AN EXTRA terrestrial visitor gave pupils at one Dorset school an out of this world experience. 

When they came in to school last week, children at the Dunbury Academy, Winterborne Whitechurch, were greeted with a very unusual sight on the school field. 

With smoking rising from the debris, a UFO appeared to have crashed on their school field. 

However, pupils are all too familiar with year five and six teacher David Payne, who has created a TARDIS from Doctor Who for them in the past, so suspected this might be his handy work, with many remaining sceptical to the visitor’s authenticity. 

However, any suspicious children soon had their doubts cast to one side when three real police officers arrived on the scene with flashing lights and sirens sounding to investigating what was going on. 

Principal at Dunbury, Ben Barker said: “It was a fantastic day. More than anything it was just about creating another experience that would set the children’s imaginations running. We wanted to give them something they would be able to remember forever.”

As well as helping them to learn all about UFOs and hoaxes, the visit of the police meant that the children could learn about the role of the police and how they keep people safe. 

Mr Barker said children were amazed and thanked the police for helping to convince any sceptical children that it was real. 

He said: “They were so excited. When the police turned up they thought it was amazing.”

The school thought the set up was so real, and due to the use of a smoke machine, that they decided to contact the emergency services in advance to tell them what was going on and asked the police if they could attend, so were delighted when the police did turn up. 

Mr Barker paid tribute to Mr Payne who put a lot of hours in to creating the UFO.

He said: “He’s an amazing teacher. I’ve never worked with anybody with quite the same level of dedication.”

To try and add to the level of detail, the school created some “news stories” for the children to read online as they learnt about the UFO. 

These included stories on websites like the BBC, so that the children would be familiar with them and make it really authentic.

Earlier this year, Mr Payne converted the school’s ICT suite in to the Tardis from Doctor Who, complete with Cybermen and Daleks.

The TARDIS was used to teach the children about space and planets as well as to inspire them to do some creative writing.

It was made up of 250 egg cartons with a team of staff and friends coming in over a weekend to help build it.