Children at a school in Beaconsfield are preparing to become space biologists by growing seeds that have been into space.

Butlers Court School in Wattleton Road is one of up to 10,000 schools to receive a packet of 100 seeds that have spent several months in microgravity.

In September last year, 2kg of rocket seeds were flown to the International Space Station (ISS) on Soyuz 44S before returning to Earth in March this year.

The seeds were sent as part of Rocket Science, an educational project launched by the RHS Campaign for School Gardening and the UK Space Agency.

Children in reception at Butlers Court will grow the space seeds alongside ones that have not been to space and measure the differences over seven weeks.

The children won’t know which seed packet contains which seeds until all results have been collected by the RHS Campaign for School Gardening and analysed by professional biostatisticians.

Miss Hale, Teaching Assistant at Butlers Court said: “We are very excited to be taking part in Rocket Science. This experiment is a fantastic way of teaching our pupils to think more scientifically and share their findings with the whole school.”

The seeds are set to be planted when the pupils return from the Easter holidays.

Applications to take part in Rocket Science are still open and will close in March next year or until all packs have been allocated.

Schools and educational groups can apply at rhs.org.uk/schoolgardening.