Chemistry & Physics Departments

Cool Chemistry

Crest Awards Chemistry Olympiad

A group of girls in Year 9 and a brave handful of Year 8 pupils participated in the British Science Association’s Crest Awards, which involved undertaking a science based project of their own choosing. Year 8s completed their Bronze awards and Year 9s earned Silver Awards with 30 hours of individual scientific work.

Each year, over 32,000 CREST Awards are undertaken by 11 to 19-year-olds, giving them opportunities to explore real-world science, technology, engineering and maths projects in an exciting way. Reflecting on her project “Analysing the differences between store bought and homemade aspirin”, Year 9 pupil Hafsa Syed, said: “My experience of taking part in the Silver Crest Award was one which I will definitely remember for a long time. I was given the opportunity to choose and study a topic which interested me. I used a variety of equipment and chemicals, some of which would not have been available to me until I began my A-Level courses. I improved my understanding of certain aspects of Chemistry and I was supported throughout the entire project. The most important thing I have learnt, is that sometimes experiments fail and there are many problems which you encounter along the way. However, all of these problems improve your ability to solve problems and to persevere with patience, no matter what.” Well done to all those pupils who took part:

Lauren Whitaker; Lauren Pursey; Amy Potter; Amy Mackie; Rachel Care; Emma Sellwood; Ella Fullelove; Neha Bagewadi; Anna Clark; Carla Law; Lima Assi; Shivani Chohan; Safia Kapadia; Sharon Daniel; Ingrid Lam; Mariyah Karim; Hesa Syed; Hana Hanif; Maha Azhar; Sana Riaz; Sanaa Hafsa; Nabilah Thagia; Maimoona Ghanchi.

Ms Teichman

CREST Robot 2016

The International Chemistry Competition provides an opportunity to stretch and challenge post-16 students studying Chemistry. The UK selection process is supported by INEOS, the world’s third largest producer of chemicals, and who is involved in the production of paints, plastics, textiles, medicines and mobile phones. The chemicals manufactured by INEOS are used as building blocks for many aspects of modern life.

The first round comprises a highly challenging written test of chemical knowledge, lasting two hours. The Round 1 paper was taken in February this year and a silver certificate, which is a very impressive achievement, went to Amy Kadodwala. Certificates of participation were awarded to Eleanor Harding and Tayyibah Khalid. Well done to the girls for taking part!

Ms Teichman

Amy Kadodwala

PHYSICS DEPARTMENT

Keble College, Oxford

On Wednesday 30th March, ten Year 10 students from BSGD, along with 38 students from other schools in the Bolton area, boarded a coach for what was to turn out to be a memorable visit to Keble College, Oxford. We arrived to sunny weather which allowed us to fully explore the beautiful city of Oxford. During Thursday and Friday morning the students attended the Chemistry, Mathematics, Engineering, Computer Science and Physics departments, where they were provided with hands-on activities and lectures. All the events were fascinating and our students participated intelligently and enthusiastically making an excellent contribution to their learning. Each evening, the students threw themselves into the team challenges offered by the accompanying staff. These included a quiz and an egg throwing competition! A great time was had by all. Fiza Hussain commented that the visit to Oxford had been an amazing experience. Her sentiments were echoed by Zineerah Bax, who added that she had gained an excellent insight into what she would like to do in the future and what the daily life of a university student is like.