No.128
The Trusty Servant
Physics Partners Day at Win Coll
Tommy Cookson (I, 55-60; Co Ro, 64-65,
67-72, 74-90; Headmaster, 03-05) reports:
Anyone who watched science
programmes in the 1970s will
remember Dr Magnus Pyke, who
developed a huge TV following:
a poll asking viewers to name the
greatest-ever scientists put him
third after Newton and Einstein.
His popularity was due partly to his
ability to get difficult ideas across to
the average TV audience and partly
to his enthusiasm and his habit of
waving his arms about to emphasise
particular points.
Pyke died in 1992 but he has been
reborn in Win Coll Science School
in the person of its Head of Physics,
Dr Jeremy Douglas. Jeremy gets rave
reviews both from his young pupils at
Win Coll and from his more mature
audiences at summer schools or
single-day events for non-specialist
teachers of Physics, for instance at
the Harris Academy in Bermondsey.
His trademarks are his intellectual
enthusiasm and his wonderfully
expressive body language, which
make Physics lessons look like
taekwondo.
fewer A-level entries than Chemistry
or Biology. One of the reasons for this
is that it appeals less to girls. Another
is the dire shortage of qualified
Physics teachers. In consequence,
Physics is often taught to the younger
age group by biologists, many of
whom understandably lack the depth
of knowledge to inspire in their pupils
a desire to take the subject further.
Winchester can help such teachers
with days like this and by following
them up with twilight sessions during
the school term.
The session on 13 th July was
supported by a charity called Physics
Partners – which we founded 12 years
ago following an idea of Jonathan
Shephard’s at the Independent
Schools’ Council – and was organised
by our CEO, Bryan Berry. Physics
Partners helps some 200 state schools
across England with twice-termly
lessons on aspects of the GCSE
curriculum. We concentrate a lot
on practical work as this is what
non-specialists find difficult if they
At the end of each session we
distribute feedback forms based on
those used by the Institute of Physics
and ask the teachers to comment, rate
the lesson on its usefulness for their
teaching and, on an ascending
scale of 1-4, say how good it was.
It isn’t always easy to teach
teachers when you are used
to teaching boys—not least
because, unlike a class of boys,
you haven’t a clear idea of what
stage they have reached or what
the ability range of their pupils
is. Readers will be glad to know
that the session at Win Coll
received a very large number
of top grades in each category
and the verbal feedback was
excellent. Magnus Pyke himself
would have been proud.
It was only a matter of time
before he had the idea of a
Physics day at Win Coll for
local non-specialist Physics
teachers. On 13 th July this year,
20 teachers and technicians
from maintained schools across
Hampshire and West Sussex
assembled to study aspects of
the GCSE Physics curriculum.
Besides himself, Jeremy turned
out his top team to train them:
Tony Ayres, John Cullerne,
Jamie Barron and their three
excellent technicians.
Nationally, Physics is making a
comeback but still has 20,000
have classes of 30 and little technical
help. We don’t charge fees and raise
our own funds from trusts, livery
companies and individuals, including
two generous Old Wykehamist
sponsors, the Loveday Charitable
Trust and Paul Tao in memory of his
father, CF Tao. We are associated with
the Institute of Physics, which lends
us trainers in parts of the country we
cannot reach such as York, Liverpool,
Manchester and Birmingham. But
we also rely on outstanding teachers
from state schools and independent
schools such as Winchester, including
some from the Girls’ Schools
Association with which we have
been collaborating for two years with
the aim of attracting more girls into
A-level Physics —currently only 23%
of A-level Physics entries are from
girls.
Jeremy Douglas
12
Any OW who would like to
discover more about the charity
Physics Partners is invited to get
in touch with Tommy Cookson at
[email protected].