THE appearance of the Nova Starchaser rocket ensured a dramatic finale to National Science Week at The Westgate School, Winchester, writes Tanya Holden.

It arrived on the back of a lorry and pupils heard about its construction and manned space flight from Brian Chislett, an engineer with the Starchaser project.

Mr Chislett said: "The Nova Starchaser cost £3m to build and, at 13 metres, is the largest rocket launched from mainland UK.

"It is a working prototype, two thirds the size of the manned rocket we are currently building, which we hope to launch later this year from New Mexico."

The arrival of the rocket was one of the many events organised throughout the week by the school, which has specialist science status.

There were visits from actors who dressed up as Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Michael Faraday and Isaac Newton.

They went into science lessons and talked about their scientific discoveries.

Pupils and parents took part in quizzes that explored aspects of science and famous scientists of the past. Prizes were awarded to those who completed the challenges.

Peter Hurley, the assistant head, said: "Science Week has been a great success and the children have really enjoyed it.

"We wanted to get the pupils excited about science this week. Having the Nova Starchaser here has been fantastic. The talks were very interesting and pupils have been coming back to look again at the rocket. We felt we really made science come alive for the children."