In December last term, a team of four KEVICC students
attended the Royal Society of Chemistry’s
Top of the Bench
regional heats in Exeter University.
The team, consisting of Ethan Merrington-Pink (year11), Beth
Courtney (year10), Emma Jarvis (year 9) and Ewan Baker (year
9), battled it out against a variety of schools from across the
South West. The team worked fantastically as a group in the
university lab, completing two practical assessments and a
chemical knowledge quiz. Each member of the team worked
extremely hard in all aspects, each assigning themselves
roles and jobs throughout the tasks, but also enjoying every
minute of the opportunity to work in a university lab!
The hard work certainly paid off! The KEVICC team were
announced as the winners of the regional heats! The team
was ecstatic (including Mr Waistnidge and me, who couldn’t
contain our excitement and let out cheers during the
announcement!) and we returned with the knowledge that
we were through to the finals.
In April, we began the day of the finals in Loughborough
University, with individual thirty minute chemical knowledge
tests, followed by two hours of practical tasks. We were up
against some very stiff competition, but we were happy in
the knowledge that we had come this far and we were going
to enjoy the experience. We were also able to act as a funding
committee by voting for some of the university's PhD
chemistry students, who pitched us their amazing research
ideas which may transform our everyday lives very soon!
When the results of the competition came in, the team who
took home the trophy wasn’t KEVICC but, regardless of the
outcome, this was a fantastic opportunity to showcase some
of our College’s finest chemists! As a teacher, I was certainly
proud to present them as my team and I know that we all
took something incredibly positive away with us on the train
home (and that doesn’t include the free t-shirts, goggles and
pens!)
Fran Dumas, Science teacher
Science
Phenomenal Science
Students have been exploring the weirder side of Science at a club called
Science Phenomena
.
The students have performed magic tricks that only Science can
explain, like spinning a strobe pen which defies gravity; causing
perpetual motion in pendulums and spinning tops; lighting a 230V
strip light with their bare hands; conducting several thousand volts
of electricity through their fingertips and flying a UFO that writes
messages in the air.
With gadgets to play with; impossible 3D puzzles to figure out and
things like hovercraft to build, time seems to fly past. Those who like
Science Phenomena like anything that flies. So we have also tested
out missiles that helicopter back to Earth; water rockets; boomerangs
and other flying objects. Science phenomena are like magic tricks
and, as with all magic tricks, we just want to know –
how do they do that?
Why not come on Wednesday lunchtime in Room 86 to find out?John Lessware, Science teacher
(see page 31 for details of the generous support given to us by the Foundation Governors)
Royal Society of Chemistry
Top of the Bench
Competition
KEVICC students win the regional heat
and go on to compete in the Finals!
l-r Ewan Baker, Ethan Merrington-Pink, Beth Courtney, Emma Jarvis
Main photo courtesy of
Loughborough University and
Royal Society of Chemists
Page 24
