YOUNGSTERS at a Purbeck school have been getting down to earth for their latest science project.

Pupils in year three and four at Wool C of E First School found out about rocks and soil, culminating in a science day with a guest expert on hand to help.

Ex-parent and pupil Stuart White works for ACS Testing at Holton Heath and brought along equipment and samples so the budding scientists could try their hand at experiments to determine size, absorption, hardness and permeability, as well as thinking about how different materials are used in industry.

Stuart said: “Not enough people understand the use that geology can be in understanding materials and their use in everyday modern life.”

Young scientist Cobie Cheeseman said: “I like science because you can do interesting experiments. It’s exciting testing rocks although some of the experiments have been quite difficult.”

Teacher Sally Warburton added: “The day helped the children to acquire investigation, observation and prediction skills, which will be really useful in conducting future science experiments.”