Last week four of our chemists took part in Top of the Bench – an annual national inter-school Chemistry competition for Year 9-11 students organised by The Royal Society of Chemistry.

The competition starts with regional heats and the first round for the Chilterns and Middlesex Section took place on Wednesday 9th November and was hosted online. The heats take on various forms, including quizzes, presentations and practical experiments. The regional winners then have a chance to compete against each other in the UK national final in the spring. Our NHEHS team was made up of two students from Year 9, one from Year 10 and one from Year 11.

Here’s how two of our students found the experience:

Morven P, Year 10

“Yasmine, Yara, Adeline and I took part in the online Top of the Bench competition on Wednesday 9th November. We competed against many schools, answering questions of varying difficulty, covering topics like balancing equations, elements and general chemistry knowledge. It was a great experience and I had lots of fun being part of the team. Thank you very much for the opportunity!“

Adeline G, Year 9

“We had to answer a variety of questions ranging from balancing equations to general knowledge such as the acid in car batteries! Ending with a fascinating lecture on the uses of carbon dioxide, we all learned lots from it and it was a great experience to practise our skills both in chemistry and competitions in general.”

Although we did not qualify for the final, well done to our team on their fantastic efforts and we look forward to taking part again next year!