Top of the Bench

Students from six local secondary schools took part in the regional heat of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s (RSC) Top of the Bench competition, which was hosted at Cardiff University’s School of Chemistry on 11th October.

The annual Top of the Bench competition, which has been running for more than 20 years, aims to excite children about chemistry and encourage them to consider further education and careers in the field.

On the day, teams of four 13-16 year olds from Brynteg Comprehensive School, Cardiff High School, Cathedral School Llandaff, Radyr Comprehensive, Rougemont School, and Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf pitted their chemistry knowledge against each other in rounds including quiz questions, glassware identification and molecular model building. Our regional heat came down to a tie-break between Cardiff High School and Cathedral School Llandaff, with Llandaff the ultimate winners. They will represent the RSC South East Wales Local Section at the final of the Top of the Bench competition next year.

The 2017 regional heat was organised and run by members of the RSC Local Section Committee and lecturers at the School of Chemistry, Dr Paul Newman, Dr Ben Ward, Dr James Redman and Dr Rebecca Melen with the help of Dr Dayna Mason, our RSC Education Coordinator.