On Wednesday 10th December a team of four scientists from St. Julies took part in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s ‘Top of the Bench’ competition. Each and every year the competition is run over two heats and held in the University of Liverpool. The St. Julie’s team consisting of Nazanin (year 11), Megan (year 10), Lizzie (year 9) and Leah (also year 9) came up against some stiff competition from other schools across the city.

The competition itself consisted of tree stages. Before arriving the team had to make a Chemistry themed poster to present to the judges. So upon careful consideration the girls decided to make a poster about chemical bonding to demonstrate their knowledge of possibly the most fundamental aspect of the subject. It was received well by the judges who quickly got the girls started on stage two. The team, now dressed in lab coats and looking like they meant business, were taken into a lab and set practical tasks to solve. Firstly they were given a number of chemicals with standard laboratory equipment and told that there was only one way to produce a black solid from these. So after an hour of mind boggling reactions and word equations the St. Julie’s team had made this mysterious black solid, success! However, they weren’t quite finished yet. Four unidentified solutions were placed on their bench by the judges and the girls had to use their knowledge and whatever little bit of luck they could get to correctly name each one. As their teacher (Mr. Boyle) looked on nervously from outside the lab, the girls confidently completed the task and were one of the first groups to finish. After a short break for lunch it was onto the final stage.

Each team member had to sit a multiple choice examination with sixty challenging chemistry questions. Nazanin and Megan completed the blue test while Lizzie and Leah completed the yellow test. An hour later, and ready for a break in Starbucks, the girls exited the lab and eagerly awaited the results.

Ten teams took place in this first regional heat with only the winner advancing to the UK competition. Unfortunately the girls lost out on this occasion finishing 3rd overall after their points had been tallied up for all three stages. It was noted that they were particularly strong in their practical work and for a first attempt at the competition this was a really satisfying result. Despite not winning the St. Julie's girls thoroughly enjoyed the competition and left with the confidence that, now with a little experience under their belts, next year should be a different story altogether.