STRANGE footprints, dripping gooey gunk and an odd looking large object dumped in the middle of the playground.

That was the strange sight to greet pupils and staff starting back at Blackrod Church School yesterday.

The day’s planned events were cancelled and an emergency assembly was called, before pupils went back to their classrooms to make sense of it all, using their English, maths, science and art knowhow.

Young detectives came up with the idea that someone — or even something — had moved in over the holidays. And as they shared their theories, the hall lights went off adding to the tension.

Fortunately the weird and wonderful sights were a stunt pulled by the headteacher James Royal to excite youngsters about going back to learning after the long summer break. He said: “It was to engage the children in their learning. Some of them were quite subdued when they saw what had happened but others were bemused. The staff were not expecting this either.”

Mr Royal labelled the event Aliens Cry for Earth and hopes that children will pick up the environmental message of looking after the planet.

He said: “The theme of looking after the planet will be explored through the week. The idea of this was to show youngsters there is a learning opportunity in everything.”

Residents helped create the sense of unknown, while Horwich based J Dickinson and Sons provided the quarry ball, which to the children was everything from a spaceship to an giant egg.

Teachers said they were surprised by the sight that greeted them and the day helped relieve any apprehensions the children had, created an excitement around school and got children thinking.

Cara Billington, aged seven, said: “It was very exciting trying to find out what had happened through the clues and if aliens had landed. It was a good way to start the school year.”

Ben Bloor, aged seven, added: “We used our English skills to ask questions to try and find out what had happened.”