Pupils at Grittleton House School, near Malmesbury, put their skills to the test in an egg-citing challenge to mark National Science and Engineering Week.

All the children from years five to 10 worked on an astronautical engineering project called the Mars Lander Egg Drop Challenge, where they had to design a container for an egg to withstand being dropped from a height.

Year six pupil Katrina Robinson said: “I’ve never done anything like this before and it was great fun, I hope we can do it again.”

Working in small mixed age groups, the event was designed by educational organisation STEM South West to enhance students’ aptitude for lateral thinking, design and engineering.

Pupils first explored the development of entry, descent and landing systems in previous planetary exploration missions before designing their own systems.

Terry Rhys-Price, the school’s head of science, said: “While not all the drops were completely successful they learned a lot and had a lot of fun.”