. The route began as usual from Scarborough Bridge, out along the river and then along the Selby cycle track towards Naburn, before returning to the School. This annual event pulls together, pupils, staff, Old Peterites and parents.
The twenty nine starters were given an inspiring speech and health and safety briefing; by Andy Smith who also started the race on a cool Sunday morning at the beginning of March. The race had been rearranged from February due to the flood waters which lay across large sections of the course on the original date for the race. Once under way, after just ¼ mile, the still fairly bunched group of runners were waved along a diversion by Margaret, who was marshalling and had been alerted to a potential gas leak. The ensuing road works and barriers had the effect of funnelling everybody and resulted in some surprising front runners who had made better progress past the barriers, pushchairs and bicycles. Once everybody was safely through this first challenge, the race could properly get under way.
A special mention should go to the Mobile supporters’ team of Ben Ibbotson and Luke Mander. Accompanying the runners on their bikes, they offered support and encourage everyone with their cheerful good humour and selection of classic 80s rock music, played from a stereo in Ben’s ruck-sack. For most it was fairly plain sailing out past the race course to the first drinks stop at Bishopthorpe where Jane and Mike Dawson were manning the drinks and Jane was at the ready to take some embarrassing pictures. Mark Robinson, Master Physics technician and human roundabout, was the turnaround point after 6.5 miles who said he didn’t enjoy the hug from Brendan Qualter as he went by. The final serious obstacle(s) were the huge group of RSPCA volunteers with scores of dogs out for a Sunday walk by the river. Well done to everyone for avoiding them.
Now to the results. A special mention goes to Chris Burn and Frankie Whittaker who took 3 hours to complete the course although they had gotten to bed late the night before! The winner, with a time of 1:21:52, was Joseph Smith. Second place went to Simon Mortimer, who completed the race in 1:23:32, third to Marco Gaias, who finished in 1:28:33 and was followed closely by Aaron Anthony-Pillai just seven seconds later. Henry Gray finished just outside the top ten in 1:41:11. Fastest of the female staff was of course Mrs Tooby-Smith in 1:32:26. Fastest of the girls was Bea Murray-Nag in 2:09:30.
To quote Mrs Tooby-Smith just after the race “The annual half marathon is a wonderful event, bringing together staff, pupils, Old Peterites and parents. We saw some super times today, and it’s clear some of our runners have been training very hard. Well done to all who took part.”
A huge thanks to Mrs Tooby-Smith for organising the event and congratulations again to everyone who took part, helped on the day and sponsored the runners. £1200 was raised in sponsorship to help re-furbish a school in Kenya. Well done all!
Mr AM Parr
The Beverley Run 2013
The St Peter’s runners arrived to a terrific atmosphere in Beverley on Sunday 12th May. In all, a record 1240 runners completed the twentieth 10k, of which St peter’s contributed 35 fine, athletic specimens. In addition 20 pupils, mainly Olavites took part in the 2k race. This is the fifteenth time that the school has entered the Beverley 10k which is now in its twentieth year.
Although rain threatened throughout the morning, it held off and participants and spectators enjoyed bright, if windy, conditions. The centre of Beverley was packed as hundreds lined the finishing straight. Many others cheered on the runners as they returned to town over the Westwood. Rousing music from Beverley Brass band helped spur on weary legs for the last couple of hundred meters.
For many this was their first 10k race and among those was Alice Greswold. She showed herself to be a very talented runner and won the female under 18 category with a time of 44:32. Jess Fairbank also did well for the girls finishing the race in 51:22. Impressive too were Bea Murray-Nag and Millie Grant, both finishing the race in under one hour.
For the boys, Sam Dickinson came home first for St Peter’s, winning the male under 18 category and finishing 16th in the race in a time of 36:15 – a terrific time. Other quick lads included Tom Colthup (38:39) who went on to run the Edinburgh marathon two week s later (well done for that!), Aaron Anthony-Pillai (39:37) and Jamie Fenton (42:57). The race was not only about speed, but also endurance and tenacity. These qualities were surely shown by Luke Mander (1:04:59) and the group who led him in just under an hour including Eddy James and Will Shaw.
Simon Mortimer again was the fastest of the staff finishing in 36:19. Somebody suggested that we tie weights to him or insist that he wears fancy dress, I think he would still come first.
For those who did not know, you can watch the video of runners completing the race by going to www.sportstimingsolutions.co.uk and finding the Beverley 2013 link.
Earlier in the day, Robbie Brown had set a high standard by winning the 2k race in 7:41. In doing so, Robbie is following in the footsteps of some great runners who have gone on to much success at longer distances (Sam Dickinson to mention one). I am sure that Robbie still has a few sweets left over from the huge sack full that was awarded to him as a prize. Well done to all of the 2k runners, who did what was expected of them and had a ‘fun run’.
There were many close battles fought and personal achievements gained throughout the day and thank you to all those who supported the event as well as took part. A special thank you goes to Paddy Stephen for help in organising everything and David Morris for taking lots of excellent/embarrassing photos of us all. Sadly Mrs Tooby-Smith was ill and could not be with us this year, but the St Peter’s runners truly did her proud!
Mr AM Parr
Chapel Report
September 2012 saw the 150th anniversary consecration of the school Chapel - what better excuse might you need for celebrations? These began with a visit to the school by the Archbishop of York who toured the site, had lunch with pupils and staff and presided over a service at which he rededicated the school Chapel. Those who were present for this will, I’m sure, never forget being called on by the Archbishop to be part of an impromptu orchestra of music clapping and praise. This gave a very poignant start to the year’s usual round of worship, pupils of St Olave’s and St Peter’s continuing to gather in Chapel on alternate mornings of the week. It has been a delight to welcome the children from Clifton into Chapel over the course of the year too, both for tours of the building during their RS lessons and also for some of them to see the baptisms of Edward Bateman and Monty Dodsworth.
Towards the end of the autumn term, our preparations for Christmas began with the Advent Carol Service when the Old Peterite community processed by candlelight into the Chapel alongside pupils and parents of both St Olave’s and St Peter’s. This was a moving service and much credit for that is due to the four different choirs that sang. That is equally true of the Clifton choir who performed so ably at their school’s Christingle service. This is now firmly established in the routine Chapel services that take place at Christmas time. The Minster Carol service is always a grand and fitting way to finish the term where the music serves to tell the story of the birth of Jesus in just as compelling a way as the nine lessons themselves. That occasion seemed a long way from the St Peter’s “carols with the chaplain” though which had taken place just a couple of days before. I won’t quickly forget hearing the school’s rendition of The ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ with the Manor shouting their way through …’five gold rings.’
While Christmas always feels like part of the pattern of the school year, many of the other festivals in the Christian calendar are often hard to celebrate in the school community. Keeping
Holy Week has, in recent years, become part of the Chapel’s year. This year though we have also kept Epiphany and Easter during our school Chapel services, with chalking the Chapel door and the floral cross Standing as markers for each of these festivals. Holy week and Easter was celebrated with great poignancy is this year with dramatised readings of the passion and resurrection stories by the pupils. When remembering Good Friday these readings lead into a period of silence kept by the whole school; there really is something very powerful about 600 people simply sitting quietly together. Slightly less reflective, by contrast, was the red nose day service. This was a moment of great joy in the year and culminated
with the school, clad in fancy dress, dancing around in Chapel - a reminder, if one was needed, of the importance of simply enjoying one another’s company and doing so in the presence of God.
