Coombeshead College pupils have been treated to a visit from the circus all in the name of science (writes HANNAH TAYLOR).

NoFit State Circus, a brilliantly Bohemian company with exaggerated costumes and make up, erected the big top on the school's Newton Abbot playing field last Friday and entertained enthusiastic audiences with their dramatic, practical adaptation of scientific principles and slapstick humour.

Sci Circus, part funded by government initiative Science Year, has been convincing children that science is fun across the length and breadth of the UK, though Coombeshead is a pioneer for Devon schools.

Tour manager, Tim Adam said: 'The touring circus means we are able to reach rural children in the Lake District right across to inner city schools. It is about reaching as many people as possible.

Interactive science exhibits partnered with the acrobatics gravity, juggling forces and tightrope balance of the main performance ensures that the project fulfils the science year philosophy that the way science is taught can be more fun.

Mr Adam continued: 'The circus format makes it exciting because it shows that science can be fun and it demonstrates that it is part of everyday life and not just something you read about in books at school.

Paul Stevenson, organiser of the big top event for Coombeshead College said: 'The circus has introduced arts across the curriculum as a way of bringing dry subjects to life. We are trying to get art college status with the media arts and this is an illustration of that bid in action.'