On Tuesday 16th January, twenty Year 12 Physics students headed to the University of Birmingham to attend the ‘Physics Live’ event. Here they attended lectures from high profile physicists who all lectured on their individual specialities.

Firstly, Doctor Andrew Pontzen, a highly established cosmologist, spoke about galaxies, dark matter and dark energy. Then, Doctor Suzie Sheehy spoke about the topic of particle accelerators and their several uses in industry, medicine and scientific research.  A main focus was the large hadron collider which is responsible for discovering various short-lived particles. There are around 37,500 particle accelerators worldwide, although her claim is incorrect if you consider that, for example, all oscilloscopes and ‘old style’ TVs and computer monitors accelerate electrons!

Professor Jim Al-Khalili spoke about the topic of whether life needs quantum mechanics, and the possibility of quantum biology.  Interestingly, he illustrated that quantum mechanics leads to organic chemistry which leads to biology and then ultimately life. The next topic was about time, namely, “What is time?”   Doctor Michael Brooks, who holds a PhD in Quantum Physics, enlightened us about this topic. He commented on the possibility of time travel and the theory surrounding it, most of which is supported by a lot of Einstein’s work on relativity. The final talk was given by Professor Trevor Cox who explored the physics of acoustics. He holds the Guinness record for the “longest reverberation”.

Overall, the day was highly insightful of more advanced physics.  Examination advice was also given to students which will hopefully prove useful.

Jubaer Ahmed

Isaac Minto, Anu Adeleye and Keir Msuya were hand-picked to perform in a workshop with the composer, performer and educationalist Paul Harris. Paul Harris has over six hundred publications to his name mostly dealing with a vast array of subjects mostly concerning music education. His Music Teacher’s Companion (co-written with Richard Crozier), won the UK’s MIA Best New Book award. He is an examiner and adjudicator and is frequently asked to take part in national events including the Chamber Music for Schools Competition, Music for Youth, the BBC Young Musician of the Year and Classic FM’s teacher of the year. Paul was impressed with the boys from HGS and their ability to perform in front of 20 music teachers from across the West Midlands.

We are delighted that Amritpal Kullar has been offered a place to read History at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge University this September. This is a wonderful achievement and we wish him all the best.

We are delighted that Rahul Patel has been offered a place to study Natural Sciences at Selwyn College, Cambridge University starting this September. This is a wonderful achievement and we wish Rahul all the very best.

The certificates for exams sat in Summer 2017 are now available for collection from the front office.

The deadline for Summer 2018 resits is Thursday 15th February at 4pm. The forms and costs are available from the front office.