Celebrations of the Chapel’s 150th anniversary culminated at Petertide with the blessing of an icon of St Peter painted by Luka Pajovic. This is a simply stunning piece of work, completed over about six months, and is a great gift to both the Chapel and the School community. Receiving such a beautiful piece of artwork into the building is, if nothing else, a reminder that Chapel is a place where we bring what’s best of ourselves and are thankful for all of the creative talents and gifts that we are each given, praying that we may use them wisely in the service of others and to the glory of God.
Revd Mr D Jones
Cross-Keys Weekend Away
This year, for the first time, Cross-Keys held a night and day away in the beautiful Pennines. It was a great chance to get away and spend time together, having fun and discussing and considering more about the Christian faith. The time involved some Frisbee (with some being more competitive than others!), walks and card games alongside some great discussion about who Jesus is and what that means for us. The pupils who came seemed to enjoy themselves and were brave to come on a new venture! May this be the first of many.
Mr WJ Allan
Christmas Science lecture 2012
Debating
Like a phoenix from the ashes, St Peter’s Debating Society has risen to the forefront of school life throughout the past year. In recent years, facing competition from sports, music and other activities its status seemed of little significance within the realm of extra-curricular activities. This year intellectual combat has come thundering back to life.
To a great extent the society has continued in the same vein as previous years, with lunchtime sessions being the primary outlet for debate. This year though, such debates have been more successful than ever. A string of controversial topics such as gay marriage, the legalislation of cannabis and whether the UK needs a nuclear deterrent have attracted large crowds from all years, interested to see what actually happens behind closed doors in the Bayley Room on a Thursday lunchtime. The room has on many occasions been fit to bursting, with forty people often appearing, having to cram into every corner. This expansion of the society and its embrace of new and enthusiastic members was a delight to see.
In particular however, I would like to thank the participants in the many exciting debates we have had over the past year: the usual barrage of work from teachers at both A-Level and GCSE means that organising teams and preparing speeches is often rather difficult, and yet all those who have participated have been brilliant at presenting interesting, informative and provocative debates.
This year the society has had students to chair and judge debates, rather than Mr Fuller or another teacher - representing the further independence and autonomy of the society. This has allowed students from all years to take up a role of authority and decision-making, doing so exceedingly well and emphasising a high level of trust. Despite some initial nervousness on my part of potential bias, all of our judges have been wholly fair, and I certainly haven’t seen any fivers slipped into jacket pockets.
House Debating has also been a strong feature this year. First came the Senior House Debating, where members of the society rallied their loyal comrades from across all Houses to partake in one of St Peter’s most exciting competitions. After many weeks of speeches, points of information and rebuttals the final saw The Grove narrowly defeat the reigning champions, School, in a provocative debate over free speech. Yet School certainly didn’t miss out, as their junior team beat Queens in the Junior House Debating final, arguing over the idea of intervention in Syria. These events are not only hugely entertaining, but also provide an opportunity to preview up-and-coming talents from lower years which, can I hope be harnessed in future years, as well as encouraging those who wouldn’t usually take an interest in debating to partake and represent their House.
Entirely new events emerged this year as well, most exciting of which was the school’s first ever Show Debate. This was a debate in the library between three teachers (Mr Trevett, Mr Edwards and Mrs Tooby-Smith) and three students (Guy Cowman-Sharpe, Bill Goss and Oliver Headlam-Morley). Given the current economic climate and the prominence of the Occupy Movement, the motion for the debate was “This House believes that capitalism has failed and is no longer a viable policy”. The debate saw a large crowd fill the library to watch fantastic speeches from both students and teachers. All those who took part must be thanked: in particular I would like to congratulate both teams for making the first Show Debate so very special, as well as Jonny Bell for designing some fantastic posters and tickets, Ms Chandler for the use of the library and the porters for organising the seating. I am also very grateful to Mr Fuller for all his support, encouragement and organization over the year. With such a vibrant event having taken place, I hope that Show Debates can continue every year and become a permanent fixture of St Peter’s calendar! (Please note that a full & more detailed report on the Show Debate can be found on the school website).
Debating Colours were awarded for the first time in a number of years, in recognition of contributions to Debating and or Model United Nations. I was particularly pleased to see their return, emphasising the fact that colours at St Peter’s are not the sole perogative of rugby players and are for dedication in other areas of school life as well as emphasising the school’s embrace of all extracurricular activities.
The expansion of the Debating Society and its role within school life epitomises the academic essence of St Peter’s. This school is not a sausage factory, taking students in to regurgitate them out five years later with only grades as a reminder of their time. Instead, St Peter’s is a caring and compassionate school, whose care for the individual student over any notion of the collective makes it stand out as particularly special. This is enhanced by the school’s Debating Society, which has emphasised the need for the individual to think for himself or herself. As the writer, polemicist and debater Christopher Hitchens remarked: “Take the risk of thinking for yourself, much more happiness, truth, beauty and wisdom will come to you that way”. This is the legacy of St Peter’s Debating Society, and long may it continue.
Joe Himsworth UVI, President of St Peter’s Debating Society
Peterites address war and peace through Model United Nations
ISSP Latin
Model United Nations (MUN) has continued to offer an excellent opportunity for those interested in debate and world affairs to develop their understanding, as well as their skills of networking, negotiating and debate. The highlight of the year was an exciting and busy two days at the MUN Conference at Cheadle Hulme School, Cheshire.
MUN involves delegations from schools all over the country representing member states. Our team represented the UK, led by Ambassador Bill Goss (School) who also sat on Security Council, where the UK – as one of the permanent members - had a significant role to play. Delegates debated issues around cyber terrorism and piracy, human rights, the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and the situation in Zimbabwe amongst others.
One of our experienced delegates, Felicity Halstead (Clifton) joined a small team chairing a Human Rights Committee – and proved cool and authoritative in the face of lively debate. We were delighted that two students were singled out for their contribution to debate in the final Awards Ceremony: Jamie Hatzel (Temple) and Oliver Headlam-Morley (Temple), the latter receiving a Highly Commended Award.
The students enjoyed meeting over 500 students from other schools both in the formal debates, negotiations and the social events of the trip.
MUN will continue as an extra-curricular option on Tuesday afternoons in 2013-14, looking forward to attending conferences at Cheadle Hulme in October and Haileybury in March. New members are always welcome.
Mr B Fuller
Mr Adams wrote in last year’s Peterite that the Classics department at St Peter’s had begun a programme of teaching Latin to pupils whose schools do not offer Latin on their timetable. The aim for them was to learn 5 years’ worth of Latin in 2 years, emerging with a GCSE at the end of it. The 17 pupils were drawn from six state schools in York and placed with unfamiliar faces in an unfamiliar environment to learn an unfamiliar language. Over the past couple of months, they have sat two GCSE Latin language papers, a prose literature paper and sources paper. I await the release of their results in August with interest, but even before that date arrives I can say that this endeavour has been a huge source of pride, satisfaction and enjoyment.
The real triumph of the course is the fact that the pupils have continued to enjoy learning something new when out of their comfort zones and have done so for reasons other than exam success, as the following comments show:
“I’m doing something that not many people get the opportunity to do, and it is important and useful.”
“I like how Latin makes other subjects like English and languages easier, and some of the skills are applicable to science too.”
“I wanted to learn a new language and now I have.”
“I get to meet people I wouldn’t otherwise meet from my own school and from other schools.”
