Chemistry Analysts Competition

This year’s Chemistry Analysts competition was quite unlike the years before. Instead of the usual kind, this time the students were greeted with a gripping mystery prompt of solving the cause of an unknown illness that had befallen a pharmacist at a local pharmacy, turning every participant into a part-time forensic scientist. Every lunchtime for the past week, the whole science block had transformed into a fizzing detective headquarters to solve the fictional mystery using real chemistry skills that were taught by our teachers. This co-curricular presented itself as a brilliant opportunity to test them and have fun.

Come 13:30PM , the excitement would kick in straight away when we entered the labs, every team would huddle, read the instructions thoroughly so as not to miss a single detail and whisper their next steps into confirming their theories and/or suspicions of the mystery substances in the materials tray. The competition was split into three distinctive segments that all (by the end) would point each of the teams in the right direction to catching the ‘culprit’. Part one involved analysing coffee by carrying out tritrations. Things were starting to piece together really nicely, then came part two and this was when things got very cinematic and dramatic with figuring out the composition of a commercial lip stain by carrying out a very technical TLC. This moment made everyone wait with bated breath because the coloured analyte spots brought us one step closer to our conclusions. The final stage was swift and intense, with all the acetone pouring, steaming water baths and weighing as we analysed the make-up of hand creams— one of three chemical candidates.

By the end, we all agreed that it was a great adventure, all in the comfort of our classrooms. If you enjoy puzzles, friendly rivalry and solving mysteries, the Chemistry Analysts competition would be the perfect ‘solution’. Join now. The clues will be waiting for you and the next case will be yours to solve!

A huge, huge thank you to Mrs Waverly and Mrs Nicholls for organising and keeping the mystery run smoothly.

We hope to see you join us next time!

Vyshali P 

Y12

Parent Information Webinar AI

Thank you to those of you who could join us for our Parent Information Webinar about AI last week. We hope you found it useful. Recordings of the webinar are available below: 

Ms Raven spoke about developments in AI, how AHS uses AI, developing AI literacy, AI as a learning tool and academic integrity. Click here for the video link.

Mrs Bourne spoke about AI tools for parents to be aware of, including study & revision tools and social tools. Click here for the video link.

Mrs Queralt spoke about online safety at home and in particular how essential it is that parents take steps to monitor device use at home. Click here for the video link and here for the slides which give parents clear steps on filtering and monitoring at home. 

Amelia Aplin - Fundraising for  Cardiac Risk in the Young

This memorial fund has been set up by the family to help CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young) raise awareness of young sudden cardiac death, support those affected, support CRY’s screening programme and fund research and pathology. If you are able to support this great cause, please follow the link below. 

https://www.c-r-y.org.uk/amelia-aplin/