HIS hand quivering slightly, Liam Ramsey took the lighted splint and ignited his Bunsen burner.
The 10-year-old stood back and smiled as he watched the mixture bubble and start to spit out tiny grains of salt.
"This is fun," he said.
"I've watched these types of experiments before but never had the chance to have a go at one myself.
"It's great we have the opportunity to do this."
Liam was one of 110 youngsters who are spending Saturday morning at school by choice.
They have volunteered to have a go at the series of masterclasses run at Brentwood County High each term, aimed at giving pupils in their last year at primary school a taste of secondary school life.
"We have been running the masterclasses for nine years now and they are open to 16 schools in the borough," said scheme administrator Jackie Hopgood.
"Each school is invited to send nine pupils: three who will do science, three who will do maths and three for ICT.
"The classes are very popular and we often get youngsters coming back for a second or third go."
In the science laboratory, Liam and classmates Sebastian Bloom and Isabelle Taylor, from Holly Trees Primary School, Warley made rock salt crystals.
"I like the fact that this is so practical and you get to try out things you will be learning at secondary school first hand," said Sebastian.
Isabelle said: "It's really educational but really fun too."
Philip Jones, the County High's STEM (Science, Technology and Maths) co-ordinator, ensured the three-hour session was packed with hands-on experiments, with the youngsters having the chance to try their hand at chromatography as well as the several stage rock salt experiments.
He said: "Everyone does their own experiments and has their own set of equipment, some of which they have never handled before.
"It gets them used to the way science is taught at secondary school and hopefully gets them excited about the subject."
Charlie Richards, 11, was so enthused by the masterclasses that he was back for the third time.
He said: "I enjoy them very much.
"I am coming to this school in September and I'm looking forward to it as I know a bit more about the school now."
His classmate at Warley Primary School, Ashley Harvey, 10, said: "It's really fun.
"I've never done anything like this before.
"I saw them do experiments when I came here for the open day, so it's great to be able to try it out myself."
In maths, youngsters got to grips with compasses to construct impossible shapes.
Teacher Carol Nicholson said: "For some pupils this is their first taste of geometry.
"We try to make it fun, engaging and exciting.
"The youngsters are really enthusiastic and their knowledge is very good as well.
"It's nice for them to show us what they can do – it makes them feel more confident when they come to secondary school."
Enjoying the challenge was Thomas Stafford, 11, from Blackmore Primary School.
He said: "I've done the ICT and science classes before and when I heard I was doing maths this time I thought it might be quite boring but it's really fun."
Jesse Sims, 10, also from Blackmore, said: "I've enjoyed learning about impossible shapes and can now go back and show everyone else at school what I can do."
Also on the table was Luke Savage, from St Thomas of Canterbury Junior School.
He said: "I thought we would be doing a lot of times tables but it's a lot more fun than that."
In ICT the children are getting to grips with SCRATCH, a piece of software which allows them to write simple programs to power their own animations.
They were overseen by Emma Derbridge, head of ICT.
She said: "This is an ideal way for pupils to learn how to program.
"They use blocks of code which they put into sequence to make their own animations move around the screen.
"Some have already used SCRATCH in their primary schools so we encourage them to take it a bit further."
Emily Bastin, 10, from Doddinghurst Junior School, said: "I've used this program before but it's nice to have a whole morning to create your own pictures and make them move around."
Jenna Selvey, 10, also from Doddingurst, said: "Most of the time this is easy to use and I'm learning a lot."
Chloe Bicknell, 11, from Ongar, said: "I've never used this before but it's really easy to pick up.
"I'm enjoying today as I've made some new friends."
West Horndon Primary School classmates Henry Wilkes and Michael Pappa, both 10, are both back for another class after trying one before.
Michael said: "The maths one we tried last time was fun so we asked to come again.
"I've learnt a lot about ICT this morning so it's been well worth doing this."
