Newport pupils throw caution to the wind in Met Office link up

Newport Primary School team up with the Met Office to provide hyper local weather readings.

The project hopes to help inspire and educate a new generation of young scientists at the school.

A fully automated weather observation station will be installed on the grounds of the school to transmit real-time local weather observations into the Met Office’s Weather Observation Website (WOW).

The data provided by the school will be used by the Met Office to improve weather forecasts and warnings for all – meaning the school plays a genuine role in helping make local forecasts even more accurate.

The ongoing partnership will provide the school with classroom resources, designed to get students out of the classroom to observe the weather, develop their meteorological skills, get hands-on with the science underpinning weather forecasting and understand and analyse the data they are helping collect.

The students will also be supported by a Met Office Wow Schools Ambassador who will help bring their learning to life.

The school will also have access to a dedicated forecast for its location on the Met Office’s website, generated by the organisation’s new supercomputer.

The school is one of just ten chosen from across the country to take part in the pilot scheme, and in the long term, the Met Office will look into the possibility of bringing the project to life on a national scale.

The ‘Weather Observations Website’ reflects recent advances in technology and how weather observations can be made. The Met Office is helping to co-ordinate the growth of the weather observing community in the UK, by asking the public and engaging with schools. Felicity Liggins, Met Office senior scientist and outreach coordinator, said: “We are always very excited to engage children with meteorology and weather observations, so our partnership with Newport Primary School is the perfect opportunity for us to inspire the next generation of scientists. Having a high-tech weather station onsite helps demonstrate to pupils what goes into making a forecast and our wider work with the school will educate pupils on the impact of weather and the climate.”