FOUR sixth form students at a Bradford secondary school are celebrating achieving a British Science Association gold crest award.

Over the summer, courtesy of the Nuffield Foundation, the students who attend Grange Technology College, all of whom are studying science and mathematics at A-Level, spent a four week work placement working with senior scientists, engineers and researchers in top universities across the region.

The placements supported research projects investigating areas including the effect of aircraft design on passenger comfort, the effect of hair dye on hair and innovations in forensic science through the use of ear prints to link criminals to burglary.

Students Hafsah Khan, Mohammed Tayyab Khan, Sibtul Shah and Abdul Baasit Tahir each had to create a detailed report on their respective subjects. They were questioned about these reports at an event at the University of Bradford to celebrate the completion of their award.

Anne Dubickas, head of science at Grange said: “It is always a proud moment as a teacher to celebrate the success of any of our young people. They have put in a great deal of work and completed their placements in such exemplary fashion. They all enjoyed the challenge and worked hard throughout to complete their Gold Crest awards.

"Hopefully they have learned more about the subjects and about what they would like to do in the future. They are all a credit to themselves and the school and we are delighted to be able to offer another four placements in 2015.”

Grange student and head boy Sibtul Shah, who was placed at the University of Huddersfield, said: “This was a great opportunity for me to gain experience in a professional environment and to learn about an area of science which I knew very little about.

"Hard work and dedication are two fundamentals that lead to success but without experience you are limited.

"Working in the Surface Metrology department at the University of Huddersfield was really interesting and enabled me to use and learn about new scientific equipment and methods.

"Most importantly, the experience has helped me develop skills which will prepare me for university such as research and report writing techniques.”

The Nuffield Foundation aims to influence education policy and practice, and its research programme has grown to 1,100 placements a year. This year there were 60 students from Yorkshire, Humberside and Lincolnshire involved in the scheme.