A BALLOON which was launched from Coalway Junior School and rose to around 33,000 metres landed near Warwickshire on Monday.

Children, parents and staff gathered on the field to see the 'egg' travel at around 4.25 metres per second and land at Ettington.

The school has been focussing on science and computing and the 'Spacetacular Eggventure' was conceived as a way of bringing science into the classroom, having some fun while showing children that anything is possible.

A video of the balloon's journey will be available for the children to watch today (Wednesday).

The launch was part of the school's theme for its Easter term and so it was decided to use an egg but due to weight restrictions on the payload, all the children had to determine which egg was most suitable.

Other work included investigating materials for insulation and protection from the elements and the descent, using a website to predict wind patterns and working out the amount of helium gas needed for the launch.

There was also a fun competition to design the face of the egg which is visible from the photographs recorded while in flight.

Head Mrs Fay White said: "It has been a tremendous day and shows what can be done with a little imagination. We are pleased to say that the egg landed safely which shows that the children had obviously carried out thorough scientific investigations. An eggciting time was had by all! What an eggcellent result!"

Also present was a health and safety team, launch crew and Dan Warner from Loopy Computy who monitored the payload through an on-board tracker.

•See this week's Review for more photographs.