STROUD’S physicists of the future have been taken on an exciting journey of discovery.

Sixth formers from Marling and Stroud High schools are part-way through a programme of scientific experiences that will enhance their knowledge and cement their passion for physics.

A group of Year 13 students visited DESY in Hamburg last month to look at particle accelerators, which was followed up by a masterclass in Particle Physics at the University of Birmingham.

Later this month 30 pupils from Year 12 will be going to CERN in Switzerland to view the Hadron Collider – the world’s largest particle accelerator and where the Higgs Boson was discovered six years ago.

The pupils will view experiments to recreate conditions that existed at the time of the Big Bang.

Year 13 pupils will be taken on a tour of the Rutherford Appleton laboratory in Didcot at the end of March to look at a neutron beam which is being used to carry out cutting-edge experiments to create diagnostic tools for medicine.

Steve Berry, physics teacher at Marling School, believes these trips can create enthusiasm for the subject.

“For any student with an interest in physics, we have a wide-ranging programme of experiences that really expands their knowledge and they get a genuine taste of the many possibilities of a future career in science.

“And you never know…. we may play a part in creating the next Professor Brian Cox or Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock.”

As well as external visits, the school has installed a cosmic ray detector on the roof of one of its buildings, with the help of the University of Birmingham.

They have designed a computer programme to analyse the cosmic data and are now creating their own mini-version of the detector.

The pupils, from years 9, 11 and 12, will present their findings during a conference at the University of Bristol in July.