A WORCESTER school had an out of world experience with a NASA astronaut after being the only school in the UK to win a global competition.

Grimley and Holt Primary School won the star prize of a zoom call with retired astronaut Nicole Stott after taking part in the SkyDay project last month. The project had 200 schools around the world participate, with only two winners. To win the prize, the children had to write poems, take photographs of sunsets, and make creative posters on air pollution, to learn about the shared sky around them.

Founder of the project, Ben Whitehouse, praised the children's efforts. He said: "I really enjoyed their entries to the Sky Day gallery and waking up to all the new pictures that Grimley had posted".

The call, which took place on May 21, left the children in awe. Jack Parsons, a student at the school, said: “It was really cool to see people float around". Wilbur Johnston, a year 3 pupil said: “It was fun to see a real astronaut.” and Alex Greatbatch, a year 4 pupil, said: “It was amazing to meet a NASA astronaut, not many people will get to do that in their lifetime”.

Sally Patterson, science lead at the school said: “We will certainly be taking part in the project again next year and I would certainly recommend other schools taking part in this. I knew it would be a highlight that the children would remember for many years to come."

Nicole Stott joined the call for half an hour and answered questions from the children. She said: “The bottom line is we are all earthlings. No matter what, you are an earthling.”