Operation Montserrat was staged at CBA on Saturday, February 3rd and 60 students from the Gifted and Talented Programme took part in the virtual event.

The pressure was on as the students were put into emergency response teams and asked to work with genuine data to make sure the inhabitants of Montserrat were guided to safety as a hurricane hit the island and a volcano threatened to erupt.

They had a live link up to the mission control at the Leicester based Space Centre and just like a real life situation they had to collate and gather information and respond to events as they happened.

A wide variety of skills were required of the students as they played their parts within the various response teams.

Some of the tasks the students were asked to do during the three hour workshop included quick fire maths, speedy research into volcanic materials, plotting geographical data and maintaining a live news feed on our student social media site Radiowaves.

Year 9 student Eloise Robertson who was on the evacuation team said: “I have really enjoyed it and just wish that these events took place every weekend.”

Assistant Vice Principal Kirsty Farrar said: “It was inspiring to see so many of our students working with calmness and precision in such a stressful environment. They proved that they have amazing skills in dealing with very difficult situations. I was so proud of them.”