Most pupils will never have heard of the National Physical Laboratory, yet some of the science happening there underpins almost everything they measure.
Based in Teddington, the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is the UK’s National Metrology Institute. Its scientists work on everything from atomic clocks and quantum technologies to climate monitoring, medical imaging and communications.
What is particularly useful for schools is that NPL does not keep all of this science behind laboratory doors. It offers school visits, workshops, challenges, work experience and a surprisingly large collection of free resources.
Here are 17 opportunities worth exploring.
- Bring an NPL scientist into school
NPL scientists and engineers take part in school visits and give talks to pupils about measurement, science, engineering and their own careers.
This can be particularly powerful when pupils can meet someone actually working in a field they have encountered in a textbook.
- Arrange an NPL STEM workshop
NPL runs workshops both on its own site and away from NPL.
Rather than simply listening to a presentation, pupils can get involved in activities centred around measurement and practical science.
- Use NPL to show pupils what scientists actually do
The value of an NPL visit or speaker is not only the science.
Pupils can discover careers they may never have considered: metrologists, physicists, programmers, engineers, materials scientists and quantum scientists are just some of the people working there.
For careers education, that is far more meaningful than simply showing pupils a list of STEM jobs.
- Download the free secondary-school SI posters
NPL provides an excellent set of posters covering the seven SI base units: metre, kilogram, second, ampere, kelvin, mole and candela.
These could easily form a measurement display in a science department.
- Use its accuracy, precision and trueness poster
These words are often used interchangeably by pupils.
NPL has produced a poster specifically explaining the distinction between them — a useful resource for GCSE and A-level practical work.
- Put the NPL electromagnetic spectrum poster on your physics wall
There is also a downloadable electromagnetic spectrum poster showing the familiar regions of the spectrum alongside examples of how NPL uses electromagnetic radiation in precision measurement.
It provides a neat connection between a GCSE topic and real scientific research.
- Try Measurement at Home in the classroom
NPL’s Measurement at Home collection contains accessible practical challenges that could just as easily become classroom investigations, science-club activities or homework projects.
The emphasis is on curiosity: measure something, collect results and then think about what those measurements actually mean.
- Investigate reaction time with a ruler
One NPL investigation uses the familiar ruler-drop experiment but takes it further by encouraging pupils to repeat measurements, compare hands, calculate averages and consider the spread of the results.
A very simple practical suddenly becomes a lesson about the quality of evidence.
Try the NPL reaction-time investigation
- Turn a cup of tea into a thermal-physics investigation
The Hot Mug Challenge asks pupils to investigate how quickly drinks cool and consider factors such as different containers and lids.
It provides an accessible route into energy transfer, insulation and the importance of controlling variables.
- Investigate pollution around your school
NPL’s Pollution Monitor activity allows pupils to make simple monitors and compare particulate pollution in different locations.
That could become a genuinely interesting cross-curricular investigation linking physics, chemistry, geography, environmental science and data handling.
- Give pupils one sheet of A4 paper and a three-metre challenge
The Launch and Land activity is wonderfully simple.
Pupils have to design a system that launches a piece of A4 paper and gets it to land as close as possible to a point three metres away — repeatedly.
Suddenly pupils are thinking about forces, launch angles, engineering, reliability and repeatability.
- Build a water rocket
The NPL Water Rocket Challenge has been running for more than 20 years.
The target is wonderfully precise: launch an air-pressurised water rocket and try to land it exactly 70 metres from the launch point.
Even if a school does not attend the national event, the supporting material makes an excellent STEM project involving forces, pressure, aerodynamics, energy, measurements and iterative design.
- Use Pocket Physics with sixth formers
NPL worked with the Institute of Physics to produce Pocket Physics, a quick-reference resource for 16–18-year-olds.
It covers forces, motion, waves, electricity, thermal physics, quantum physics and nuclear physics.
For A-level Physics pupils, it is an excellent free reference resource.
Find Pocket Physics through NPL Outreach
- Use the NPL and IOP Glossary of Physical Quantities
Physics becomes much harder when pupils are unclear about the difference between a quantity, unit and symbol.
NPL and the Institute of Physics have produced a glossary specifically for post-GCSE students, teachers and awarding bodies.
It could be particularly useful at the beginning of an A-level course when establishing precise mathematical and scientific language.
- Look out for NPL Discovery Days
NPL’s 2026 Discovery Day invited Years 4–6 pupils into its Teddington site for SI demonstrations, measurement activities, a liquid-nitrogen show, science escape room and water rockets.
That particular event took place on 3 June 2026, but it shows the type of free school event NPL can offer. Schools interested in future opportunities should follow NPL’s outreach announcements.
- Encourage Years 10–13 pupils to apply for the NPL Academy
For older pupils, this may be one of NPL’s best opportunities.
The NPL Academy is a one-week work-experience programme based at the Teddington laboratories. Pupils work in teams with NPL mentors on genuine projects and present their work at the end of the week.
Potential areas include atomic clocks, programming, electronics, fibre optics, microscopy, prototyping and quantum science.
Applications for the 2026 programme have closed, but NPL says information about the 2027 programme is expected in December 2026.
- Join the NPL outreach mailing list rather than waiting to hear about opportunities
This may be the most useful action for a school.
NPL’s outreach offer changes throughout the year and includes school activities, challenges, open days, talks, workshops, competitions, teacher CPD and other events.
Signing up for updates means a science department can hear about opportunities as they become available rather than discovering them after applications have closed.
Why NPL is worth knowing about
There are plenty of organisations offering STEM resources to schools. NPL is slightly different because measurement is at the centre of everything it does.
That creates direct links to almost every area of school physics: forces, electricity, waves, temperature, radiation, uncertainty, practical skills and data.
But perhaps its greatest value is showing pupils that the measurements they make in a school laboratory are part of something much bigger.
When a pupil measures a length, records a time or discusses uncertainty, they are using the same fundamental ideas that scientists at the UK’s National Physical Laboratory use to support medicine, engineering, communications, climate research and new technologies.
For a physics teacher, that is a very useful connection to be able to make.
Start here: National Physical Laboratory – Outreach for schools
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