A number of staffing changes have happened in the last twelve months and we have said goodbye to Miss Charlotte Knowles, who has gone on maternity leave. I took over as Head of Biology at the start of the year, and the Department welcomes Mrs Amy Lang from Badminton School, who will also be Assistant Housemistress of Westal.
Miss Ruth Kramer
Chemistry
The Chemistry Department has had yet another exciting year. August 2016 saw the Department celebrate its best results in recent years with 72% of A Levels being graded A or A*. Results at IGCSE were equally impressive with 100% of triple award Chemists being awarded an A or and A*. The Department also celebrated a number of successes in the Chemistry Olympiad with four Silver awards and seven Bronze awards. A special mention must go to Aiko Fukuda (U6, Ch) who missed out on a Gold award by a single mark. Other Silver award recipients were Isobel Salmond Smith (U6, A), Ian Wan (L6, NH), and Benedict Schallamach (L6, BH). The Department looks forward to the performance of these Lower Sixth candidates in next year’s Olympiad.
graduate students from the university to deliver a workshop on Spectroscopy; a key skill that is assessed in the new A Level course. The Summer Term saw a unique Department Day with Lower Sixth students visiting an industrial chemistry plant, a brewery, and a pharmaceutical processing plant. This gave students a taste of a life in Chemistry after leaving College. The Department is now part of the Institute for Research in Schools (IRIS). IRIS is a charitable trust supporting young people and teachers to develop authentic research in schools. It gives pupils access to the world of real, cutting edge science by bringing university and industrial experts and equipment into school laboratories. Our first project will be assisting in the monitoring of carbon monoxide levels in the local area around College. A number of staffing changes have occurred in the past twelve months. In September, we
welcomed Mrs Sarah Orwin-Henderson as a full time Chemistry teacher from the Universities of Bristol and Cambridge, Dr James CopelandJordan from Huxlow Science College in Northamptonshire and before that the University of Cambridge. Dr Copeland-Jordan has assumed the role of Head of Chemistry. We also welcomed back Miss Lara Beere, who was on maternity leave following the birth of her son, and who leaves us again for the birth of her second child. We see the departure of Mrs Jo Smith after seven years of service to the Department. Jo leaves College to assume the role of Housemistress at Wycliffe College in Gloucestershire; we wish her and her family all the very best. Mr Tom Wilson was welcomed to the Department in April and he will be a full time teacher of Chemistry and Resident Tutor from September onwards.
Mr Dan Townley
The Department continues to forge links with the University of Bristol, and this year was no exception. We entered teams in the Top of the Bench Competition and also the Young Analyst competition. We also welcomed two post-
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