INVENTIVE students from a Thornbury school have seen their design for a telescope come to life.

With the help of staff at lens manufacturer Essilor, four year nine students from Castle School spent several months designing a telescope which was then created in the firm’s Thornbury factory.

Their final creation was unveiled following a presentation delivered in front of dozens of members of Essilor staff, shutting down the factory for the occasion.

Putting in more than 20 hours to the project outside of their normal lessons to design the telescope, they first produced a cardboard prototype before unveiling the final design on Friday, June 19.

Many of the calculations being used when designing the telescope were far more complex than would be taught in normal year nine maths lessons, with many of them being A-level level.

After unveiling their creation the four boys talked about the design process and their work in front of dozens of members of Essilor staff – including managing director Mike Kirkely.

He thanked them for their professional attitude throughout the process.

“When I first met these guys a few weeks ago they were very different to how they are now. They came into my office with their heads down, but the change has been astounding.

“They’ve been a pleasure to work with. They’re enthusiastic and were happy to get involved with the whole process.

“I look forward to working with Castle school in the future.

Adam Deverill, 13 and one of the four boys involved in the project, said: “I’ve never done anything like this in school. It’s been fun, interesting and a different experience.

They were mentored by the school’s gifted and talented coordinator Gary Atterton throughout the programme which was organised through the Castle School Educational Trust (CSET) Premium Partners programme which creates learning opportunities between businesses and schools.

He said: “This is the first time we’ve run this kind of project with Essilor. This year has been a big year for this kind of thing and it’s really helpful for the students.

“I’d like to thank the boys for all their hard work throughout the whole process and thank Essilor for the experience they’ve provided for our students.”