Top of the Bench' Competition

On Thursday 22nd January 2026 a team of four pupils – Lana Blair (year 10), Andrew Burns (year 10), Darsh Girisankar (year 11) and Shauna Wu (year 12) – travelled to Queens' University to participate in the regional finals of the prestigious RSC 'Top of the Bench' Competition.

Following an introductory welcome, and a Health & Safety briefing the team got down to work. They completed a practical challenge in the laboratory where they investigated the electrochemical series and managed to produce electricity from some salt water and various metals – just a little of the magic possible when you know how to perform chemical reactions!

Following this, they completed a test paper demanding in-depth knowledge of safety, the chemical elements, electrochemistry, organic chemistry and energy changes, before finally competing in a stretching quiz round to conclude the competition. The team gave a great performance and were excellent ambassadors for the school.

They also had lots of fun and were stunned when they were crowned as NI Regional Winners, especially given that most of the questions on the test were related to topics they have not yet studied in their chemistry course.

Congratulations to the team who were so ably captained by Shauna; well done, from a proud Chemistry Department! Thanks to RSC NI Local section and staff at QUB for organising and hosting the competition.