Cambridge Chemistry Challenge

Published on isbi School News dated Friday 13th of September 2013

Pupils from Oundle School recently took part in the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge, an annual competition launched by the University in 2011 to coincide with the 2011 International Year of Chemistry.
From January to June 2013 there was a monthly online challenge, open to anyone, any age, from anywhere in the world. In June there was also a written exam for students in Year 12 or below attending schools in the UK. It took the form of a 90 minute written paper which pupils took at school. Entrants who did well in the competition were sent certificates of achievement, and those who performed best won an invitation to a residential camp at the University of Cambridge at the end of August.
Five Oundle pupils, Ellie Cook (17), Mikhail Bobkov (17), Daniil Butman (17), Nigel Leung (18) and Chris Gilmartin (17) were all awarded a Gold Award which placed them in the top 8% of the highly able cohort who sat this paper. In addition 4 pupils achieved Silver Awards and 4 pupils achieved Copper Awards.
Head of Chemistry at Oundle School, Chris Quiddington commented, 'This competition aims to stretch and challenge pupils interested in chemistry and provide excellent experience for anyone considering taking their studies further. Set by an experienced team of teachers and university chemists, it is designed to be accessible to Year 12 students but will take them significantly beyond the syllabus and encourage them to think about science in the way they would at university. It is a pleasure to see so many pupils perform to such a high standard and they should be proud of their achievement.'