CHEMISTRY students showed they have the right solution for success after scooping gold and bronze awards in a national competition.

Upper sixth students at Sir John Deane’s College took part in the Olympiad competition organised by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Jake Dalton achieved the gold award, and Matthew Ward, Harry Collicutt, Daniella MacDonald, Avanti Paleja, Nicola Deeley, Joe Sharratt, Luke Cherry, Harriet Priestley and Matthew Wylie all took bronze awards.

The competition provides an opportunity to stretch post-16 students studying chemistry at A-level beyond the syllabus and involves a challenging written paper with questions focusing on real world chemistry problems.

Jake is only the second student at the college to achieve a gold award in more than 20 years, and one of only a handful of entrants to pick up the award at this year’s competition.

Anne Thomas, head of chemistry and physics at Sir John Deane’s, said: “We are absolutely thrilled for Jake as only a relatively small number of students who enter the competition achieve the gold award, which puts him up there with some of the brightest young chemists in the country.

“Huge congratulations also to all our students who picked up a bronze award. This competition is very different to what they’re used to at A-level and is a fantastic achievement and great addition to their CV.”