STUDENTS from Callington College represented British schools at an international energy conference held recently in Normandy.

The college was awarded money from the European Union to take a select group of Year 10 and 12 students to the International Sustainable Energy Conference.

The college was the only school which was awarded this funding aimed at increasing the knowledge of sustainable energy across Europe.

At the conference, students attended lectures and demonstrations in both French and English and the students distinguished themselves by asking questions in both languages.

They visited French houses that had been built with sustainability in mind and discussed the designs with the architects and home owners.

The students also had the opportunity to build their own straw bale house and learn the techniques needed to do this. A visit to a wind farm and a group who produced wood chips for biomass boilers introduced the students to alternative methods of producing energy.

All the students received compliments on both their behaviour and their knowledge.

Year 10 student Jim Luckhurst said: 'We learned what it is like to attend a science conference, something I want to do in the future.'

Elika Conway, also in Year 10, said: 'It was a fun new experience and I loved getting involved in building a house made of straw.'

In addition to attending the conference, the group took the opportunity to visit the D-Day landing beaches and the British Cemetery at Bayeux.

The students have now been challenged, as part of the ECOBEE project, to design and build a model of a sustainable building which will then be entered into a competition run between French and British schools.

The students will be presenting their designs to industry experts and academics at Plymouth University in March.