Students shine at 55th International Chemistry Olympiad

Frome College A-level students have been praised by the college’s science department after they picked up awards at the 55th International Chemistry Olympiad – the leading chemistry competition for secondary school pupils across the world.

A-level chemistry students from both Y12 and Y13 took part in the first round of the UK competition in February. The results have been released and certificates were awarded to all students who took part and completed the paper. 20 students took part and received nine bronze awards, one silver and one gold, which the college says was a fantastic achievement.

Dr Smith from Frome College said, “Congratulations to Gareth and Melissa who gained gold and silver awards respectively, and well done to all the students who took part. All the students showed great endeavour and resilience to complete the test paper which contained questions of undergraduate difficulty, whilst being based on the A-level chemistry our students have been studying.

“As a department we considered it important to revitalise our Chemistry Olympiad participation, which we hadn’t entered for a few years, and it was fantastic to see our students really engage with the challenge and show themselves to be equal to other students across the country. We hope to enter the 56th Olympiad when it opens for applications in October.”