We are delighted to announce that the 2021-2022 RSC Thames Valley Local Section Top of the Bench Heat will go ahead this year, taking place early in January 2022. The competition, which is set by the University of Oxford, is designed this year to be run in school between the 13th – 27th January 2022, allowing teachers and technicians to schedule the competition as best fits their timetables. Teams of four, made up of two Year 9, one Year 10 and one Year 11 will take on a construction and analytical challenge as well as participating in an online quiz. Participants will need to use technology to collaborate and complete the challenge and to present their findings. The teams will be judged on their findings, collaboration and quiz score. We anticipate that the competition will take approximately 4 – 5 hours in total to complete, however, this does not need to be scheduled all at once, and it is perfectly possible for the competition to be split up into shorter periods allocated across the fortnight. The competition is free to enter and participating schools will be sent a competition pack with most of the required materials, but the school may need to provide a small number of low cost consumables (e.g. deionised/distilled water). The winning team will go through to represent Thames Valley in the national competition in 2022. To register your school to participate this year please email thames.valley.rsc@gmail.com.