British Science Week got off to a dramatic start at Pocklington School when Headmaster Toby Seth bravely demonstrated the methane bubble flaming hand experiment which shows how combustible the natural gas is.

Mr Seth’s hands emerged unscathed, enabling him to pick the winner out of a hat of names suggested by pupils for the latest addition to the Biology Department – a bearded dragon now called ‘Bernard’.

Pupils enjoyed a week of various activities marking the ten-day celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths organised by the British Science Association. Practical lessons included the Northern Lights, mouse dissection, the chemical reactions which turn water into ‘wine’ and using socks to demonstrate mitosis cell division.

The 1st Year Science Club imploded cans, 2nd Year Science Club made a tasty giant wave machine out of jelly babies and kebab sticks, 3rd Year students investigated osmosis using horse blood and 4th Year students examined the effectiveness of toilet paper at stopping microbes getting onto our hands.

Prep School Year 4 children visited the senior School for a science afternoon devoted to 'keeping warm,' which included meeting Bernard and the Biology Department’s corn snakes. The Prep School’s own science fair takes place after Easter.