Caterham Chemists win “Top of the Bench” Heat at Royal Society National Comp

Last week, a team of Caterham GCSE Chemists, consisting of two third years (George N and Kaden F), Fourth Year (Caitlin M) and Fifth Year (Crystal W) travelled to Burgess Hill Girls School to take part in “Top of the Bench” – a nationwide Chemistry competition put on by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

The competition consists of two parts: a practical element and a multiple-choice test. George and Kaden had to prepare a copper (II) sulfate solution and perform tests on it, being carefully judged on their method and the purity of the final product. Caitlin was required to identify 4 unknown solutions using a series of chemical tests and Crystal was required to perform a thermometric titration and draw a perfect graph to analyse her results. They then sat the written exam to answer some really tricky questions – aspects of both practical and written papers contained chemistry to an A level standard.

George, Kaden and Crystal all scored the highest in their practical efforts, while Caitlin scored the highest in the written exam, meaning the team won the heat between 10 schools in the Downland region.

We await the scores from the other 60 schools in Downland to see if they progress to the National competition, but it is a tremendous achievement to win the local heats. Well done to all four pupils!