PUPILS got the fright of their lives — when a Tyrannosaurus Rex came to school.

The 8ft tall, 17ft long dinosaur left youngsters "gobsmacked" when it roared onto the playground at Bishop Bridgeman CE Primary, in Great Lever.

More than 400 children had the chance to get up close and personal with the animatronic creature, as part of the week of dino-themed activities.

Vicky Potter, the school's literacy co-ordinator, said: "I heard about this dinosaur from another school and saw the pictures on Twitter, then I contacted Big Foot Events and we had a bit of a brainstorm in terms of what we could do here.

"The kids were absolutely amazed by it, they were gobsmacked. The feedback we have had from putting the video of it on Facebook has been fantastic, too. It had thousands of views, which is incredible, and everyone has been really positive about the experience."

The fun started when a giant dinosaur egg turned up at the school on Monday, with local police brought in to 'investigate' the strange goings on, with the dinosaur, named Rex, coming the next day.

During the 'super learning week', Bishop Bridgeman pupils have been boosting their writing skills with a variety of tasks based around the dinosaur mystery.

And Miss Potter thinks that having it worked wonders in capturing the children's imaginations.

She added: "The egg came in on the Monday and we had the children wondering where it might have come from.

"We did quite a lot of work this week about different animals and different eggs.

"The kids have been writing all sorts of things about dinosaurs, from stories to news reports and all sorts. The standard of writing has been brilliant, and I think having the dinosaur come in really helped get them interested in the subject."