The course has also shown that Latin is alive and thriving in York. The 2 year programme will start afresh with a new cohort of pupils in September and competition for places is fierce, even though some of the schools involved now offer some form of Latin at their own establishments. It is a pleasure to be part of something which aims to foster a lifelong love of learning, a quality at the heart of the St Peter’s School values.
Miss SE Barker
Politics Society Trip to Question Time
The BBC Question Time team came to the University in March and we managed to obtain a small allocation of tickets.
All of the Peterites had to go through a telephone interview with the programme to ensure they were the sort of articulate and politically literate citizens who could participate intelligently as audience members – and passed, of course!
We spent three hours at the studio, where James MacMahon (Hope House) was selected as one of the warm up panellists. James, along with four others, was invited on to the famous set and faced questions from the audience & the Director. Unlike the real panellists James had not spent all day swotting for this role, but thought quickly on his feet answering questions on why we had no politicians of substance and the burial place of Richard III.
The panel consisted of Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education, Emily Thornberry, Shadow Attorney General, Natalie Bennett, Leader of The Greens, Anthony Horowitz, author and Mark Littlewood of the IEA think tank.
Once debate got underway the Peterites tried to catch David Dimbleby’s eye to be called to speak. Mr Fuller succeeded during debate about education reform, praising Mr Gove for taking a stand for standards and a body of knowledge but saying that he needed to listen to teachers’ professional subject bodies and exam boards.
The students thoroughly enjoyed being part of the programme and hearing from such a high calibre panel. Alex Eyre (School House) commented: ‘I really liked Anthony Horowitz and Mark Littlewood because they talked good sense and didn’t just popularise.’
‘Should the Tory Party be abolished?’ Politics Society trip to University debate
Columnist and polemicist Peter Hitchens was the star speaker at a debate held at the University in June: This House believes that the Conservative Party should be abolished. Peter put the proposition, arguing that the modern Tory party has ceased to be an effective conservative party and that – along with the other main parties – it needed to die to allow a long overdue realignment of party politics to take place.
A party of seven Upper Sixth Politics students travelled up to hear the debate with some of us joining in from the floor. Joe Himsworth (The Grove) joined a long queue to meet Peter Hitchens afterwards and was delighted to have his copy of Peter’s book signed by the author.
Senior Team Challenge
Daniel Spencer, Harry Ha, Sabrina Leung and Calum Brown competed in the Regional Final of the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust Senior Team Challenge, at Fulford School in November. The competition tests mathematical, communication and teamwork skills, and students compete against teams from other schools and colleges from their region. 21 schools from the county were represented and the St Peter’s Team was placed 2nd.
Senior Mathematics Challenge
This challenge encourages mathematical reasoning, precision of thought, and fluency in using mathematical techniques. In November forty six St Peter’s 6th form students took part. 13 received Bronze Awards, 18 gained Silver and Gold Certificates were awarded to Daniel Spencer, Xue Tian, Sam Burley, Calum Brown, Yifei Wang, Alex Wan, Harry Ha, Sabrina Leung and Maria Mikhaylenko. was invited to take the British Mathematical Olympiad Paper. The BMO lasts three and a half hours and contains six complex and involved mathematical problems for which full written solutions are required. He performed very well, missing a distinction by only one mark.
Year 10 Team Mathematics Competition
Four 4th form students made the short journey to Bootham School in March to compete in the regional round of the Further Maths Support Programme Team Challenge. The competition comprised six rounds, all requiring a range of mathematical skills, including flexible approaches to problem solving, metric/imperial conversions, a pre-studied round on the absolute value function and an exciting ‘against the clock’ relay round. The St Peter’s Team of Christian Brennan, Oskar Fraser-Krauss, Min Lee and Max McLeish worked well together throughout a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon to finish in a very close 4th place out of the 13 teams competing.
Senior British Mathematical Olympiad and Kangaroo
Due to their high marks in the UKMT Senior Maths Challenge six students were invited to take part in higher rounds of the competition in December. Harry Ha, Sabrina Leung, Sam Burley, Xue Tian and Calum Brown sat the one hour Senior Kangaroo Challenge with Harry and Sabrina awarded Certificates of Merit. Dan Spencer
Junior Team Challenge
In April, Ian Ho and Luke Dunsmore, together with Zaki Ward and Marcus Brown from St Olave’s, competed in the Regional Final of the UKMT Team Challenge, at the Mount School. 31 teams competed. There was a group competition, a crossnumber, a headto-head and a relay race. They worked very hard during the day on these activities and finished 3rd overall.
Intermediate Mathematics Challenge
This challenge is targeted at the top third of pupils in English Schools. The question papers are designed to make students think by using mathematical techniques to solve non-standard problems. In February, 86 St Peter’s middle school students took part, with 13 pupils achieving a gold certificate, 18 a silver and 25 a bronze. .
Max McLeish was invited to sit the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust Intermediate Maths Olympiad following his outstanding performance on the Intermediate Maths Challenge in February. This is a national competition and only the best mathematicians are able to cope with the very challenging questions. Around 1600 students participated. Max performed very well indeed and was awarded a merit.
Due to their excellent performance in the Maths Challenge, Alistair Duffey, George Gao, Luis Fox, Marianne Spencer, James Sowerby and Oskar Fraser-Krauss were invited to sit the European Kangaroo paper. The questions involved thought-provoking situations requiring the use of logic as well as mathematical understanding and pupils from over forty countries in Europe and beyond took part. Alistair, George and Oskar were all awarded a Certificate of Merit for their excellent performances.
Mr DJ Spencer
Maths Inspiration is one of the largest maths enrichment programmes for teenagers in the UK. It’s a chance for pupils to experience the UK’s most inspiring maths speakers live, in big venues, presenting mathematics in the context of exciting, realworld situations. In March a group of L6th Further Maths students attended the Maths Inspiration Lectures at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. There were three talks:
1. From Google to Gaming - Richard Lissaman
Internet search engines and video games are both multi-billion pound global industries and maths is at the heart of both of them. Google depends on simultaneous equations, while video games require thousands of calculations involving triangles, angles and vectors. In this talk the students found out that they know enough maths right now to have had the idea themselves!
2. The Hidden Maths of Rollercoasters – John Roberts
Rollercoasters are designed for fun, but the maths behind them is deadly serious. In this talk, internationally renowned rollercoaster engineer John Roberts looked at the history of rollercoasters and the engineering calculations that have gone into designing some of the world’s leading rides. In short, it’s all about maximising the thrill while minimising the nosebleeds.
3. Weird and Wonderful Maths - Steve Mould
Some things in life are obvious. And some things are complicated. And some things look obvious until you speak to a mathematician. In this talk, Steve looked at the maths that confounds our expectations and laughs in the face of our intuition. If you thought you knew the shape of a wheel or how to measure a coastline, think again. We considered how many numbers in the universe start with a 1, how to cheat on homework and other mathematical surprises.
Mr DJ Spencer
Community Action
A very busy year for Community Action came to a triumphant close with Volunteering Week at the end of June, when about 30 fifth formers gave their time to take part in an impressive 4 day refurbishment project in the garden of The Glen-a local respite care centre for children with complex health needs. The pupils set about every task with energy, from weeding and clearing to painting fences, creating colourful murals and carefully restoring the sensory garden. Mr Noy-Scott’s brilliant organisation and meticulous planning of the schedule of work meant that there was no excuse or time for any slacking. The end result was really lovely, and the staff at The Glen were delighted with our labourers. Thanks
must go to Mr Hall, under whose watchful eye the art work was realised, and also to Mr Fennell and the maintenance team, without whose help we could not possibly have done what we did.
