Last term saw over 100 WHSB pupils from Years 10 and 11 take part in the Junior Chemistry Challenge (JCC), a nationwide competition designed to ignite curiosity and foster a deeper understanding of the subject, tailor made for pupils studying Chemistry GCSE. This is the first year the challenge has run nationally, with 2,139 pupils competing from 55 schools.

The JCC is a 45-minute paper, which pupils take individually under exam conditions, answering questions designed to enable them them to apply their knowledge to intriguing and novel problems. Ten multiple choice questions built on GCSE knowledge, and two longer questions focusing on industrial fertilisers and mass spectrometry (a topic not covered until A Level) came up this year.

In recognition of participants' achievements within the Challenge, Iron, Copper, Silver and Gold Certificates are awarded. This year, 14.2% nationally achieved Iron, 44.1% Copper, 26.2% Silver and 15.5% Gold. Of those WHSB entries, one pupil achieved Iron, 37 Copper, 40 Silver, and 24 Gold - a tremendous achievement and one of which we are immensely proud.

We congratulate our award winners, and thank Miss Negus for preparing the pupils for this challenge and facilitating the School's entry to the competition.