The new school term at Harbertonford Primary got off to an explosive start with a visit from Wonderstruck.

Peter Wright from the travelling science workshop group kicked off the visit with a presentation about rockets.

He used a smoke and an air blaster to demonstrate how rocket take-offs affect the travel of air. Then, with the aid of plastic bottles, he helped pupils explore the chemical reactions found in combustion chambers, and then demonstrated how gunpowder – which was invented in China more than 1,000 years ago – must be confined for it to explode.

After exploring liquid fuel, which is more controllable than gunpowder, Peter explained to the youngsters how gas-fuelled jet engines work, and then used a bed of nails to help them understand the relationship between force and pressure.

The children then took part in a workshop where they designed and built their own rockets, which they launched using compressed air to evaluate how successful their prototypes were.

In the afternoon Peter’s workshop focused on reliable fair testing and repeat readings, with the Key Stage 2 pupils building fan powered cars. Once the cars were working, the groups improved and modified their designs to make them run faster.

Following the trials, the best six designs battled it out head to head in an impressive finale in a bid to discover the most successful design team.

Science Lead Jo Lunt, said: “It was a fantastic day that really engaged the children and allowed them to immerse themselves in scientific ideas, principles and vocabulary spanning the breadth of the science curriculum, as well as allowing them to become engineers for the day!

“We would really like to thank our amazing PTFA (Parents, Teachers, Friends Association) who funded the visit and provided this wonderful opportunity for the children. It was a really inspirational day.”