PUPILS at Lickey Hills Primary School are taking part in a nationwide experiment to grow seeds that have spent six months in space orbiting the Earth.

The mission, organised by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), will focus on the impact of microgravity and space travel on seed growth to test whether astronauts could grow their own food in space.

Pupils received and planted the seeds on Monday, April 18, and are now underway with the 35-day experiment.

Sarah Brookes, teacher at the Old Birmingham Road school, said: "The children have been really enthusiastic about the whole experiment. I've already had lots of them coming up to me in the corridor asking if the seeds have starting growing yet or not so they're really excited to see what happens."

The lucky schools selected from the 8,300 that applied have been sent 100 seeds that spent time in space and 100 seeds that didn't.

The seed packets are colour-coded but pupils won't know which of the two packets is which until after the results of the experiment have been published.

British astronaut Tim Peake has sent a special message from the International Space Station wishing the 600,000 young people across the UK good luck with their rocket science experiments.

RHS skills development manager Claire Custance said: “Tim knows that among those taking part in the experiment there will be dozens who could help get an astronaut to Mars, hundreds who could build careers in the sciences and horticulture, and tens of thousands who will have a new appreciation of the natural world and the role plants play in all our lives.”