THESE cosmic kids are a special mission to become space biologists...and have started growing seeds which have spent months in space.

As part of an out-of-this world (literally!) experiment, Barling Magna Primary School in Rochford and Wyburns Primary School in Rayleigh, were selected to take part.

Youngsters there have been given two lots of the same seeds, but one batch has spent months in space before being brought back down to earth by Russian astronauts.

The experiment aims to explore how growing seeds in space is effectedaffected by radiation and gravity.

Excited Marion Still, head teacher at Barling Magna, said: “The young space biologists will be comparing the germination and growth of the space seeds with that of seeds which have been stored on earth.”

Each school get two packs of seeds – one that has been to space and one that hasn’t – but they have no idea which is which.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for the children to be involved in hands-on science and be part of this exciting and important scientific research.”

The young scientists will spend the next four weeks watching the seeds grow into rocket leaves.

Miss Beasley, science co-ordinator at Wyburns Primary School, said: “I organised it, it was a competition. We had to write a letter and say why the seeds should be brought to our school.

“The children wanted a real purpose for their experiments. Having a real experiment with real data that they had to send away meant that they were really keen.”

According to Miss Beasley the children love science now and think their school is the best place to do the experiment.

The data from all the experiments will be fed into an online database for the project and then be examined by professional statisticians.

Miss Beasley said: “What is really great is how involved the experiment will be. We are doing the actual experiment in science but the children get to write the result up in English class and look at the data in maths.”

She added: “Getting the seeds on the cake was the icing on the cake. We have fantastic kids here. It’s really a privilege to take part.”

Students at Wyburns are split in their theories. Some are convinced the space seeds will grow much bigger and better than the regular seeds and others believing the earth seeds will be the superior ones.

For now, they will look after the seeds on a daily basis and collect the data before they find out who is right....

British astronaut Tim took seeds into space

PUPILS have embarked on an experiment that is ‘out-of-this-world’ by planting space seeds in their school.

In September, 2kg of rocket seeds were flown to the International Space Station with British astronaut Tim Peake where they spent months in microgravity before returning to Earth.

Thorpe Hall School in Southend and Darlinghurst Primary School, also in Southend pupils, along with children from 10,000 schools across the country will now embark on a voyage of discovery of their own to see what growing plants in space can teach us about life on Earth.

On Tuesday, April 19, the students planted two packs of seeds, one that has been to space and one that hasn’t.

“This is such an exciting thing to be part of,” said Thorpe Hall School’s Science teacher Hasna Tufal.

She added: “In February we had a science lesson with Tim Peake live from the International Space Station via satellite, and now, we are growing seeds he sent back to Earth. It’s pretty inspirational stuff, and it has certainly brought out the space scientist in our pupils and teachers!”

Pupils will closely monitor the growth of the seeds and submit their data to leading scientists who will then interpret the results later in the year.

The Rocket Science Project is a UK-wide science experiment created by the European Space Agency and the Royal Horticultural Society.