Pupils excel at science expo

The SP pupils who received bronze medals at the 2016 Eskom Expo for Young Scientists.

South Peninsula (SP) High School, in Diep River, won 10 gold medals and 32 bronze medals at this year’s Eskom Expo for Young Scientists, which was held at the University of Cape Town from Monday August 29 to Wednesday August 31.

Sixty pupils entered this year and according to Regional Science Fair director, Olga Peel, a teacher at Bishops, this year saw 50 schools take part and a record 480 projects entered.

The 10 gold medallists of SP will join pupils from Herzlia High School, Bishops, Herschel, St Cyprians and Parklands at the International Science Fair (ISF) in Johannesburg where they will represent the Cape Town region.

ISF finalist Thaakirah Isaacs, in Grade 11, was ecstatic about her and the school’s achievement. According to Thaakirah, the SP pupils had been working on their projects since March. Their science teachers had set targets for them for this year’s science fair and most of these were achieved.

Daniel Williams, a Grade 10 pupil, received a bursary offer as a prize from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), for a project titled Wind “Hertz” Sound.”

Zeid Baker, SP acting principal, said SP’s ISF pupils will be hard at work over the next few weeks to upgrade their projects to international standard.

“Deidre Bastian, physical science teacher at SP, believes that the ‘culture of science expo’ has hit the school and that the SP science evening, an annual event at the school – which allows pupils to present their work to their parents – has contributed immensely to the science culture existing at the school,” said Mr Baker.