Ardingly College is ‘Top of the Bench’

Having won regional heats involving 600 Schools, Ardingly College took a team of students aged 14-16 to the finals of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s national schools competition, Top of the Bench - and came first.

As teacher Richard Crook said: “We are delighted to prove that the top Chemistry students in the entire UK are here at Ardingly!”

The heats involved each student conducting an experiment and completing a 20-question short answer paper.

Ardingly won their regional heat at Eastbourne College by a single point from Trinity school, as well as beating Charterhouse, Brighton College, Lancing and Hurst.

The finals at Loughborough University on Saturday March 29 involved the 29 teams who had won their respective regions. Again there was a test for students on their chemical understanding and their ability to apply their knowledge to unfamiliar situations.

In a practical test, the team of students worked together to answer two in-depth questions:

a) What impurities are there in pond water? and

b) How much caffeine is present in tea?

Richard Crook said: “The Ardingly students impressed all the lab technicians with their methodical approach, which allowed them easily to achieve the top score in this part. Along with a strong performance in the quiz section, we were thrilled when we won the entire event.”

The team in the regional heats comprised two Shell (Yr 9) students, Alice Ertl and Luca Demetriadi, one Remove (Yr 10), Tom Hindle, and one 5th former (Yr 11), Cameron Millar. For the finals, Luca was away on a school ski trip and Freya Thursfield took his place.

For more details about the Royal Society of Chemistry Top of the Bench competition, please see the RSC website: http://www.rsc.org/Education/events-and-competitions/top-of-the-bench/

Report contributed by Ardingly College. Picture courtesy of Loughborough University.