THERE was another first for King’s Ely Sixth Form this week when two A Level students achieved Gold medals in the Biology Olympiad, a national competition for students with predicted A* or A grades in the subject.
King’s Scholars Sanjiban Mandal and George Ryan are the first King’s Ely students to achieve the highest accolade in the competition, where 5,000 of the most talented young biologists in the country face a gruelling two-hour paper.
As one of the highest scorers in the competition, coming in the top 3%, George (right) also successfully qualified for the second round. If he does well, he will then be invited to take part in the following stage at Warwick University and could go on to represent the UK at the International Biology Olympiad in Bali, Indonesia, this summer.
Georgia Baynes and David Bercow won Bronze medals in the competition and Ben Love was Highly Commended.
Senior Biology Teacher, Paul Lott, said: “The British Biology Olympiad challenges and stimulates students with an interest in Biology to expand and extend their talents. In offering a wider syllabus than A Level, it allows students to demonstrate their knowledge and to be suitably rewarded and publicly recognised by the award of medals, certificates and other prizes. It is hoped that competing in the Olympiad will encourage students already interested in this valuable, wide-ranging and rewarding subject to continue their study beyond A Level.”