SCIENCE Week was celebrated in style in Calne this week as pupils sent a teddy-bear into near space.

Pupils at St Mary's Calne and St Margaret's Preparatory launched Mary Margaret the teddy bear into space attached to a large helium balloon to collect data, and even had a video camera recording her journey.

With the help of Sent Into Space, experts in near-space exploration and high altitude videography, Mary Margaret was sent through the troposphere and into the stratosphere where the curvature of the earth can be seen.

At 33km high the helium balloon burst and a parachute was opened and she landed near Oxford.

Head of science Alexandra Haydon wanted to do something fun and different for Science Week to get all pupils of all ages excited about the subject.

"Science Week is a national event and I think it is really important that more people get involved and try something a little bit new, and try something they might not have thought about before," Mrs Haydon explained.

"It is beyond the curriculum, to excite and enthuse everybody - those interested in science and those less interested in science can do something fun and exciting.

"We haven't got the data back yet but we know Mary Margaret had a bit of a rough landing with the wind, landing in a muddy puddle somewhere near Oxford.

"She is being posted back to me and she will be put in a little display cabinet in the science block."

"It has caused a real buzz at both schools. I've had parents, teachers and students saying I can't believe it, I can't believe she went up that high.

"The data will be downloaded by the end of next week and we will be using that in our teaching in the next year or so."