The Life Sciences Challenge.

On Friday 12th September, four Year 11 pupils took part in the final of the Life Sciences Challenge. The Cardiff University School of Medicine Life Science Challenge is an interschool competition consisting of a quiz designed and delivered by both PhD students and early career researchers. The quiz has been running now for 13 years attracting around 50 schools from across the whole of Wales to enter teams each year. The aim of the quiz is to inspire pupils to consider the possibilities of scientific careers by providing the opportunity to meet young scientists working in Cardiff University. The quiz rounds and questions aim to enhance GCSE learning but also challenge pupils to look outside the curriculum. A goal of the quiz is to test key skills required to be a scientist for example, the ability to analyse data and apply logic and learned knowledge to unfamiliar concepts.  Above all, the quiz aims to be fun and recognise the excellent scientists we have here in Wales.

Throughout Year 10, these pupils competed in the early rounds of the competition, culminating in the final this September. We are hugely proud to say that, in our first year of entering, our Cefn Hengoed team were successful and are the 2025 winners of the Life Science Challenge! Those pupils are Owen Chen (Head Boy), Daniel Sharma (Deputy Head Boy), Maximillion Sikora (Senior Prefect) and Darius Hanescu (Senior Prefect). It was a hard fought final against Ysgol Friars, all the way from Bangor, eventually finishing with a 60 to 34 points finish.

We look forward to taking a new team in 2026!

Mrs Emily King

AoLE Lead Science and Technology