TWO high achieving Priestley students struck gold at a national chemistry Olympiad.

Rachel Da Luz Vieira and William Evans both achieved gold medals, collecting the highest prize in the Royal Society of Chemistry Olympiad.

This meant they were impressively in the top 8 per cent of the 14,915 students who took part.

The UK Chemistry Olympiad is a leading competition for secondary students across the country which sees thousands of students’ problem-solve and use critical thinking to test their knowledge of chemistry in ‘real-world situations’.

Commenting on her phenomenal win, Priestley student Rachel said: “I was surprised to finish in the top 8 per cent.

“The paper was all about problem-solving and applying what we had learned about Chemistry in class.”

Rachel plans to study chemistry at the University of Manchester following the end of her studies at the college.

William, an ex-Bridgewater High pupil, added in relation to his gold win: “There is a big creative thinking element to it, which is something that I like.”

As well as Priestley’s Second Year gold medallists, there were four silvers and a bronze awarded. First Years Stuart Roberts and Billy Cave also collected bronze - a year ahead of when they would normally expect to sit the paper.

Their achievement meant all Priestley students who took part were awarded a medal.

Chemistry teacher Lewis Edwards-Yates said: “The excellent achievement reflects the collective hard work of students and staff at Priestley. Working hard to embrace challenge and to seize opportunities to develop is at the heart of what happens here.”

Students attended extra stretch and challenge sessions in their own time to prepare for the olympiad.

To achieve silver, students had to be in the top 4,963 nationally (top 33 per cent) and gold was awarded to those in the top 1,238.