Haileybury turns into Hogwarts for the day

The Haileybury Science Department transformed itself into a School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in early March when pupils from 15 prep schools contested the annual Science Challenge.

The overall winner for 2006 was Kingshott. The Biology section was won by Loyola Prep while Kingshott proved themselves in the Chemistry section and Lockers Park took the Physics competition.

Among the tasks the children had to undertake, a la Harry Potter, was examining the stomachs of four "dragons" to determine what had made them ill. When you take into account they had eaten things like cockroach clusters, fizzing whiz bees, barrels of butter beer and a type of live turnip, this task didn’t appeal to all!

Magic potions also took pride of place, as did the snitch in a quiddich match which had to be found with a super telescopic reaching arm – absolute manna from heaven for all the Hogwarts fans who attended the day.

The schools which participated this year include The Beacon School, Beechwood Park School, Brambletye School, Duncombe School, Hereward House School, Kingshott, Lochinver House School, Lockers Park, Loyola Preparatory School, Orley Farm School, Orwell Park, Quainton Hall School, Ralph Sadleir Middle School, St Aubyn’s School and Westbrook Hay.