On the final day of Volunteering Week we hosted nearly 80 visitors from Mencap who came along with their carers to sample various sports, drama workshops and cycling. Our guests were assisted by the very enthusiastic 3rd form pupils, and the 5th form group contributed a huge amount to help everything go smoothly on the day, showing themselves to be excellent ambassadors for the school. We are very grateful to Alison Pike and her team from Mencap, who motivated our pupils throughout.
Mencap Day was just one example of using the school itself to host a range of Community Action events throughout the year. We got the first term off to a good start with a coffee morning in September, in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support. Rebecca Jordan and friends hosted regular Sunday tea parties for guests from Contact the Elderly, and every Saturday in term time saw the arrival of the Silver Surfers, who enjoyed lunch with our pupils and were then guided through various computer skills. The Island charity continued to bring their mentees to enjoy evening cookery sessions, ably assisted by St Peters volunteers, and we also put on some evening craft sessions in the winter months. Lollipop made the most of the facilities offered by the new pool, and they were able to offer swimming sessions to their members during the winter term. A group of pupils met on Monday afternoons in the first 2 terms, putting lots of ideas and enthusiasm into planning and running the Macmillan coffee morning, the Rudolph Christmas parcels, the Valentine Appeal and the increasingly popular Christmas parties for the Island and the local community.
One of the highlights of the C.A. year was the re-introduction of the St Peter’s talent show. Felicity Halstead was tireless in her efforts to make sure that T2013 was a memorable event. She and her brilliant team definitely succeeded, a substantial cheque was sent to York Against Cancer, and a good time was had by all-cast members and audience alike. From the hilarious antics of ‘Frankie and Benny’ to the spell binding singing and playing by competition winners Shannon Ellerton and James Field, St Peter’s showed it really had talent.
Large numbers of pupils have taken advantage of the chance to get some volunteering experience by assisting in Clifton Prep and St Olave’s, helping the younger ones in lessons, after school clubs and during lunch breaks; many have gone off site to offer support in the local community too. A group of sixth formers took part in training
with the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, and then spent a day at the York Visionary Conference at the university, assisting visually impaired delegates and working alongside their beautiful dogs. Pupils have helped in charity shops, joined in at SNAPPY, visited with the Wilberforce Trust and more recently a new link has been made to support the Hope Café in Clifton.
It was a real pleasure to discover that Maria Mikhaylenko and Lipfon Tang had been given a Lord Mayor of York Young Volunteer Award, and many congratulations must go to Jenny Frazer, who was invited to the Mansion House to receive a Special Award for her outstanding commitment to volunteering, in particular with elderly patients at York Hospital.
It goes without saying that as well as benefitting others, our pupils gain valuable experience, and develop many skills through their volunteering. We are extremely grateful to the staff and service users at the numerous organisations which offer training, support and encouragement to our pupils, and we hope we can continue to build links and keep up good traditions next year.
It is a real privilege to be invited back to oversee the Community Action programme again. I am indebted to Mrs Dawson for her time, help and unfailing patience throughout the year, and to Ms Ullstein for all her support. It has been great to welcome new staff members Mrs Chapman , Mr Bembridge and Mr Noy-Scott to the team too, and I thank them for their enthusiastic participation. Thanks also go to Mrs Mckie, who had to leave us, as the arrival of her gorgeous baby twins gave her a few other things to keep her occupied, strangely enough, and to Mrs Underwood who has moved on, to a job at York University-she will be very much missed by the Silver Surfers. Finally, a huge thank you to all of the pupils who have given their time, energy, and commitment to volunteering over the year.
J Bainbridge
Talent Show
Enterprise without Borders
St Peter’s Young Enterprise Team in Sweden
At the invitation of our EWB (Enterprise Without Borders) partners in Sweden Kaleidoscope were invited to attend an International Trade Fair in Borås, Sweden, on the 13th and 14th March 2013.
Initiated by Junior Achievement Young Enterprise Europe, EWB provides an extra, no cost dimension to the Young Enterprise Company Programme. The programme facilitates partnership between Junior Achievement companies in Europe and Company Programme students in the UK. As well as giving students the opportunity to profile their products abroad, those participating learn the basics of International trade.
The three pupils who represented St Peter’s in Sweden were Imogen Jefferies, Jenny Frazer and Rachel Hall; all members of the Lower Sixth, and part of the Young Enterprise team Kaleidoscope.
Our partners in Sweden, attend Sven Eriksonsgymnasiet Borås Stad. Their Young Enterprise company was called KahbagsUF, and their team was made up of Hanna Svantesson, Amanda Lina Fredrikson and Karin Funegård.
This was the first year that St Peter’s have participated in the EWB programme, and the partnership between the two schools enabled Kaleidoscope and KahbagsUF to trade between the two countries, and more fundamentally to share experiences and promote each other’s business and products in Sweden and the UK.
Our flight landed in Gothenburg early on the Wednesday morning, and we travelled to the Sweden’s Åhaga Convention Centre to join 150 of Sweden’s best Junior Achievement companies, and set up the trade stand ready for the opening of the event in the afternoon. Mr.Whitehouse addressed teachers and other delegates attending an EWB conference, on Young Enterprise in the UK.
Kaleidoscope sold their eco snack wraps steadily throughout the two-day event, and traded alongside KahbagsUF. The event was a great opportunity to see the high standard of ideas and innovation being developed in Swedish schools and colleges, and it certainly provided plenty of inspiration for the future of Young Enterprise at St Peter’s.
On the Thursday morning we visited Gina Tricot, one of Sweden’s fastest growing fashion companies, before the final afternoon of trading at the Åhaga Centre. Imi, Jenny and Rachel were great ambassadors for St Peter’s School and Young Enterprise in North Yorkshire and the UK.
The trip to Sweden was accompanied by Mr Jon Whitehouse (Young Enterprise co-ordinator at St Peter’s School) and Miss Isabelle Rupp.
Our thanks to Maria Friedefors from Sven Eriksonsgymnasiet Borås Stad, who hosted us so well in Sweden, and who pulled a few strings to get Kaleidoscope centre page in the Swedish newspapers.
Mr J Whitehouse
Young Enterprise Scheme
As part of the YE Company Programme a team of students from St Peter’s School have once again set up and run a real business for a year, under the guidance of our business volunteer, Owen Turner. The team, known as Kaleidoscope, have experienced the joys and pitfalls of running their own company.
The team have done everything from raising the initial share capital through to selling directly to customers at specially organised trade fairs and winding up the firm and paying their taxes!
The YE programme has been run at St Peter’s since 2009, and in that time nearly one hundred Peterites have taken part. Independent research shows that the Young Enterprise scheme helps develop key skills that enhance young people’s employability and enterprise capabilities.
On a national level many alumni of the Company Programme have gone on to outstanding careers as entrepreneurs, corporate executives and public figures, and it has without doubt given many of our students at St Peter’s a great foundation for the future. Employers certainly look favourably on students who have taken part in the programme.
Kaleidoscope comprised of 15 sixth form girls, and one very brave young man. It was Maria Mikhaylenko’s job, as Managing Director, to encourage and guide the team through the variety of tasks that would enable the business to operate successfully. Supporting Maria as the team of Directors were Holly Drinkwater (Marketing), Elle Illingworth, Georgie Ward and Sasha Hinde (Sales), Scarlett Shaw (Finance), Hannah Ramalingam (I.T), Rachel Hall (H.R.), Jenny Frazer (Production), Emma Stephenson (Admin.) and Julia Gebbie (EWB), with Steph, Tom, Imi, Angie and Yaz in nonexecutive roles.
