Six young people from Richard Taunton Sixth Form College conducted themselves with aplomb in the UK’s most prestigious chemistry competition for secondary students.
The students invited to take part in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s UK Chemistry Olympiad all impressed science teacher Rachel Powell as they tested their critical skills and knowledge against rivals from all over the country.
The competition has three stages, the first of which was held at the college in Southampton. Mrs Powell said: “This was designed to test chemical knowledge through a written test with real-world chemistry problems. The paper covered topics such as the composition of the FIFA 2023 Women’s World Cup trophy, iodate salts, fuel-producing bacteria, the MRI contrast agent gadopiclenol and sulphur-containing molecules in the atmosphere.
“This stage often stimulates a lot of debate and conversation around what chemistry is all about, so it’s a great opportunity for chemistry students like ours to develop and showcase some of the skills they’ll need at university and beyond.”
Year 2 student Piper Pallot achieved a Gold medal while her sister Jesse came away with a silver. There was a Bronze for Year 2 student Charlie Clarke and also for Faris Khan.
“Faris’ medal was a great achievement because he is a Year 1 student and the questions are aimed at the last year of study before university,” said Mrs Powell.
She said although none of the students made it through to the next round it was a great experience for them.
“They all did really well and Piper in particular was impressive as fewer than ten per cent of pupils taking part achieved Gold. Unfortunately they didn’t quite do enough to progress but they all showed their problem-solving skills and demonstrated they can think creatively.”
