The Science Showcase attendees

Brooke Weston took part in a major science show aimed at attracting young people to study science at university level. Teachers, Sam Jordan and Yvonne Jones accompanied a group of sixth formers to the prestigious Showcase Science 2007 event which took place at Oundle School with keynote speakers from Oxbridge and other prestigious universities. One notable attendee was scientist, Prof Richard Dawkins, author of the recently published 'The God Delusion'. The closing address was delivered by Prof Sir David Wallace, the Vice President of the Royal Society, Director of the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Science and Master of Churchill College, Cambridge.

Ross Mansell chats with Prof. Richard Dawkins

Brooke Weston was one of five schools which helped to organise the day-long event and our 15 students helped out with various organisational tasks. It was attended by more than 50 schools and was covered by local media. Our sixth formers were interviewed for over an hour by a journalist from Radio Northampton.

Lectures on the day were on such diverse topics as 'the chemical elements of life and medicines', 'The power of black holes' and 'Embryonic development – fingers and thumbs. Students also visited the exhibit hall which had displays on plastic technologies and an environmentally friendly racing car which was built at Warwick University.

A high point of the day was the discussion forum where students posed questions to luminaries including evolutionary biologist, Prof Richard Dawkins, and Dr Roger Highfield, the science editor at the Daily Telegraph

Teacher, Mr Jordan said: 'It was a great day where students saw eminent scientists in the flesh and got to question them on subjects including climate change. The work is supported by the Science Showcase website which is being added to daily and there are a lot of follow-up projects to explore'.

Plans are in place to look at the feasibility of building our own eco-friendly racing car at Brooke Weston in collaboration with the University of Warwick. Other ideas include collaborating with other schools to build a working radio transmitter. One sure thing is that both the Showcase event, and the follow up opportunities will give our students a huge range of science ideas to work on.