The team created an idea for a sandwich and snack wrap to replace the volume of cling film used each year to keep packed lunches fresh. The prototype was created, and some initial market research was carried out, only to reveal that similar products were already on the market. Having struck a deal with a UK distributor Kaleidoscope became a retailer for the Eco Snack Wrap, a product originating from Australia.
Kaleidoscope attended a number of events throughout their year in business, including Venturefest, an event at York racecourse that showcases and supports entrepreneurs. Highlights of the year included attendance at the Young Enterprise National Trade Fair competition in Stratford-on-Avon, and Älvsborg’s Trade Fair in Borås, Sweden.
Of the fifty teams attending the National Trade Fair Kaleidoscope were highly commended (joint 3rd) , being judged on their sales skills and the marketing and quality of their product. Kaleidoscope came up against tough opposition at the North Yorkshire Company Programme Competition, held at the Harrogate Pavilions. An award for teamwork was well deserved. However, progression to represent North Yorkshire in the second round of the competition was not to be.
It may be the case that fewer than a third of the UK’s most influential jobs are held by women. However, Kaleidoscope have proved through their success this year that this is likely to change in the near future.
Mr J Whitehouse
Red Nose Day 2013
Successful Second Year for Public Lecture Programme
A wide variety of speakers have brought their ideas and experiences to the Sixth Form Lecture series and the school’s evening Public Lectures.
We picked up on the 2012 Summer of Sport in September with a visit from Debbie Flood, two times Olympic Silver Medallist and World Champion rower who told the Sixth Form about the commitment and hard work – as well as the exhilaration – involved in world class sport. In November the rock star, producer and music historian Mike Hurst dropped in to St Peter’s to give a lecture which covered 350 years of popular music. Entertaining and informative this was perhaps the most popular Sixth Form Lecture of the Year.
The occasional invitation Rhodes Room lunches with a guest speaker continued this year. The first speaker was Greg House, a recently retired RAF Tornado pilot who talked about the Falkland’s Conflict 30 years on, using his extensive knowledge of the Islands from his time serving there to bring the history of the conflict & the decades since alive.
Our first Public Lecture was in November when, appropriately, Jim Sharpe (Professor of History at the University of York) spoke on ‘Remembering, Remembering: the Fifth of November and Politics in the Seventeenth Century.’ He explored how the politicization of the Plot story has been used in the centuries since.
We were very lucky to have Ben Cohen MBE, rugby star, Strictly Come Dancing contestant and campaigner at school for a day in January. He spoke to the Sixth Form, trained with some younger pupils and gave a public event in the evening in conversation with the Head Master. Ben spoke about his career in the Premiership and the England team, as well as his recent charity work combating bullying and homophobia.
The next event was great fun and something a little different: An evening News Quiz compered by Harry Gration. His team of professionals: Elly Fiorentini, Adam Tomlinson and Phil Bodmer narrowly beat the school’s team of Aaron Anthony-Pillai, Guy Cowman Sharpe and Bill Goss.
Old friend of St Peter’s Art School, Ralph Hughes (Head of History of Art at Fettes College) whose lectures are always much looked forward to, visited in February. In his lecture he explained why things aren’t always what they seem in art. He adroitly took us below the surface of several works, revealing the stories behind the paintings, to enrich our understanding of the visual arts.
A political theme reemerged in March. Nigel Adams MP was guest of honour at a Rhodes Room lunch during which there was a spirited question and answer session. Students expressed their support for equal marriage, recently debated in the Commons and raised concerns about the effect of HS2 on those living near the route – Joe Himsworth seizing the opportunity to explore that issue with his local MP.
Our fourth Public Lecture brought Professor Krista Cowman (Professor of History at the University of Lincoln) to school on International Women’s Day in March. She spoke on ‘Votes from Women: Women’s votes and party politics 1918 – 1928’ exploring the effects women’s votes had on politics once suffrage had been granted.
Our final Sixth Form Lecture was from Richard Stuttle, founder and director of Caroline’s Rainbow Foundation, who enthused the Sixth Form with accounts of his experiences travelling the world, whilst giving tips to make such trips safe as well as fun.
This year was our first as a partner of the York Literature Festival, our final Public Lecture in March being a Festival event. Novelist Tracy Chevalier, best-selling author of ‘Girl With a Pearl Earring’ came to talk about her latest book ‘The Last Runaway’, which tells the story of a Quaker woman, Honor Bright, who emigrates from the UK to Ohio in the mid-nineteenth century and becomes involved in the ‘Underground Railroad’ helping southern slaves escape to freedom in the north. The poet and writer, Robert
Powell, introduced Tracy and led the conversation during which they explored the process of researching a historical novel and the balance between fact and fiction which resulted.
The year closed with a Rhodes Room Lunch with Godfrey Bloom, one of the area’s MEPs and a leading member of UKIP. His direct, honest and rumbustious approach to political questions provoked lively discussion which threatened to stretch well in to afternoon lessons and was much enjoyed by both sympathisers and sceptics.
Mr B Fuller
Physics Department Trips and Outreach 2013
The year began with the formation of an Ogden Trust Schools Science (Physics) Partnership in York, with St Peter’s being the hub school. We were delighted to welcome Fulford School, Archbishop Holgate’s School, The Joseph Rowntree School, Selby High School into the partnership with Manor CE School joining later on in the year. The schools work alongside York University Physics Department who have just appointed a new Outreach Officer/ Ogden Officer. The aim of the partnership is to enhance the delivery and uptake of physics by promoting the subject within the partnership schools, encouraging collaboration between them and giving their teachers access to the best support and professional development available. They aim to inspire young people to take physics further. This is an exciting initiative and we look forward to strengthening relationships over the coming years.
Stargazing
The School held the third Guy Fawkes Public Physics Lecture on Wednesday 14th November. The lecture was entitled ‘Cosmic history: everything from nothing’ and was delivered by Professor Carlos Frenk FRS from the Institute for Computational Cosmology at Durham University. The lecture set out to discuss some of the most fundamental questions in the whole of science. How and when did our universe begin? What is it made of? Why does it look the way it does? Professor Frenk spoke about the huge amount of progress there has been in recent years towards answering these questions; for example the recent observations which established
Stargazing
that our universe contains a mix of components that include not only ordinary atoms, but also exotic ‘dark matter’ and a new form of energy called ‘dark energy’. The Professor revealed that vast surveys of galaxies have been undertaken to show how the universe is structured. Large supercomputer simulations recreate the cosmic evolution of the universe, and provide a link between what we see around us today, and what there would have been a micro-second after the Big Bang. The lecture was again extremely well attended by a diverse group of people and we were delighted that a physicist of such world renown came to St Peter’s to give the audience a fantastic insight into his work at the forefront of cosmology.
