The force was well and truly with pupils and staff at one Lowestoft-area primary school as a Star Wars-themed day was held.

Classrooms at Red Oak Primary School were transformed on Wednesday, May 4 - which is often known as Star Wars Day.

Pupils and staff embraced the 'May the 4th be with you' backdrop, while donning their best Jedi and Sith outfits as they dressed up as characters from the Star Wars movies.

Johnny Lee, PE co-ordinator and year-four teacher, said: 'It is the first time we have held a Star Wars day and it has been a great success.'

After starting with a Star Wars assembly, it was back to the classrooms for literacy, numeracy, craft, drama and ICT lessons – all with a Star Wars theme.

There was even a special Star Wars lunch consisting of light sabre sausages with BB-8 baked beans, C3PO peas and Kylo Ren's potato waffles, with Chewbacca chocolate sponge cake for afters.

With about two thirds of the staff and the lunchtime supervisors all dressing up, Mr Lee added: 'Some of the parents and guardians have gone to great efforts to design costumes and outfits for the children. They have worked so hard and we thank them all for getting involved in it.

'We are really proud,' he added. 'Star Wars is a great way of showing the children about cultural diversity, what with the new film having a female heroine.

'It is really engaging them in learning,' he said. 'We have a mixture of characters, such as R2D2 and even a homemade C3P0 – which looks amazing.

We had some of the retro characters from the trilogy and quite a lot of the girls came dressed as Rey, from the new film.'

Headteacher Heather Madsen said: 'As a school it is essential we as teachers consider ways to engage children in learning through exciting and relevant topics.

'Children at our school need to understand how film is developed from playscript and story. They need to understand that elements of film making include choreography, music, direction, set design and building and editing.

'These skills are essential for creating their own stories and plays for the future. I believe Red Oak children are our nation's future filmmakers, authors, playwrights, actors, designers and much more.

'Additionally, as a school, we have found boys need more encouragement to write and key to achieving this is finding a subject that will hook them in and get them excited – what better way than space, alternative galaxies and aliens.'

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