A team of QE boys came in the top 10 of a national Chemistry competition – the first time the School has progressed beyond the regional level of the Top of the Bench competition.
Mehul Jesani, of Year 11, Aniruddh Raghu, Year 10, and Year 9 boys Tianlin Zhang and Alex Zanre won the regional final of the competition, beating off a high-quality field including last year’s winners, Harrow School.
At the final held at Imperial College the QE team came ninth out of 29 teams. “This is an amazing achievement,” said QE’s Head of Science Dr Malcolm Russell. “It is the first time we have reached the national final and there were a lot of teams present with much greater experience than us. The boys were a credit to the School and conducted themselves brilliantly. Our success was due in no small part to the preparation of the team by Dr Elizabeth Kuo.”
The competition was organised by the Royal Society of Chemistry. In the final, contestants had to complete a short test of factual chemical knowledge and a practical, chemical, problem-solving, team exercise.