QUEEN Elizabeth’s School, Crediton, students Liam Grant and Molly McCarthy are celebrating success at the International Chemistry Olympiad.

The prestigious international competition is held each year and the UK round is run by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

It is an opportunity to stretch and challenge post-16 Chemistry students by testing their chemical knowledge.

QE has entered students for many years and is one of the very few state providers from Devon and Cornwall that enter.

The competition includes a two-hour exam paper with extremely difficult questions which test not only chemical knowledge and understanding but also logical thought.

It is usually held during the mock exam period so students who take part are also volunteering to increase their workload significantly.

Other QE students that took part this year were Tegan Heard, Hannah Yeats and Samora Shakespeare.

Molly was awarded a bronze award, and Liam a silver.

Mr Tim Ward, Science Teacher at QE, said: “I can’t stress how hard the questions can be at this competition; these are significant achievements by our students that I am proud of and hope they are too.”

Alan Quick