News

In November, 43 of our GCSE Astronomy students from Years 9 and 10 took part in the Junior Astro Challenge Competition set by the University of Oxford. This competition was specifically designed to engage and challenge students by offering them a range of Astronomy associated problems to solve.

Questions were based on an assortment from the history of astronomy, the Solar System, the Moon, observational techniques, diurnal cycles, star patterns, and general astronomical knowledge.

Nower Hill was the only school nationally to have such a large cohort compete and all of our students were awarded either Bronze, Silver or Gold certificates. 65% of our results were in line with or above the national average for this competition.

The highest achieving student in this category nationally (out of 621 students), was a Year 10 student from Nower Hill (Pranav) and 40% of our Year 10 students who had taken part last year were awarded higher certificates this year. The Year 9 students were particularly impressive as despite having started the course quite recently, 3 of them were awarded Gold certificates and 6 of them were awarded Silver certificates.

Very well done to all participants.