
In the summer term, a group of 17 brave Year 12 students from Bolton School Girls’ Division took part in the Lower Sixth Cambridge Chemistry Challenge. They applied their knowledge and demonstrated superb problem-solving skills as they took on new, complex scenarios against nearly 15,000 other students.
The standard this year was exceptionally high, and so Girls’ Division Chemistry staff were particularly proud that Natasha, Harshini and Lucy all achieved silver certificates! Copper certificates were also awarded to Jemimah, Selina, Hannah, Beatrice, Aaliyah, Eesha and Chloe. Well done to the seven other girls who participated in the challenge: Hannah, Mahnoor, Iman, Sadiya, Aisha, Amira and Sarah.
There was also success for younger Girls’ Division chemists earlier in the summer: a large number of pupils in Year 10 took part in the National Scientific Thinking Challenge in May. This competition is a real test of scientific thinking reasoning and data analysis beyond the GCSE syllabus, and those involved competed with over 15,500 students in 10 different countries.
Although this was the first time Girls’ Division pupils have entered, around 50% achieved a certificate and several received Gold certificates: an excellent achievement.