PUPILS at Mount Kelly have become space biologists!

They have embarked upon a voyage of discovery by growing seeds that have been into space.

In September, 2kg of rocket seeds were flown to the International Space Station (ISS) on Soyuz 44S where they spent several months in microgravity before returning to Earth. This was part of the Rocket Science project, launched by the RHS Campaign for School Gardening and the UK Space Agency. 

Toby Berryman, a Year 7 pupil (pictured with Archie Burton), applied for the seeds, as he thought it would be an exciting project to take part in. 

Mount Kelly pupils are now growing the ‘space seeds’ alongside a control group of ‘earth seeds’ and are measuring the differences over seven weeks. 

The pupils won’t know which seed packet contains which seeds until all results have been collected by the RHS Campaign for School Gardening and analysed by professional biostatisticians. 

The out-of-this-world, nationwide science experiment will enable the pupils to think more about how we could preserve human life on another planet in the future, what astronauts need to survive long-term missions in space and the difficulties surrounding growing fresh food in challenging climates. 

This experiment was described as a fantastic way of teaching the pupils to think more scientifically and share their findings with the whole school.