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Children compete in University School Science Challenge – University of Reading

School pupils from all over Berkshire will be able to prepare themselves for a possible future encounter with Jeremy Paxman when they take part in a School Science Challenge at the University of Reading. With the chance to win a piece of scientific equipment up to the value of £250 and a trophy for their school, the 16 teams of Year 9 students will have to answer science-based questions in a series of knock-out rounds before the final – which takes place during National Science Week in March. The quiz is based on BBC 2's popular University Challenge programme, and each team of four students will use their buzzers to answer the "starter for 10" and three bonus questions. The quiz master for the Challenge will be the Department of Meteorology's Dr Peter Inness, who is an old hand at University Challenge after competing on the Royal Meteorological Society's team during last year's 'Professionals' spin-off series. He said: "I'm no Jeremy Paxman, but I hope to bring a sense of realism to the event." The School Science Challenge was organised by Mohammed Ansar in the University of Reading's Widening Participation Office. He said: "We want the students to enjoy their involvement and test their knowledge of science against other teams. We are trying to get young people more enthused about science and hopefully when they go back to school the next day, other students will realise that having lots of knowledge about science can be a very useful thing. "This quiz will encourage them to see science as being relevant and fun. Hopefully, it will also persuade some of them to study science subjects after the age of 16." The first knock-out rounds take place at the University's Whiteknights campus on Wednesday 25 February and Thursday 26 February. The final rounds will be held during National Science Week on Wednesday 17 March. Schools taking part in the Challenge include the following: -Charters School (Ascot) -Garth Hill College (Bracknell) -Ranelagh School (Bracknell) -St Bartholomew's School (Newbury) -Trinity School (Newbury) -Bulmersch School (Reading) -Denefield School (Reading) -Theale Community College (Reading) -Slough and Eton Catholic School (Slough) -St Crispin's School (Wokingham) End For further information, please contact Mohammed Ansar, Widening Participation Co-ordinator for Science, University of Reading Tel: 0118 378 6127 E-mail: m.ansar@reading.ac.uk