Children at a Northwich primary school returned to class this week to discover a giant meteor had ‘landed’ in the school playground over the Christmas holidays.

A helicopter ‘full of scientists’ was seen hovering over the school at breaktime, and it is reported that they have taken the meteor away ‘for analysis’.  

The event was staged by teachers at Charles Darwin Community Primary as part of a whole-school, two-week book project about the history and origins of planet Earth.  

Based on a new book The Greatest Show on Earth by acclaimed children’s author and illustrator Mini Grey, the ‘book fortnight’ kicked off with the surprise giant meteor landing in the playground, with special effects, sound and lights, and the children returning to school to find it.

Mini Grey sent a personal message to introduce her book, followed by a special assembly where she appeared to the whole school on Zoom to give children a chance to talk to her and ask questions.

Northwich Guardian: Author Mini Grey talks to the whole school on Zoom (Charles Darwin Community Primary School) Author Mini Grey talks to the whole school on Zoom (Charles Darwin Community Primary School) (Image: Charles Darwin Community Primary School)

Teacher, Sharon Ronalds, who is helping co-ordinate the project, said: “They totally believed it had happened – that it had fallen from the sky. And a couple of parents did too. They were truly wowed.

“Then we all went into the hall to have a special assembly, and three of us were dressed up in hazmat suits with respirator and safety goggles.

“Weirdly, at playtime, a helicopter was hovering over the school. The children thought it was full of scientists who’d come to look at it.

“We took it away secretly and said it is ‘under analysis’ at the moment, and they are going to get back to us with results of what it could be.

“It’s been an absolutely brilliant start to the project."

On January 16 and 17, the Charles Darwin is hosting a whole-school exhibition in the hall of the artwork and poetry they will create in relation to the book fortnight, with different year groups focusing on different eras.

“From an educational perspective, it’s about literacy, having the whole school reading the same book. But the project will cover art, poetry, and a lot of history, as it centres around a timeline of the world from 4.6 billion years ago to the creation of humans.”