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Overturned desks and cardboard shields were a necessity for a school reading session.

Year 3 pupils at Freshwaters Primary Academy stepped back in time and got creative as learning came to life.

Teacher Sam Roberts tasked pupils with making their own Roman shields out of cardboard to illustrate what they were learning in class.

The history theme carried over into literacy and drama as they used their shields to act out scenes from The Moonshine Dragon book.

Mrs Roberts said: “In the story, a character comes out of the book on the floor and anyone who touches them shrinks down to the same size. There is then a battle to get the character back into the book. Pupils had to act out a scene and decided they would like to use their Roman shields in their performance.

“They had such a lovely time, they didn’t even realise they were learning history and literacy.

“Once a week, we get involved in role play, so they can immerse themselves in the story we are reading. It shows me they are understanding, especially when they use the vocabulary from the book.”

Pupils also wrote stories based on the book, using their own good and bad characters from other tales to demonstrate their understanding of the concept.

Teresa Avey, head of school, said: “Language and vocabulary is a focus for the children at Freshwaters and teachers support this by planning lessons involving drama and role play. They do so because this provides opportunities to recycle the language the story contains through retelling and acting out. 

“Providing children with this kind of fun opportunity to use and apply the vocabulary learnt means it becomes ingrained and understood – this is then seen in the application of their writing.”