Extreme Physics at Rugby School

Nearly 100 pupils from 24 state and independent schools across the Midlands and Lincolnshire spent the week after Easter 2010 on an "extreme physics" camp at Rugby School co-sponsored by The Ogden Trust and Old Rugbeian David Willetts and Maria Willetts.   The event is organised by Helen Pollard, formerly a physics teacher at Oakham School and devised by Dr John Chilton (Oakham School) and Dr Andy Davies (Rugby School).  They were assisted by undergraduates from the Universities of Nottingham and York and sixth-formers from Rugby School and Stamford School.  Extreme Physics is supported by the Institute of Physics, East Midlands Branch and is designed to inspire Year 10 pupils to study physics beyond their GCSEs.

The residential Easter holiday programme at the public school involved team and individual challenges including simulated sky-diving, rock climbing and a dragster race.

Kerry Wilde from Burscough Priory Science College at Airkix

Patrick Derham, Head of Rugby School, said: "Science must be exciting and relevant if we are to spark pupils' interest in the subject, and holiday courses like this are a great opportunity to give children and teachers a break from textbooks and the preoccupation with exams. I hope that by sharing our facilities and passion for physics, we will inspire young people to take a long-term interest in science."

The pupils heard from physics lecturers on topics including "How to survive a nuclear attack" and ballistics.  Teachers from the participating schools - 17 state and seven independent -  also took part in a professional development course focusing on making science lessons more exciting.

In the team challenges the overall winners of the course from 5-7 April were from Ockbrook School, Derby who are pictured below with Tim Simmons and Anne Hoole from The Ogden Trust. The winners of the team challenge from the course held from 7-9 April were Burscough Priory Science College and the report of their success appears below.

Ockbrook School students L to R: Georgina Pitts, Jessica Thorpe, Esther Heath and Symone Garvey.

Schools that took part in the event were:

Group 1 (5th-7th April):

  • Abbots Bromley School for Girls
  • Ashby School
  • Gleed Boys' School
  • John Ferneley College
  • King Edward VI Louth
  • Magdalen College School, Brackley
  • Newbridge High School
  • Nottingham High School
  • Ockbrook School
  • Spalding Grammar School
  • St. Peter & St. Paul's School Lincoln
  • Thomas Deacon Academy

Group 2 (7th-9th April):

  • Beauchamp College
  • Burscough Priory Science College
  • Hampton Community College
  • Kettering Science Academy
  • Leicester Grammar School
  • Loughborough Grammar School
  • Netherthorpe School
  • Noel Baker Community School
  • Nottingham High School for Girls
  • The Robert Smyth School
  • The William Allitt School
  • The Voyager School

 Burscough pupils win Extreme award!

Let’s face it, if most people were asked to spend 2 ½ days in their school holidays doing Physics we’d probably hear them laughing a mile away, but this is exactly what 4 pupils from Burscough Priory Sicence College have just done. The students were chosen to attend the 2 ½ day residential at Rugby School after completing personal projects about something that has inspired them in Science. The competition for the places was fierce but eventually 4 were chosen: Lauren Cheetham, Jessica Riley Green, Emma Potter and Kerry Wilde. They were whisked away in the Easter holidays for team challenges including dragster launches, one minute timers and parachute building. There were also individual challenges such as speed stacking, and an amazing opportunity to indoor skydive. Turns out Physics is actually pretty fun!

After the first day the pupils were amazed to see themselves 4th on the scoreboard, despite having won no challenges. The reason – each challenge was marked on four criteria: teamwork, creativity, knowledge and achievement showing the pupils that not everything is about winning, how you go about solving a problem is just as important.

Going into the final challenge, team presentations, the Burscough group had made it to 2nd place. All 12 schools had a different Physics principle to present with the Burscough girls doing this with their own style and finesse, dressed in matching ‘geek outfits’. The topic of ‘pressure’ was covered wonderfully and involved a giant drawing pin, marshmallows and an elephant complete with red stilettos...

Throughout the whole experience pupils were asked to fill in a journal about their experiences, including notes from two lectures. There were individual prizes awarded for these which caused big discussions in the judging panel over first place. In the end, a joint first prize was awarded – to 2 Burscough pupils! Kerry and Emma were commended on their presentation skills and note taking that was classed as “undergraduate level”. An amazing feat considering there were 48 journals submitted.

Then came the icing on the cake, 4th place was announced and Burscough Priory Science College was yet to be mentioned, this meant they were definitely getting a trophy, 3rd place, still no mention, 2nd place, not Burscough, they came first!

L to R: Jess Riley Green, Lauren Cheetham, Emma Potter and Kerry Wilde

The aim of Extreme Physics is to encourage more pupils to continue studying Physics at post-16 and was only possible due to the generous sponsorship of The Ogden Trust and Institute of Physics. It is hoped that a similar event can be organised in the North West region next year and any potential sponsors or teachers who would like to be involved are asked to contact Maggie Fidler at Burscough Priory Science College by email mfidler@bpsc.co.uk

More details of this year’s competition can be found at www.extreme-physics.co.uk and http://www.ogdentrust.com/news.72.htm