November 2011 For immediate release School pupils experiment with Leeds Met lab GCSE and A Level

pupils from Allerton High School and Lawnswood School donned white coats and goggles and competed against each other in a headto-head competition in Leeds Metropolitan Universitys state-of-the-art Biomedical Science laboratories this week, after winning a unique contest.

Science and Biology classes from across the region were invited to submit creative multimedia videos representing key GCSE and A Level syllabus themes, including photosynthesis. The winning teams created an animation, a film using models built by students and a lecture using posters, and were invited to take part in experiments at the University, with the teams producing the most accurate results being crowned overall competition winners. Chris Hudson, Associate Dean for the Universitys Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, commented: Part of our work here in the Faculty is to engage with local schools and engage young people in science. We have given them the chance to experience state-of-the-art facilities in the largest and most modern laboratory in Leeds. Hollie Belford, a GCSE pupil from Allerton High School, said: The lab is really modern and high-tech and is very clean. Its been a great experience for us as it is so different to our school and the work has been more practical. We have done a new experiment today which has been a really unique experience. Lawnswood Teacher, Fiona Gilbank, added: Its a great opportunity for our students to get to use equipment that they havent used before. The

competition topic tied closely to the exam specifications so they worked on it as part of their lessons, building models of membranes involved in photosynthesis and creating a multimedia video to explain the process.

The overall winners in the lab competitions on the day were Allerton High Schools GCSE students and Lawnswood Schools A Level students. The competition is set to become an annual event, showcasing Leeds Metropolitans Biomedical Sciences laboratory which is available for hire by school groups and industry professionals. The laboratory was opened in

Spring 2010 and can accommodate up to 106 students carrying out a range of Biomedical and Environmental Science experiments. To hire the laboratory, please contact s.rooke@leedsmet.ac.uk .

Ends For further details please contact Carrie Braithwaite in the News and Media team at Leeds Met on 0113 812 3022 or email c.braithwaite@leedsmet.ac.uk Notes for editors: Leeds Metropolitan University has 30,000 students and 3, 000 staff. The University has achieved its best ever Research Assessment Exercise results. Sports-Related Studies is in the top 6 institutions in the country with research rated at the highest levels of 4* and 3*. Leeds Met has been rated the top university in the UK for its language support, accommodation quality and learning spaces in the 2010 Autumn Wave of the International Student Barometer and sixth in the world for the quality of its lectures. The Universitys award-winning learning environments include

Broadcasting Place, voted the best tall building in the world in 2010 by the Chicago-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) and also winner of the 2010 Leeds Architecture Awards New Building category, the iconic Rose Bowl building, awarded Best

Commercial Property Development in the 2009 Yorkshire Property Awards and the pioneering Carnegie Village student accommodation. Leeds Metropolitan is one of only a handful of UK universities to have been awarded the Carbon Trust Standard.