MYSTERIOUS purple eggs which appeared in a school yard left pupils flummoxed.
Students at Kingswood Primary School were shocked when the three eggs were spotted on March 4, guarded by police.
For the next week students wrote diaries and news stories about the eggs – including when one hatched.
But the whole charade was tied in to Literacy Week celebrations at the school in Buckland Lane.
Head teacher Duncan Steele told the Mirror: "Some of the older children thought it was a prank, then they saw the police and all the teachers were being as serious as possible about it."
He added: "Soon there were children trying to have a look and talking about these mysterious eggs."
Throughout the week developments kept the youngsters involved, with a "forensic expert" visiting on Wednesday and taking an egg away to be examined.
"He came down in his full protection suit," Mr Steele said.
"We made sure he walked back through the school so everyone could see him. The children's faces were brilliant."
While the older children worked on newspaper reports, some of the younger ones wrote speculative stories about where the eggs had come from.
On Thursday one of the remaining eggs "hatched" and was found empty and covered in green goo.
By the end of the week both remaining eggs had "hatched" and their inhabitants "escaped", leaving the students to decide what had been inside.
Mr Steel said: "The whole week is about stimulating the children so they want to write.
"Children want to write about what they have seen."
The whole scheme was part of the school's Literacy Week in the build up to World Book Day, which was on March 7.
The idea was one of several suggestions online – others included having a UFO land in the school grounds.
Mr Steele thanked the local police officers for their help with the start of the exercise.
