Three teams from St Albans School picked up a hat trick of wins at a national science competition.

The School Science Film Challenge, run by the National Physical Laboratories in London, looks for budding young film makers who are keen to share their science know-how.

A further two teams from St Albans School, in Abbey Gateway, were shortlisted in this year’s event.

Brian Yuen and Duncan Merelie took home the prize for best physics film with their animation of how to get a boiled egg into a milk bottle.

The award for best animation went to Ben Zacaroli’s Stopping Distances, which explained why some cars and their drivers stop quickly while others cannot.

The overall national winners were Sam Eley and Fergus Mitchell, whose film Quarks was described by judges as "a well paced and balanced examination of one of physics’ many intriguing ideas. The piece had confidence, charm and panache".

The films were made during physics lessons, with teams tasked with communicating an aspect of basic physics in less than two and a half minutes.

Dr Rob Tanner, physics teacher at St Albans, who co-ordinated the project, said pupils impressed the judges with their originality, ingenuity and careful editing .

He said: "This really brings physics to life for some of the students. It gives them a chance to use their creative skills within the science classroom and to see what some find a very difficult subject from a new angle."