On Wednesday 25th November, four pupils, James Duckitt (G), Gordon Lin (C), William Parker Jennings (Ldr) and Alice Sze (N), took part in the Regional Heat (Northants, Beds, Herts and Cambs) of the annual Royal Society of Chemistry Top of Bench competition, held at Kimbolton School.
In the first of two practicals, the team had to carry out various ion tests on unknown substances and then use a table to work out the identity of the substances from the results that they had obtained. They also took a general knowledge quiz, with questions ranging from how Antoine Lavoisier died, to questions on electrolysis.
At the end, it was announced that the Oundle team had won the competition with a score of 47 marks out of 69, performing particularly well in the ion testing section. This is the fourth time that Oundle have won this heat since 2009.
The team will now represent the region in the national final in March, which will involve over thirty teams.