On March 15th, Tom & Maccabee (Y9), Phoebe (Y10) and Jayan (Y11) headed off to Scotland, to compete in the final of the ‘Top of the Bench’ Chemistry Competition. They flew to Edinburgh early Friday morning, only hours after the concert, which Tom and Maccabee were taking part in. After winning the area round at Swansea University a few weeks before, they knew the competition would be tough but they had plenty to take their mind off it. Dr Hanford had organised lots of activities to allow them to fully explore the beautiful city of Edinburgh and they were all smiles at the end of the day on Friday.
Saturday was competition day and they arrived determined to enjoy the experience, whatever the outcome. They performed confidently in the quiz round and got stuck in quickly to the lab work, pulling together to complete the necessary practical work. In the end, they were not victorious but all felt they would do it all again if they could! A superb opportunity both for academic development and cultural activity.
“Going to Edinburgh was an incredible experience and it is an amazing city with all the gothic architecture! Besides the actual competition, we also did lots of fun things, like when we toured the famous underground Saint Mary’s Street, which was also interesting. The competition was fantastic, and it was cool to look around the university and use the very modern labs. Overall, it was enjoyed by all of us and we would like to thank Dr Hanford and Mrs. Khaleel for taking us!”