Each year, universities and laboratories across the country host masterclasses for Sixth Formers interested in studying particle physics. On Thursday 4th March, our Year 12 physicists attended one of these day-long sessions, held virtually by the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL).
Joined by pupils from other schools, the day kicked off with a lecture on the standard model, followed by a practical workshop using data from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The afternoon was then spent with a talk about the LHC and a tour of the Diamond Light Source particle accelerator in Didcot.
A real stimulating mixture of events, these masterclasses provide excellent support material for particle physics topics in the curriculum and deliver a fascinating insight into this exciting field in physics. Sure enough, our budding physicists found the sessions very informative and learned much from it.
“I enjoyed the data coding section because I am very keen on Computer Science. Although I am leaning more towards the Computer Science sector in the future, I still found the masterclass really interesting.” – Alice (S1)
“My favourite part was definitely the introduction to the Large Hadron Collider, provided by a scientist at CERN. He explained what the collider does and what the day-to-day routine of a physicist is like! As I am considering a career in physics, this was great insight to receive and has encouraged me to continue to pursue this career path.” – Sunniva (S8)
Thank you RAL for this opportunity! We hope that we can see all this in action in person next year.