The stage was set on Friday as three schools came to Caldicott for our second year of hosting the Maths and Science Olympiad! Each school submitted a 5th Form (Year 7) team to compete for the coveted trophy and be crowned winners.
Round 1 kicked off proceedings with a race against the clock. Competitors were tasked with answering questions in order to reveal the code that unlocked their iPad which was running their timer. The sooner they stopped the timers, the more points they earned. Round 2 was all about estimates: how many goals were scored last year across the top four football leagues? How many hours would one have to work at minimum wage to surpass the wealth of Elon Musk? How many counters are in this box? The teams had to use strategies for extrapolating data from a small sample in order to work out as close an estimate as possible. Round 3 had everyone on their feet as teams raced to answer tough questions and then complete a lap of the classroom to get them marked. Answering the questions quickly and correctly in the least attempts earnt the most points!
After an energetic morning of Maths challenges, we broke for lunch before heading up to the labs to complete the Science portion of the Olympiad. Ma’am Naidoo then tasked the teams with investigating the factors that affect the oscillations in a grandfather clock. They used lab apparatus to conduct the investigation and were judged on their methods used to find the correct factors, which required effective collaboration amongst the teams of scientists.
A special thank you to Oratory School, Beachborough School and St John’s Beaumont for bringing their best and brightest for a fantastic day of cerebral competition. Credit belongs to Mr Querstret for his organisation of what was another successful Olympiad! It’s time now for the closely contested results; congratulations to Beachborough who finished first, closely followed by the Caldicott in second, St John’s Beaumont third, and The Oratory in fourth.
