Year 11 student Natalie Shapiro not only achieved an A* in her Astronomy GCSE, but was awarded a special certificate from the Royal Astronomical Society for achieving one of the top 12 highest marks in the UK. These 12 students were then invited to an exclusive competition where they had to produce a scientific poster on an astronomical concept. Natalie’s poster, on ‘a unified model for Active Galactic Nuclei’ won 3rd place overall. For this, Natalie received a £25 book token, and has been invited to present her poster to the Society members at an upcoming meeting at the Royal Astronomical Society in central London.

GCSE Astronomy is taught by Mr Davey as an extra-curricular GCSE in Year 10 at JFS. Students attend lessons in their lunchtimes, and follow an accelerated timetable to complete the whole course in 1 year. Last year’s results were 100% grades A-C with 63% of students achieving an A or A*. see Natalie’s poster below.