Year 12s started off, in October, with 18 students gamely taking part in the Senior Astro challenge. They were agreed that the questions were very interesting and introduced them to some astronomy and astrophysics that they had not realised they could become knowledgeable about. Top in School was Jade, which was testament to her enthusiasm for all things linked to Space, and her enthusiastic input to Space Society for sixth form since the start of the year.

In November 2019 a number of Year 12 and 13 Physics students took part in the A level ‘Physics Challenge’. 14 students took part, with 3 Merit Awards to Phoebe, Arzina and Mridhula. Then, later in November, the main BPHO Round 1 paper of nearly 3 hours of demanding physics problems was taken by 7 students. The results have just come in, marking taking longer than usual. 3 Bronze Awards went to Ananya, Arzina and Phoebe, and also 4 Commendations. Well done to all, doing these challenging questions in challenging circumstances.

Years 10 and 11 have also participated in the BAAO (British Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad) On-line challenge. We obtained brilliant results, with Alisha, Ishita, Anlan, Ishika, Lily, Neha, Lizzie, Laiba, Charlotte, Simran, Megan, Katherine and Eva obtaining Gold awards, and a further 104 students obtaining Silver and Bronze awards. The students who took part in this competition should be praised not only for their success in using their imagination to come up with ideas to answer some quite tricky questions, but also for their sense of adventure and purpose in being willing to give it a go when it was not a subject they are currently studying.

Years 10, 11 and 12 will be able to take part in their age group challenges in March, so visit the BPHO website to look at past papers if you are interested in practising for these.                                              

If you would like to further extend your Physics thinking, use the ISAAC platform regularly, and you can also practice for future Olympiad challenges, eg the GCSE challenge in Year 11, or the A Level challenges, at: https://www.bpho.org.uk/