Eye, eye, what's the story here? EDUCATION: School reporters on trail of something from another planet.

Byline: Tina Junday

CHILDREN had an out of this world experience as they investigated the crash landing of a UFO at their school. About 90 children at Allesley Primary were dressed as investigative journalists to solve the mysterious incident.

They have been busy filing reports on the mock-up as part of a wider project which focuses on the universe.

Teachers told pupils about the "crash landing" in their assembly hall earlier this week. They were sent to the woodland area at the back of the school to find the UFO, and have been busy updating reports as new information comes flooding through.

Staff used scrap materials from its new ICT suite to make the flying object.

Teacher Vanessa Macdonald came up with the idea to inspire children to write about exciting events in a newspaper style as part of the school's creative curriculum.

She said: "It's a great fact finding session for them. They're trying to find out where it came from and have spoken to people who saw it land. They're also learning about newspaper headlines and introductions and listening to eye witness accounts.

"It adds a sense of fun in encouraging them to get into writing. It helps with their grammar and spelling and it helps when there is fun involved. The children absolutely love it.

"They've done a lot of art work in the cloakrooms with planets and stars to bring the story alive and it gets their creativity going which is very high up on the agenda at the school."

Daniel Owen, aged seven, said: "We went to have a look at the UFO and were shown pictures of it, there were flashing lights. We're writing about what happened. It's exciting and amazing."