Stargazing
In January the BBC once again aired its series of Stargazing Live programmes with Brian Cox and Dara O Briain; the themes of the three programmes being Earth and missions into space, Mars and living in space and Supernovae and explosions: the Big Bang and the end of the universe. St. Peter’s joined them, with the intention of inspiring thousands of people to study and photograph the night sky and raise the profile of British Astronomy, by holding its own Stargazing Live evening. The event was run in conjunction with York University Physics Department and York Astronomical Society who once again turned out in force with an amazing array of telescopes. Having been lucky with the weather on the two previous occasions, this year it was very largely cloudy, but everyone still enjoyed looking at the telescopes and we were very grateful to the Friends of St. Peter’s who again ran a raffle and manned a food tent. Alongside the Astronomy/Physics exhibition (including mobile planetarium), exhibitors, telescope retailers, hands on things to do and some Astro Magic we welcomed Dr Chris Lintott, Reader in the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford and co-presenter of the BBC’s Sky at Night, who delivered his lecture entitled ‘What 700,000 people can tell us about the Universe’. Dr Lintott talked about ’mass participation’ scientific experiments in astronomy, such as investigating galaxy formations and discovering planets. He gave a hugely exciting and up to date presentation and also kindly signed copies of his latest books.
At the Stargazing live exhibition the German Physics Manufacturing Company, Phywe, brought up their demonstration Cloud Chamber. The Cloud Chamber makes the tracks of Cosmic and natural radiation visible and is an inspirational piece of apparatus. With the backing of the Ogden Trust, York University Physics Department, the Rotary Club of York Vikings, the Friends of St Peter’s and the Institute of Physics we managed to purchase a new cloud chamber, which we plan to use in our Outreach work and which should go on display in the new entrance of St Peter’s.
In February St Peter’s was delighted to play host to the 2013 Faraday Challenge run by the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s (IET) Faraday education programme which includes 55 practical challenge days across the UK. Teams of six Year 8 pupils from the Ogden York Partnership schools together with Terrington Hall became real-life engineers as they researched, designed and built solutions to a real engineering problem. The event aims to encourage more young people to study science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and consider exciting and rewarding careers in STEM that utilise creativity, innovation and problemsolving skills. Fulford School were victorious on the day, though it was a closely fought battle. Keira Sewell, who led the day said: “Overall the teams were a credit to themselves, their teachers and their schools. Their enthusiasm was boundless and they approached
the challenge with skill and enthusiasm. They all worked extremely well in their teams and took on the responsibility for the roles with great maturity and consummate skill. The teams were very evenly matched, but Fulford School proved to be worthy winners.”
In March, as part of National Science and Engineering Week, we hosted the next in our series of public lectures. We were absolutely delighted that Dr Tim O’Brien, Associate Director at Jodrell Bank Observatory accepted our invitation to speak to us about ‘Exploring the Universe with Large Telescopes’. His talk described how astronomers are using giant telescopes around the world Tim O Brier and in space to see further into the Universe than ever before. With these telescopes we are able to see the Universe as it was not long after the Big Bang and to study exotic phenomena such as black holes and dark matter. Soon, we may even be able to see evidence of life on other planets. The talk included the science and technology of telescopes such as the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank and the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, as well as looking forward to the James Webb Space Telescope and the Square previous satellites, and which will allow the details of the Universe’s age and composition to be calculated more precisely than ever before.
Radiation Conference
In May, the Society for Radiological Protection were celebrating their 50th anniversary and held a special event on Radiation Protection at Harrogate Conference Centre. We offered this as a trip to the Fourth Year and took a small group of ten pupils
Tim Brien
Kilometre Array. Tim ended his lecture with the news that there was going to be an announcement the following morning of the latest findings from Europe’s Planck Surveyor satellite, which has been mapping the structure of the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation (CMB) with finer resolution and greater sensitivity than
Radiation Conference
along. Professor David Speigelhalter OBE from The University of Cambridge gave an interactive lecture entitled ‘What’s the Risk? Putting numbers on the chances in your life’. Also in May, for the fourth year running, St. Peter’s hosted the North East North West Standing Committee for Science Technicians’ conference. This was attended by over 80 technicians largely from the leading independent schools across the North of England, and it continues to grow and provides a focal point for the technician community. Thanks to the St. Peter’s technicians, especially Mark Robinson who led one of the workshops, for helping to make the day such a big success.
The last of the year’s Public Physics Lectures took place in June. Dr Sean Paling, research associate at the University of Sheffield and the manager and science coordinator for the Boulby Underground Science facility came back to St Peter’s, having been the first guest speaker in our Public Physics Lecture programme back in March 2010, to update us on ‘Deep Underground Science at Boulby Mine: The search for DARK MATTER and beyond...’. For more than a decade UK astrophysicists have been operating experiments in this dedicated ‘low background’ facility, to try to be the first to prove (or disprove) the favoured theory that Dark Matter is particles, all around us, known as ‘WIMPs’. Dr Paling told us that the range of science areas looking for the special properties of a facility like Boulby is growing, with projects ranging from the study of clouds and climate, to Carbon Capture and Storage and life in extreme environments and we hope to hear more about this in the future. The lecture formed part of this year’s York Festival of Ideas, which was founded in 2011 by the University of York. York is a city of culture, a city of learning and a city of science; above all, it is a city of ideas. The York Festival of Ideas aims to celebrate the success of the City of York as a home to an exciting and vibrant, intellectually curious community and we look forward to continuing to support this venture in the future.
Also in June Andy Parr and Mark Robinson put together a Spectroscopy Workshop for the World of Physics event at the University of York. The interactive workshop was delivered eight
times over the course of two days to about 120 Year 10 students from across the region. The event, run by the Institute of Physics Yorkshire Branch and organised by the Excellence Hub for Yorkshire and Humber, encourages top performing students to consider studying Physics through exciting hands-on activities and lectures. The event is particularly targeted at high achieving students who may not typically apply to a top university; for example, those with no family history of higher education. The students enjoyed learning about the various line emission spectra of the different elements, got to play ‘detective’ and also constructed their own Spectroscopes which they were able to take home with them. This was the first time that St Peter’s had been involved in this annual event and we hope to be able to continue to offer our services in the future.
The Big Bang is the largest celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths for young people in the UK. The Fair is aimed at showing young people just how many exciting and rewarding opportunities there are out there for them with the right experience and qualifications. The Big Bang Yorkshire & Humber 2013 with “Inspirations” was held at The Yorkshire Air Museum, Elvington in July. Thanks go to Mark Robinson who represented St.Peter’s at this event by helping to promote the work of the Rotary Club of York Vikings and in particular manned a couple of games from the St. Peter’s school Physics Olympics, which the Rotary Club sponsors.
St. Peter’s is committed to continuing with its public engagement with science programme and many of the feedback comments we have received indicate that there is a demand and that our efforts are being appreciated.
Mr D Morris
Nuffield Research Placements
Nuffield Research Placements provide over 1,000 students from across the country each year with the opportunity to work alongside professional scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians. This year Jenny Frazer carried out a project at York University Biology Department under the guidance of Professor Maitland and Sam Philpott and Maria Mikhaylenko did their research at York University Physics Department under the guidance of Dr Vlado Lazarov. These placements give experience to the students that is not usually possible until beyond the second year of an undergraduate degree and we are very grateful to the University for providing the opportunities to our sixth formers as they move from the lower sixth into their final year of study at school. Mr D Morris
Last summer I was fortunate enough to gain a Nuffield Research Placement in the York Cancer Research Laboratory at York University. This meant that I had 4 weeks to work in a professional laboratory doing my own experiment that would, in its own small way, contribute to their work against prostate cancer. My experiment was to study the lymphocytes of many cancer patients and test whether or not they were heterozygous for a particular gene. At first this gene was Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF 1), however I soon switched my study to focus on a different gene named Integrin Alpha 2 (ITGA2); this was because all patients appeared to be homozygous for IGF 1. I also tested several cDNA samples from patients to see if they were heterozygous and to see if the heterozygosity of a patient changed between their cDNA sample and their lymphocyte sample. It didn’t appear to in the patients I studied.
