STUDENTS from Nelson and Colne College Sixth Form had the ‘trip of a lifetime’, visiting the CERN laboratory in Geneva.

After completing their end-of-year exams, 21 students from the first and second year of study in A Level physics and three members of staff left Nelson and Colne College Sixth Form for a trip to the heart of physics: the European Council for Nuclear Research (CERN).

The college is recognised as a centre of excellence for the sciences and was one of the first colleges in the country to achieve STEM Assured status, an industry-led kite-mark for excellence in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

CERN, founded in 1954, is one of the world’s largest and most respected centres for scientific research.

It is also home to the Compact Linear Collider Test Facility, and the world famous Large Hadron Collider.

The Large Hadron Collider is the world’s most expensive and powerful particle collider. Within it, physicists and engineers are probing the fundamental structure of the universe, by making particles collide at close to the speed of light.

Stephen Coase, science lecturer, said: “The students thoroughly enjoyed Geneva.”