Hosted by Springwood High School, Kitchen Chemistry was run by Professor Stephen Ashworth and Dr Leoni Palmer from UEA, and attended by over 600 pupils, with Springwood’s Year 7 cohort joined by children in Years 5 and 6 from primary schools across the region.

“Students watched an hour-long show of exciting chemical reactions, where Professor Stephen only used items that can be found in a kitchen,” explained Rebecca Davies-Mays, who is Head of Year 7 at Springwood.

“Students particularly enjoyed the ‘whoosh bottle’ – reactions were brilliant,” continued Mrs Davies-Mays, referring to an experiment which involved pouring methylated spirit into a bottle to induce an explosion, replicating the workings of a petrol engine.

Several of the participating schools were members of the West Norfolk Academies Trust, including Springwood, Clenchwarton Primary, Gaywood Primary, Heacham Junior, Snettisham Primary, and West Lynn Primary. Other primary schools taking part were Ashwicken, Fairsted, and Gayton.

Organised by Springwood Chemistry Lead Annabel Owen, it was the third time that the event had taken place.

“Professor Stephen links key concepts from the curriculum and uses fun, visual experiments to explain them,” added Mrs Davies-Mays. “The students love this, and the feedback from the primaries has been amazing, with schools coming back every year.

“It is important to engage students in science. It allows them to experience science in an exciting manner and a different setting to normal. The primary schools say they look forward to it every year for this reason.”