POTTERS Gate School has been awarded a Royal Society Partnership Grant with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Surrey.

The Partnership Grants scheme is designed to fund an in-school research project which partners with a STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) organisation.

The grant will allow the over-subscribed town-centre school to buy some science equipment, which will be used to undertake an environmental project.

As well as providing the opportunity for all children to participate in a practical research project, it will help to raise awareness of the STEM career opportunities open to the children beyond school.

The results that the children gather will be presented by them to academics and students at the University of Surrey.

Governor Kathy Pond, lecturer at the university, said: “The equipment that this grant will allow our school to buy will also be used throughout the curriculum – microscopes, for example, will be used not only in science classes but also in art classes throughout the school and at all levels to enhance the learning experience in a variety of topics.”