Students at a Leicester faith school have been awarded £1,000 after winning a national physics competition.
Back in May, year 8 pupils at Avanti Fields School entered ‘The Eurekas’, a national science competition organised by the Institute of Physics, which challenges young people to ‘see physics differently.’
The challenge invited students to explore the question: ‘What is the point of physics?’, and thanks to their imaginary effort, a group a four girls from the school were named as this years’ winners.
The team, consisting of Anaiya Dattani, Dhariti Raythathatha, Prarthana Shukla and Serena Varia, baked a cake and decorated it to resemble the anatomy of a human ear. In order to complete the project, which was entitled ‘Frosting Physics’, they researched the physics of sound waves and how physics relates to the ear.
On July 7, Rachel Youngman, the Deputy Chief Executive of the Institute of Physics (IOP) came to Avanti Fields School, which is a Hindu faith school, to congratulate students, and present them with their £1,000 winning prize.
“We were all incredibly impressed by the quality of entries submitted for this first year of The Eurekas,” she said.
“It was amazing to see how the young people tapped into their passions and produced such thoughtful work. We wanted this competition to be a celebration of creativity, culture, collaboration, diversity and activity – all underpinned by physics themes – and it has certainly achieved this. Our thanks go to every single young person that took part, and I’m already excited to see what next year’s competition brings!”
Head Teacher Nisha Kholia, also offered her congratulations to the team, who she said demonstrated “excellent, research and presentation skills.”
“They impressed the judges with their originality and passion for learning. What a unique way to show that physics is all around us,” she said of their effort.
“The judges really liked the creative approach in their research and entry. The 200 words explaining the project was extremely well written and clear and the teamwork and communication stood out,” she added.
The judging panel for this year’s Eurekas, included journalist, broadcaster and physicist Shivani Dave, author and physicist Femi Fadugba and Rachel Youngman, who were all unanimous in their decision to award Avanti Fields first prize in the competition, which was launched to help erode myths and stereotypes around physics.
Speaking of the competition, Ms Kholia said: “We are grateful for this opportunity given by the Institute of Physics and the Limit Less Challenge – you have truly inspired our students to look at physics differently.
“My gratitude also extends to the science team at Avanti Fields for always going above beyond to provide such rich extracurricular and super curricular opportunities.”
To find out more about the Eurekas, visit: https://theeurekas.co.uk/
