A group of primary school children who investigated which food animals at their school like the most have won a countywide science competition.

The team of Year 4 children from Windmill Primary School, in Oxford, were declared the champions of the Big Science Event 2024 for Oxfordshire primary schools.

Their investigation answered the question 'which food do animals like the best at Windmill School?'

Year 1 pupils from St Michael’s Primary, in Marston, and Year 6 students from Eynsham Primary were runners-up.

The annual competition, run by Science Oxford, took place at the Science Oxford Centre in Headington on July 8, with children from 52 different primary schools competing for a place in the final.

Prior contestants answered questions from 'how long does it take for spaghetti to go wiggly?' to 'how much air does it take to pop a banana?'

This year witnessed participation from 6,700 children registered for the event.

After months of in-school judging, 12 teams were shortlisted to take part in the closely-contested finals.

Investigations ranged from 'which wrapping will keep jam sandwiches fresher for longer?' to 'do people answer questions better before or after exercise?'

Sophie Batin, education outreach manager at Science Oxford, said: "We’ve been extremely impressed by the talented young scientists taking part in the Big Science Event in school.

“The children have so much fun creating their experiments and the judging panel loves to listen to their presentations.

"As always, the standard has been extremely high so it has been difficult to select a winner.

"Watching the children get excited by science is wonderful and rewarding."

The Big Science Event provides children with an opportunity to present their findings on their chosen topic to a panel of judges from Science Oxford, representatives from Diamond Light Source and Abbott.

This year, the winning team received a personal microscope from RM Education Resources as well as tickets to attend a Science Oxford Family Day.

Their school received an Easi-scope from RM plus a free visit to the Science Oxford Centre or in-school activities.

Every child competing also took home a goodie bag from Abbott, a Power Lab science kit and copies of Whizz Pop Bang magazine.

Jo Hardy, director of innovation, RM Educational Resources, said: “We’re delighted to continue our support of Science Oxford and their Big Science Event.

"As an organisation, our mission is to provide the tools to ignite children’s passion for learning and discovery, and events like this are a fantastic opportunity to encourage children to explore the world around them.”