Stunned pupils at a Canterbury primary school watched as a bogus kidnapping unfolded in front of them as part of their lessons.

The nine and 10-year-olds, from Wincheap Foundation Primary, were told to look out of the window at birds when an Audi screeched into the car park and a man jumped out brandishing what appeared to be a firearm.

He then abducted the school’s site manager Phil Reid and bundled him into the car before tearing off.

Children were later told the incident was a hoax and the "gun" was actually a water tap.

Head teacher Clive Close, who played the kidnapper while wearing a red wig and white jumpsuit, used his own car in the act.

He insists no children were traumatised and many quickly realised it wasn’t real.

"It is all part of our writing curriculum and teaches them to describe what they have seen," said Mr Close.

"The kids wrote some fantastic stuff on the back of it and what they had witnessed. I have had no complaints from parents and the children are aware that it was a hoax."

Last year, Wincheap was in the top 2% in the nation for its "value added scores" in English, according to Ofsted. It also bucks the national trend with boys outperforming girls.

Mr Close believes much of this is the product of using role-plays recreating real-life as a teaching tool.

Two years ago, the school used the landing of a spaceship within the grounds as a role-play while another year a crime scene in Tudor times was staged.

Teacher Nicola Dawson talks with year 5/6 pupils about how they interpreted the mock kidnap at Wincheap School

Deputy head Nicola Dawson added: "These sort of things have proven to work and they have had a huge impact on our writing results.

"The children don’t know beforehand what is going on, but they are aware afterwards. They have produced some quality writing about the kidnap."

Pupil Alex Chapman, 10, said he was not fooled by the display.

He said: "I prefer learning like this because it makes it more exciting and makes you want to write about it more."

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