Hull Collegiate School win silver at the Fourth St Peter's Physics Olympiad

Hull Collegiate School has just won Silver at the Fourth Physics Olympics held at St Peter’s School, York.

On Wednesday 23 June, Jack Kelsall, James Whitbread and Sam and Jacob Van Nieuwkerk, aged 13 and in Year 8, beat 22 schools from across York and the North, from far afield as Bury, Newcastle, Bradford and Hull. Runners-up only to the Royal Grammar School in Newcastle, Hull Collegiate School faced stiff opposition from prestigious schools such as St Olave’s, Queen Ethelburga’s College, Bootham School, St Martin’s Ampleforth and Read School, Drax.

It was, however, the turn of the newbies to claim the top prizes. The Royal Grammar School, Newcastle, was placed first, with Hull Collegiate School second and Hymers College placed third.

“This was the first time all three winning schools had attended our Physics Olympics, so they did exceptionally well not knowing what was going to happen,” says Erica Town, Marketing Director at St Peter’s School.

“The day was brilliant fun,” says Jack Kelsall. “We made mini wind turbines and we were challenged to make the tallest possible structure strong enough to support a box of Crème Egg, using newspaper. We also created a course for a ball-bearing to take the longest time to roll down a ramp by adding just the right amount of friction-inducing obstacles and we won this challenge.” 

“Physics is an exciting subject which deals with the mathematical and physical solutions for every day life," says Mrs Penny Vitta, Teacher of Physics. "In taking part in the St Peter’s Olympics, our pupils were given a series of tests which they had to work out using concepts such as moments, density, structure, projectile motion and gravitation, and our teaching strategies ensured that they put the information they learnt at school into practice in a competitive environment."

The ‘games’ involved a mixture of practical skills and physics and mathematical knowledge as well as team work. For example the game called ‘Generation X’ shows how wind turbines work, Mind over Matter’ features different materials and densities, ‘Target Practice’ is about pin point accuracy, whilst ‘News Extra’ explores the stability of structures such as bridges.

The profile of Physics is improving thanks to the impact of TV presenter Professor Brian Cox, who has just received a CBE for his services to Science but the number of pupils taking science subjects at university is still declining. The Physics Olympics, however, is doing its bit to address this.

“I really enjoyed the day and St Peter's made us feel very welcome,” said James Whitbread. “The Physics Olympics proved that Physics can be fun!”