Aside from conducting your own experiment, the Nuffield Research Placements are very helpful as they mean that you can see how a professional laboratory runs, shadow professional scientists as they go about doing their own research and learn how to use scientifically advanced equipment on your own. By the end of my placement I was confident in using gel electrophoresis, a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) hood and PCR machine, micropipettes and a pyrosequencer.
I am very grateful to all the staff at the YCRU, especially Professor Maitland for helping me through the four weeks, being patient with me and teaching me so much; and also to Mr Morris and Mr David Ward who helped to organise my placement. Jenny Frazer
During the summer of 2013 I completed a four week Nuffield Research Placement at the physics department of the University of York. I was investigating the interactions between magnetic nanoparticles, an interesting area of physics with the potential to be used as a cancer treatment. I would be working as a member of a research group investigating various properties of magnetic nanoparticles. The work of the group was entirely theoretical, using computer simulations as opposed to experiments. Although it seemed daunting at first, I was made to feel very welcome and soon got to grips with what I would be doing. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and there is the potential to do some further work on my project with the goal of presenting my results at the International Youth Science Conference in Ukraine Easter 2014. I would strongly recommend the Nuffield Placement scheme to anyone interested in studying a science at university as it gives you a valuable insight into the workings or a research group. Sam Philpott
This summer I was lucky enough to stay at the University of York for three weeks and participate in a research project alongside undergraduate and postgraduate students. I spent my time at York JEOL Nanocentre where I was involved in various experiments including interactions of low temperature plasmasurfaces. During my time at the Nanocentre I learnt the techniques of sample preparation for transmission electron microscopy and how to operate the microscope itself including data analysis. I was very lucky to have access to some of the facilities at the Nanocentre such as PIPS (Precision Ion Polishing System) and Plasma Etcher. This opportunity has given me an insight into the world of physics at university as well as many aspects of research at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. I am looking forward to continue researching at the University throughout this academic year. This university placement has given me an amazing experience and I would like to thank Mr Morris, Dr Vlado Lazarov and the University of York for this opportunity and I would strongly recommend it for anyone who is interested in studying physics at a higher level. Maria Mikhaylenko LVI
St Peter’s Physics Olympics Competition 2013
This was the seventh year of the competition and for the first time we reached our capacity with an entry of 35 schools and indeed had several more on the reserve list. We were pleased to welcome a good number of new local schools alongside our regular participants from across the North of England. Each team consisted of four year 8 pupils and this year the teachers also competed alongside the pupils.
The day consists of 6 individual, mini egg-race type, events in which the pupils combine their physics and mathematical knowledge with teamwork and communication skills to work together to complete a task against the clock.
The day is designed to be fun, but also challenging and stimulating and in the Olympic spirit it is a competition with winners of the 6 individual events and also Gold, Silver and Bronze medallists. The pupils should come away having both enjoyed their experience and importantly also having learnt some new physics.
Once again we received generous backing from the Institute of Physics, the Rotary Club of York Vikings, the Ogden Trust, Taylors of Harrogate and Nestle. Sponsorship money has paid for the T-shirts, medals, trophy, water bottles, 8GB memory sticks and Uncle Albert books that the pupils take away at the end of the day in their goodie bags.
Events this year involved constructing a boat that was propelled using a super capacitor that had been charged using a photocell, manipulating a catapult to fire balls at a target, placing materials in order of increasing density and constructing a marble run. In the final game the teams had to construct the highest tower that could support a box of cream eggs using only 400 lego bricks; a huge, huge thank you to Mr Goodwin (Tim’s dad) for providing us with the lego bricks. In the Fermi Quiz, quantities have to be estimated to the nearest power of 10. One question in this year’s quiz was: ‘How many dice would it take to cover the entire road surface of the Monaco F1 Grand Prix?’ (Answer: 100,000,000).
Winners:
Brick by Brick: Team Fermi, Hymer’s College, Hull Mind over Matter: Team Ohm, The Grammar School at Leeds Solar So Good: Team Volta, Polam Hall, Darlington Target Practice: Team Gamow, Archbishop Holgate’s School, York This Way and That: Team Schrödinger, Scarborough College Fermi Quiz: Team Planck, King’s School Chester Bronze Medallists: Team Millikan, Beverley Grammar School Silver Medallists: Team Dirac, Minster School, York Gold Medallists: Team Planck, King’s School Chester
Congratulations also to St Olave’s School who finished in a very creditable fourth place.
I would like to thank all of my colleagues, the support staff and the dedicated sixth former helpers who helped on the day to make this year’s event the biggest and best so far. In particular, Mark Robinson showed his willingness and expertise in the designing and making of much of the equipment for the games and Mark Edwards once more displayed his ‘wizardry’ on the computer in collating and presenting all of the competition data. Clearly the competition could not happen without any of them.
Mr D Morris
Liverpool University Physics Olympics
The day began with the four of us (Daniel Spencer, Calum Geddes, Sam Burley and Joseph Williams) heading off on the train with the High Lord of Physics, Mr Morris, and having an intense Fermi quiz bootcamp. For those unfamiliar with the Fermi quiz, it’s basically where you’re given a wild guess to make (how many nickels in America is a favourite) and estimating how many zeroes the number has. So much for scientific accuracy. After arrival, and a quick jaunt around the local cathedral, we pitched up at the Physics Department of Liverpool University, raring to go, before being made to wait for an hour until the first lecture. Free coffee helped.
The lecture was a simple welcome-and-schedule affair, and we also received our Fermi quiz for the day. There were some easy ones and some more thought-provoking; anyone know the power of the Curiosity rover’s motor off the top of their head? Thought not. The first challenge of the day was to find a radioactive source within a metal block, armed only with a Geiger counter. While we were quick at this, several teams beat us to the punch, so it was on to the next challenge, Sink or Swim. Our boat, while ungainly, did manage to hold a fair amount of weight, so we garnered some points in this round. Next, we did our bit for citizen science in the Hunt the Higgs challenge, where we had to peruse particle trails to find the Higgs Boson’s decay trail as quickly as possible, before we made bottle rockets. Out of all our group, ours was the most flightworthy by a long way - and fly it did! A good result for Team Peters in this event (although it did get slightly demolished by later teams). After lunch, and a full-blown argument over the size of raindrops (Fermi quiz again), we had the Blind Alley challenge. Oh dear. This wasn’t pretty. The premise was that a blindfolded team member had to be guided around a maze by the others. Sam, assuring us that he knew the maze inside and out, strode confidently out into the trees, and promptly became lost. Nil points for St Peter’s on that one.
The final challenge of the day wasn’t much better- a paper plane challenge. Before you ask, yes this was a serious academic event. Our plane failed to land on the target, rebounding several times off the rim, so it was with heavy hearts that we went to the final talk to receive the results of the Fermi quiz. The prizes for the individual challenges were awarded - time and again we missed out on victory. And then, the tide turned. The Fermi quiz is considered the main event of these affairs, and the one that all physics teachers yearn for. We didn’t disappoint. Victory was ours by a wide margin, so, triumphantly clutching our plastic prize mugs, we headed for the train home. Conclusion for the day? Physics is fun, and sometimes there are free mugs.
