A team of students from Years 9, 10 and 11 at Hurst College won the Top of the Bench chemistry competition held in Lewes.

Lottie Ashton, Thomas Manchester, Saoirse Osbourne and Oscar Jaffe performed well in the annual competition run by the Royal Society of Chemistry, to take the title from Brighton College in second and Eastbourne College in third.

Both Year 9 students, Lottie and Tom, carried out an investigation into reactivity and displacement reactions. Saoirse investigated rates of reactions that involved reacting magnesium with an acid, and Oscar carried out a titration to determine the concentration of hydrochloric acid. The team then came together at the end to compete in the multiple choice quiz.