Top of the Bench

  • 13 years ago
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Held in Oundle's SciTec building, fifteen teams competed at the event (with nine schools participating). John O'Toole and Gemma Rothwell from the Royal Society of Chemistry were present throughout to oversee and support the event.

As winners of the last year's heat, Oundle were the hosts this year and organised the event format. The competition was based on two hour long practical exercises involving rates of reaction and ion tests. These were followed by a Chemistry quiz.

Each of the school teams comprised two pupils from the Third Form, one pupil from the Fourth Form and one from the Fifth Form. Oundle's winning team, comprising Chang Yun (15), Kirsty Ross-Stewart (14), Sammy Shair (13) and Christopher Titcomb (13) answered 101 out of a possible 116 questions, narrowly beating a team from The Perse School in Cambridge by 5 marks. A second team representing Oundle and comprising Henry Lee (15), Thomas Charlton-Jaeg (14), Matthew Coster (13) and James Miller (13) came a very respectable third, with 92 marks.

The winning Oundle team now represent the region in the national final of the competition at Imperial College, London in April. Last year Oundle came 13th out of 23 teams and this year's winning team is hoping to improve on that well-placed performance.

Competition organiser at Oundle, Robin Hammond commented, “The Oundle teams very much enjoyed their afternoon of Chemistry and worked very well together. The competition was stiff and it was with great pride that an Oundle team won the competition.”

Captain of Oundle’s winning team, Chang added, “I found the experience to be a great opportunity to use my knowledge in chemistry outside the classroom and exam rooms. Working as a team meant that we could discuss problems and the relaxed environment of the competition allowed us to really enjoy working together. The experience would have been great even if we had not won but our victory added to our enjoyment. I am looking forward to competing in the National Finals of the Top of Bench Competition.”

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