A highlight of this year's pupil-led arts festival Artifex, was a brand-new perfume workshop inviting pupils to step into a world of enchanting aromas. Guided by a group of A-Level chemists, participants discovered the art of fragrance blending and created their unique scent masterpieces.

Here is Lyra's account:

Being a Chemistry A-Level pupil myself, I find that there is a certain art to science that is often forgotten. We often recognise art within music, dance, performing and technology but science can sometimes be left behind. So, with this in mind, I was extremely keen to initiate a Chemistry-based Workshop for this year's Artifex.

This workshop allowed pupils to experiment with different organic substances to create their own perfume and ideally replicate either Dior Sauvage or Chanel No.5 - our two chosen fragrances. It was led by a team of Year 12 A-Level chemists including Tatiana, Henry, Beam and myself. I know that I can speak on behalf of all of us when I say that we all thoroughly enjoyed seeing the pupils get fully stuck in and discover their creative side through science. Many of them were able to produce almost identical replicas that blew the team and Mr Dickinson, Head of Science away. We hope that other pupils will continue this initiative next year and bring the art of Chemistry to life. 

We all thoroughly enjoyed seeing the pupils get fully stuck in and discover their creative side through science.

Lyra, Year 12