Private School News

PUPILS EXPERIENCE EXTREME PHYSICS IN NATIONAL COMPETITION

Physics students from Nottingham High School have been taking part in a national Extreme Physics competition over the Easter holidays at Rugby School in Warwickshire.
The Nottingham High School team of Peter Hardwidge, 15, Ben Gates, 14, Christian Cummings, 15, and Chris Brenchley, 15, came fourth in the competition, which involved 24 schools from around the country. Over the course of the three days, the boys took part in a range of team and individual challenges based around various areas of physics. These included building an accurate timing device, making and launching paper rockets and measuring an unknown mass without any scales. The undoubted highlight of the competition, however, was the opportunity to experience sky diving in a wind tunnel.
The competition aimed to inspire year 10 students from around the East Midlands to study Physics beyond GCSE level. It was sponsored by the Institute of Physics and The Ogden Trust and also included lectures in the evening by the heads of science at Rugby and Oakham.
“The boys thoroughly enjoyed the experience and performed really well,“ said Peter Hortor, a physics teacher at Nottingham High School. “There was a lot of tough competition and to be placed fourth is no mean feat. It was relevant to their GCSEs, but also encouraged them to consider A Level physics as a useful and interesting course.“
Peter Hardwidge, one of the pupils commented: “I knew I wanted to work in science, but now I am sure I want to be a physicist.“