All QE entrants to the Royal Society of Chemistry UK Olympiad were awarded medals after successfully completing the first round of this testing and highly-regarded competition.
Last year’s School Captain, Bhiramah Rammanohar, and his fellow Year 13 pupil, Alejandro Lynch Gonzalez (pictured centre above), both secured gold. This put the Oxbridge-bound pair, who have offers to study at Jesus College, Cambridge, and Magdalen College, Oxford, respectively, in the top 8 per cent of the nearly 3,000 candidates who competed in the élite event, now in its 52nd year.
Chemistry teacher Charani Dharmawardhane said: “All the boys should be proud of their achievement: the competition consists of challenging questions that stretch pupils beyond the A-level specification.”
QE’s eight other participants – Fozy Ahmed, Manas Madan, Tai Oyama and Sathujan Manmatharajah, pictured above, as well as Abilash Sivathasan, Dhru Patel, Pratham Upadhyay and Rushil Shah – all won either silver or bronze medals. All are from Year 13.
“Nearly a third of the contestants in the RSC Chemistry Olympiad did not receive any award at all, so our boys have done exceptionally well,” Miss Dharmawardhane added.
The RSC describes the competition as “a unique opportunity for students to push themselves further and excel in the chemistry field”. It adds that the olympiad helps develop critical problem-solving skills and creativity, while giving entrants the “chance to test their knowledge in new, real-world situations”.
Usually the first round is followed by a residential weekend for the top performers, with a national team selected from that for an international olympiad competition, but these stages have been cancelled this year.