Ishani and Elliot Receive Gold Awards in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s UK Chemistry Olympiad

For the first time in Mill Hill School’s history, two pupils have been awarded Gold Awards in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s UK Chemistry Olympiad. Those who entered the Olympiad completed a written paper that tested their problem-solving skills, knowledge of chemistry and ability to apply it to real world situations.

Ishani S (School House) in Lower Sixth and Elliot F (Priestley House) in Upper Sixth received a Gold Award and will both be reading Chemistry at university. To help them prepare for the competition, Ishani and Elliot attended all the lunchtime training sessions run by Mr Saint, Teacher of Chemistry, throughout the year, along with 20-30 other regular attendees. Ishani and Elliot’s scores on their papers put them in the top 9% of competitors nationally and amongst the best A Level pupils in the country.

The topics covered in the 2023 paper included rocket fuels, electronegativity, amino acid complexes, vaping and cheese. Electronegativity is a timely topic as it was the 90th anniversary of Linus Pauling’s proposing the concept of electronegativity in 2022.

It is a real achievement to even get a certificate, especially for pupils in the Lower Sixth who had covered very little A Level content at the time of the January exam. The following pupils received certificates:

Gold (Top 9%)

Elliot F (Priestley House)

Ishani S (School House)

Silver (Top 30%)

Danelle T (Burton Bank House)

Sisi W (Collinson House)

Bronze (Top 70%)

Asal S (Ridgeway House)

Carolina S (Priestley House)

Edgar G (Priestley House)

James G (Winfield House)

Jihyun K (Macgregor House)