STUDENTS working for their A levels have returned from the 'trip of a lifetime' in Switzerland.

Teenagers from Caldew School in Dalston visited CERN in Geneva.

A total of 28 physics students and three staff flew outlast week on a trip organised by Caldew Science Teacher Mr Richard Looker.

CERN - which stands for the European Organization for Nuclear Research - is run by 23 member states including the United Kingdom. Their work is to help to uncover what the universe is made of and how it works.

They do this by providing a unique range of particle accelerator facilities to researchers, to advance the boundaries of human knowledge.

The group physicists at CERN are seeking answers, using some of the world's most powerful particle accelerators. The large hadron collider used to discover the higgs boson and the antimatter factory.

Lucy Hunter, an A’ level Physics student at Caldew is heading to University this autumn to study Chemical Engineering, she said: “Our visit was an amazing experience.

"The tour of the Antimatter Factory and the work that they are doing to uncover dark matter alongside the talks by PhD physics students gave us a real insight into the work at CERN.

"I would recommend this to any student studying A’level physics.”

Ewan Westgate, another student who is heading to University this autumn to study Chemical Engineering, added: “The trip was amazing from start to finish.

"Not only did we get to visit CERN, we also had the opportunity to look around the extravagant United Nations Building in Geneva and visited the Natural History Museum.

"We also had an organised river cruise on Lake Geneva. The weather was perfect too.”

Richard Looker, organiser of the trip said: "It was a pleasure to visit Geneva with such an enthusiastic group of students. CERN is a physics pilgrimage and it was great to be the centre of world physics.”