Astronaut Tim Peake's lettuce seeds from space are now being studied at a Whitehaven school. 

Pupils at St Benedict's received 100 seeds that have travelled through space and will compare their growth with seeds that stayed on Earth. 

The project is part of a national initiative which allows school children to get involved with real space science. 

"Most students are aware of the British astronaut Tim Peake who is currently orbiting the Earth on board the international space station," said Dr Kevin Payne, physics teacher at St Benedict's. 

"Tim was responsible for the lettuce seeds while they were whizzing around the Earth at 18,000 mph. 

"The seeds were returned to Earth a couple of months ago and then distributed to the UK schools who signed up to take part in the experiment." 

He added: "Students at St Benedict's will sow 100 lettuce seeds from space and compare how they grow with 100 seeds which have stayed on Earth." 

Dr Payne and science teacher Myra O'Fee are overseeing the project and hope that it will make a positive difference to the way students view science. 

"Our students are very excited about taking part in some real space science research promoted by Tim Peake," said Dr Payne. 

"It is a very exciting project that brings space science straight into the classroom for the educational benefit of the students.

"They will learn about and apply standard investigative skills employed by professional scientists around the world." 

And the students will continue the project over the next six weeks before sending their findings to a national database. 

Dr Payne said: "They will monitor the development of the plants and record their observations. 

"The data collected will then be sent to a national central database from which any differences in the rate of growth of the space seeds will become evident."

Mr Peake, who has a background as a test pilot and a British Army Air Corps officer, is currently living and working on the International Space Station.