British Physics Olympiad
The British Physics Olympiad experimental competition was started in 2007 in response to the decreasing amount of practical physics available to students in schools. We are delighted to have been able to enter the competition for the first time this year, and joined in with only 20 other schools nationally taking part. It takes the form of an interesting problem which students are to investigate using common household and school equipment, and then write up in the style of an academic paper.
The experimental competition at Bishop Heber was advertised to pupils in year 10 separate science, who had already designed and conducted a suitable experiment in class, and also to year 12 physicists (who had to design and complete their experiment in their own time). Three students' reports were then submitted to be judged by the BPhO experimental competition, who all put in lots of their own time to write up their experimental method and result. This will be excellent practice in planning and undertaking open-ended experiments and independent research, working in teams where appropriate and and communicating their findings.
All of the students whose work was submitted were awarded Bronze medal certificates, so congratulations go to James Ralph (12SWe), Jack Griffiths (12MNT) and Cameron Cundill (10KLo). This is particularly pleasing considering that all of the Heber students who entered were in the lower year of their A-level and GCSE judging categories respectively: this is an excellent first entry for the school, and we look forward to future years' competitions.
Mr. Norman
