Royal Society of Chemistry ~ Top of the Bench Competition
Four teams completed the Royal Society of Chemistry, Top of the Bench Competition task. The teams were asked to create a poster on a Transition metal. Three of the teams were selected to be entered. Their entries are below.
Dr Numbrere-Nmaju, Science Department
RSC TOTB Competition ~ 2024/2025
Articles:
This competition was certainly a valuable experience, I believe: to form a team, partaking in research, writing and design, and to produce something is great. In spite of a group dilemma of transition metals to choose from - with some unusual suggestions, much like throwing darts at the periodic table, there seem to also be many choices that are interesting, rather important in daily life and specific applications, extraordinary in properties, or relevant to the future, and even a combination of these. It was certainly enlightening to learn, through our investigation and presentation of a transition metal, of the extent and application of chemistry, and to delve into the subject which I find myself often fascinated by. Teamwork was also valuable, as we were all eventually tasked with our areas of research, and in simultaneously iterating and criticising our design ideas, we also linked all of our ideas together, both in presentation and understanding. The aspect of design was also a dilemma, but the result was resolved and enthusiastically completed.
Tianming Xie, Year 10
I am truly proud of what my group has accomplished within and outside the bounds of this poster: improved organisation, collective research, and great teamwork. This poster is one collection of our communication put into words and illustrations, but overall, our knowledge of chemistry has improved tremendously (to the point where we couldn't fit all our research on the poster!)
Great work everyone!
Isabelle Raphael, Year 11
Leader of the BGS winning group
Winning Poster
I would definitely recommend going to the Book Club; it was a fun and an easy way to settle in and make new friends!
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Our swimming teams have attended galas at Colfe’s school this term. Our senior team had a superb gala in November, with the girls finishing 3rd and the boys being crowned champions. The team finished 2nd overall. There were some fantastic performances, with BGS winning 15 of the 35 races.
On a crisp, cold December evening, an enthusiastic group of Year 11, 12 and 13 linguists visited St Dunstan’s College in Catford and were treated to a 'Careers in Languages' evening. The event was billed as a chance to attend an inspiring evening to unlock a world of opportunities with languages. Students explored the diverse and rewarding career paths that language skills can open up. They discovered many incredible opportunities listening to speakers from top organisations such as GCHQ, Military Intelligence, the Foreign Office, and the UN. They also heard first hand from a panel of current language undergraduates, who shared their experiences of studying languages at university. Additionally, they had the opportunity to take part in a fascinating taster session of Japanese, hosted by Kings Language Centre. Many BGS students came away inspired about future career possibilities of which they had not been aware prior to the evening. 
The trip to St Dunstan's was amazing! At the beginning of the event, we listened to a presentation by a group of people who are currently studying languages at university and using them in their jobs. It was very interesting as we also found out about different job ideas, such as working with GCHQ, MI5 and MI6. I had such a good time looking at the different stalls, where we were also given freebies too! The school was so grand and it was overall an amazing experience!
A huge thank you to the physics department for this amazing opportunity. We have all learnt so much, and I definitely want to explore aerospace engineering more in the future...