ACADEMIC

Tonbridge among the honours in the British Physics Olympiad

Boys celebrated winning Gold, Silver and Bronze awards in the First Round of the British Physics Olympiad. This national competition encourages the study of the subject and recognises excellence in young physicists.

Two Upper Sixth Formers, Kenneth Lee (MH5) and Yury Balabin (CH5), claimed the highest ranking on offer with a Top Gold placing, which puts them among the very best students in the country (the top 7 per cent nationally). Those with Top Golds can also go on to compete in Round 2.

Chris Powell, Head of Physics, said: “This was an extremely challenging paper and so all students who gained awards should be very proud of their performance.”

Fifteen Sixth Formers have become the ‘première cohorte’ from the School to gain a new French language qualification. The boys have all passed the DELF, which can be sat by Years 12 and 13 as an alternative to a full A-level as part of Tonbridge’s Sixth Form Curriculum.

Having put their skills to the test, the boys did the School proud with a 100 per cent pass rate. French Teacher Jean-Patrick Vieu said: “What started as a journey into unknown territory has now turned into a great success for these boys. All demonstrated perseverance, determination, patience and good humour during their studies, and I am overjoyed at the outcome.” l The International Maths Olympiad sees countries from across the world sending their best six school-aged mathematicians to take part. Contestants have to solve six fiendishly difficult problems over two four-and-a-half hour papers. Tonbridge’s first representative on this international stage was Sherman Yip in 2020.

Studying a Modern Language in the Sixth Form is a popular choice for Tonbridgians. Approximately one third of the current Upper Sixth opt to study at least one, either to A-level or as an additional language qualification. Modern Languages on offer are French, German, Mandarin and Spanish.

In the most recent competition, no fewer than three current Tonbridgians were involved: a level of participation which is a record for any UK school. Alex Chui (CH1) represented Hong Kong and achieved a Gold Medal. Isaac King (CH3) represented the UK and achieved a Silver Medal. Catalin Botezat (Sc4) represented Moldova.

Two teams of Tonbridge boys – one from the Upper Sixth, one from the Lower Sixth – have been named as ‘Top in the UK’ after taking part in the International Physics Brawl.

Nearly 200 teams, from schools across the world, competed in this annual online event which tests Physics problem-solving skills. Each team, of either four or five members, is set the challenge of answering a series of questions under time pressure.

A total of eight teams from the School, made up of 36 Upper and Lower Sixth boys, took part in this year’s contest.

Two teams were placed first in the UK for Year 12 and Year 13 students, respectively.

The Upper Sixth winning team was also ranked 34th out of 188 in the world, placing the boys among the top fifth worldwide in their age category.

The International Physics Brawl is organised by Charles University, a renowned institution in the Czech Republic. The Tonbridge teams competed in the School’s state-of-the-art, RIBA Awardwinning Barton Science Centre.

Tonbridge boys have excelled in the First Round of the British Maths Olympiad. This competition, which is open to the top 1,000 school mathematicians across the entire UK, requires competitors to solve six challenging questions in three and a half hours.

Tonbridge had four making the top 100 this year: First Years Alex Chui (CH1) and Justin Leung (JH1); Hayden Lam (FH4) from the Lower Sixth; and Yury Balabin (CH5) from the Upper Sixth.

l Boys explored the role of anger in politics and social change during the Senior House Debating Final. The competition culminated in a final between Welldon and Manor, which took place before a 140-strong audience in the EM Forster Theatre. The motion was ‘Furious justice? This House is angry.’

An impressive match of intellect saw the two sides clashing over the likelihood of anger turning to hate and violence, its role in bringing about important changes in society, and the best ways to bring about a better, more tolerant world.

Judges crowned Welldon the winners, believing that their reasoning and arguments had been the best overall.

Second Year boys have been putting their skills in creativity, innovation and teamwork to the test in the Junior House Engineering Competition.

In a ‘supercurricular’ programme jointly run by the Physics and Design Technology teams, boys are taking on a series of challenges ahead of a grand final later this year.

The latest round saw boys spending a couple of weeks designing and building model rocket cars, before racing them over a distance of 50m at the School. The Whitworth team took the top honours – and the coveted trophy – after producing a rocket car which clocked up an amazing speed of more than 100mph.

Two boys from each House are working together to meet the series of challenges, with each session taking place on Mondays after normal lessons.

The first round tested boys’ ingenuity in a slightly different way, as they had to ensure that an egg survived its journey after being dropped from on high in the School’s Barton Science Centre … with the rules stating that neither parachute, padding nor protection was allowed. Teams designed contraptions made from straws and A4 paper.

Chris Powell, Head of Physics, said: “The main idea of the competition is to bring Physics and Design Technology to life, outside of normal classroom learning, and allow plenty of scope for creative thinking, innovation and fun.”

Other rounds have involved ‘mousetrap cars’, using springs from mousetraps to power wooden cars; a bridge building challenge, requiring boys to create structures from small sticks of wood; and wooden glider planes, powered by rubber bands.