PHYSICS HOT AND COLD On Friday 20th January 2017, we were very pleased to welcome back Dr Maria Pavlidou, from the University of Birmingham’s Physics Department. Dr Pavlidou gave two highly informative and entertaining talks to Year 9 Physics sets about extremes of temperature. The talks included many demonstrations with the ever-popular liquid nitrogen. Mr Jones Mr Jones 14 TRIPS AND VISITS In March thirty students from Year 8 were invited to attend a Science and History trip to Warwick Castle. As well as the Science Fair, we had the opportunity to explore the castle and learn about its history. We departed after registration on two minibuses. It was a fairly long journey, so we all entertained ourselves by talking, battling in arenas on Clash Royale and, most of all, snatching each other’s parcels on Snatch. After a short time exploring the fair on our own, we met up to hear a talk about rockets and saw model ones being made, tested and launched. After it had finished, we walked past a beautiful garden in the Castle grounds and then entered a maze that took us through different stages of history from the Vikings to World War II. It was easy to get lost though! We then went through the gates of the Castle and climbed a set of spiral stairs to different heights before seeing a wonderful view of the place from right at the top! Unfortunately, one person in my class wouldn’t look down because he was scared. We also explored the inside of the Castle, looking at portraits, armour and models of past monarchs. Mrs Hartt explained about the paintings and the rooms we visited. Once the tour was finished and we’d spent all of our money at the gift shop, we watched a fascinating ‘Birds of Prey’ show and then had another 50 minutes to explore the Science Fair. My group and I, after seeing all the different stalls, started popping each other’s balloons and trying to let them fly into the air (cough, cough Troy!). On behalf of the Year 8 students, I would like to thank Mrs Hartt, Mr Mohsin and Mr Jones for making this trip possible. I would highly recommend this trip to everyone as it’s a trip I won’t forget for a long time. Rohan Minhas 14 easy to get lost though! On behalf of the Year 8 students, I would like A LEVEL PHYSICS OLYMPIAD Congratulations to Year 13 students Mohsin Gandhi and Isaac Rafiq who both achieved Bronze Higher Awards in the recent and highly demanding British Physics A level Olympiad Competition. Mr Jones Warwick Castle Science Fair