Joe Williams UVI
Cambridge Senior Physics Challenge
The Cambridge Senior Physics Challenge is a 5 day course run by the University of Cambridge that serves as an introduction to university level physics for those considering pursuing physics as an undergraduate. Top physics students are nominated by schools, with about 70 nationally being selected. This year Harry Ha was fortunate to be offered a place on the course, staying in Corpus Christi College and also experiencing College life at St John’s, Trinity and Churchill Colleges.
D Morris
The Senior Physics Challenge comprised of lectures and laboratory sessions. In the first lecture, we were given some classical mechanics questions. The lecturer put his emphasis on problem solving skills rather than the answer to individual questions. For instance, we were taught how to split a problem into smaller parts and told the importance of drawing a labeled diagram. After that, we were introduced to quantum mechanics, which explains the phenomena forbidden by classical mechanics. I did not realise until then the importance of solving differential equations in learning physics. The content of the laboratory sessions was similar to what I have done at school, but the apparatus we used was of much higher accuracy; for example, we used a projection microscope to measure the diameter of a hair. This programme was challenging and it showed what kind of skills universities are seeking from physics students.
Harry Ha LVI
British Physics Olympiad Competition, AS Competition and Physics Challenge for GCSE Students
In the British Physics Olympiad for Year 13 students Daniel Spencer received a Gold (Top 50) in the Round 1 paper and a Merit in Round 2. Alex Wan and Justin Cho received Bronze 1 awards with Calum Geddes Bronze Class II. Ivan Wang, Calum Brown, Alex Tam, Joseph Williams and Oliver Headlam-Morley received Commendations.
In the AS National Physics Competition Harry Ha and Nick Ubhi received Gold awards. James Greenall, Emily Carman, Sam Philpott, Matthew Garbutt, Alexandra Budarina, Sabrina Leung, William Waterhouse, Toby Simpson and James Bell received Silver awards. Sebastian Dobson, Alice Rhodes, Gabriel Chan, Edward Coates, Maria Mikhaylenko, Zoe Pindar, Joseph Brennan, Ivan Cheng, Patrick Copley and Timothy Chiu received Bronze awards.
In the National Physics Challenge for GCSE students we received 12 Bronze awards with Alistair Duffey receiving a Silver Medal (one mark short of a Gold) being the highest scoring student.
International Conference of Young Scientists
At the beginning of the summer term I had the opportunity to attend a young scientist conference (the International Conference of Young Scientists) in Bali to present some research I had been doing over the previous 4 months. I first got involved with this at the end of a Nuffield Bursary project the previous summer holiday with Dr. Vlado Lazarov which went well so he agreed to oversee me doing further research over the next year. He had had previous involvement with this conference so he suggested the entry into it.
We arrived in Bali already feeling worn out after a 20 hour long flight with 2 stops in between (Munich and Singapore), with the 30°C and high humidity contributing to make us even more lethargic. Thankfully the first day was restful with only dinner being organised with Vlado and myself sitting with the Singapore team. environmental science. There was a large variety of chosen topics and the complexity of the research done, with some examples being research into tracking phones without GPS using accelerometer and gyroscope input, tracking the air quality within a town, making biodegradable balloons using banana byproducts and my own research into the magnetic response of lattices of magnetite nanoparticles. All the presentations were done in English as that was decided at the founding of the conference to be the most likely shared language. Even using my first language the presentation was slightly nerve-wracking, but I was even more nervous for the questioning at the end by the panel of jury members. Thankfully it all went about as planned and I was able to field most of the questions well.
The next day there was a poster competition with many of the research projects putting up posters detailing the work they had done, which was also combined with local outreach as school children were invited to attend and have the projects explained to them.
This was followed by 2 days of presentations. The presentations were divided into 6 topic areas, theoretical physics (my topic area), applied physics, mathematics, computer science, life science and
There were also plenty of opportunities outside of the academic side of the conference, with many of the countries giving a cultural presentation, with some presenting traditional songs or dances and some presenting a mix of tradition with modern elements, such as the Korean group performing Gangnam Style. There was an afternoon of sports with beach volleyball, football and sack racing being available, each structured as a tournament with mixed nationality teams and logic puzzles in the same teams later on.
On one of the evenings there was the opportunity to go firewalking, which most people took up, but the application of fuel to the coals was a bit too liberal so a fair number of people got burned, myself included, though they thankfully healed for the next day’s activity of rafting. The rafting was fun, but it paled in comparison to the dense forested scenery that I saw and the traditional carvings visible in the rock of the riverbank. On the last day there was the opportunity to release turtles from a sanctuary and to see the other local animals that were present, such as snakes a variety of turtle species and some komodo dragons.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the trip and I believe it was fairly successful as I got a silver medal within my category and an award from a sponsor. I hope that future years will find more people participating and enjoying this conference. round two paper Dan achieved a Merit, narrowly missing out on a top 15 place, which would have put him through for selection for the British team that was to compete in the International Physics Olympiad Competition in Denmark.
Dan has studied for three A levels in mathematics (A level mathematics, A level further mathematics and A level advanced further mathematics), sitting 18 units over two years, and has studied for some of these units independently. One of the units he sat (Further Pure Technology) was a brand new module which combined his mathematical and programming skills.
Over the last two years he met with great success in the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust Challenges, achieving Gold Certificates in each of the individual competitions, and as a result of his high scores was invited to sit the Olympiad papers, achieving a distinction on one occasion, and missing a distinction by only one mark on another. He has also been one of the four members of the very successful St. Peter’s UKMT Team Challenge Group, who came second in the Regional Final this year and won the event last year, then represented the school in the National Final. He has also competed in the British Informatics Olympiad, achieving a distinction last year. Dan’s passion is computing and he is selftaught in several computer languages. Congratulations to him on gaining his place to read Computer Science at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. For his academic achievements Daniel received the St Peter’s Award (for excellence in any aspect of school life).
Daniel Spencer
The ICYS, which began 20 years ago, took place in Bali, Indonesia over a period of a week in April earlier this year. 220 students from 23 countries across the world competed in six categories. This was the first time that the UK had ever entered the competition and Daniel did wonderfully well to win a Silver medal in his category of theoretical physics. Daniel’s project was on the magnetic behaviour of nano-particles in 2D systems. The project aimed to understand how magnetic particles that are just several 10’s of atoms across behave in high frequency magnetic fields, which can lead to novel cancer therapies. (Magnetic nano-particles are injected in cancerous tissue and high frequency magnetic fields are applied such as in MRI scans, releasing heat that kills the cancer cells). Daniel also received a special award from the industrial sponsors of the ICYS for the benefits of his research and its impact on wider society.
Enabling talented students from early ages to take part in real scientific research projects is crucial for developing UK based nano-technologies that can influence every part of our life from healthcare to smart materials. The University of York in collaboration with science departments at York Secondary schools is planning to build on this very positive experience and next year hopes to give the opportunity for six students to undertake research at the university throughout their Upper Sixth Years with a view to entering the ICYS competition in 2014 in the Ukraine.
In his time at St Peter’s School Daniel has been an outstanding student. In 2011 during his fifth form year he was entered for the National GCSE Physics Challenge Paper and in acknowledgement of his achievement of being one of the top six outstanding students in the UK he was invited down to the Royal Society to receive a book prize and Gold Medal Award. In 2012 Dan was entered for the National AS Physics Challenge Paper and this time came third equal in the country and once again was invited to the Royal Society for the presentation ceremony. In his Upper Sixth year Dan took part in the British Physics Olympiad Competition, achieving a Gold Award in the first round for coming in the top 50 in the country. In the Mr D Morris
