In November 2015, St George’s entered 2 teams into the Royal Society of Chemistry’s annual ‘Top of the Bench’ (TOTB) competition. This prestigious event is open to all schools in the UK as well as entries from the Belgium and Luxembourg region due to the input of one of the Society’s members. The first step is to compete in a regional ‘eliminator’, typically against 10-20 teams, each consisting of 2 Year 9 students, 1 Year 10 and 1 Year 11 student. Our ‘eliminator’ took place in unusual circumstances as the planned event in Brussels had to be cancelled at the very last minute (we were already on the bus) due to a terrorist threat and the subsequent ‘security lock down’ of Brussels. Instead each team was sent tests to complete and return to the organisers. Our teams fared well with 1 of them actually winning the Belgium and Luxembourg regional heat! As a result of this victory they received the Keith Price Cup and entry into the final of the TOTB competition.

The TOTB final was held at Loughborough University, in the UK on Saturday 16^th April. It was jointly hosted by the Royal Society of Chemistry and Loughborough University’s Chemistry department. 32 teams participated in the event, all of which had made it through their regional eliminator rounds to earn the right to compete against the best schools in the UK (and St George’s). It was a great event, starting with an individual round – which was essentially a chemistry exam, followed by the main event which was a team round involving a series of very complicated chemistry investigations regarding batteries and energy. To round off the day, students were invited to view interactive presentations from some of Loughborough University’s post-graduate Chemists regarding the avenues of research which they were taking, the competing teams were used as a voting panel and asked to decide where they would like to see further funding utilised.

Despite our team not making it into the top 6 ranking places, this competition was an excellent opportunity for the students to challenge themselves and see various avenues of research Chemistry University students are taking. This event certainly stretched their ability and provided a great insight into teamwork and working under pressure. Overall it was an enjoyable experience for all members involved, including the staff!

Our team consisted of the following students:

• Ethan – Year 11 (Team Captain)
• Yi hua – Year 10
• Alistair – Year 9
• Alexios – Year 9

They were accompanied by Mr Stenton and Mrs Winter.