EVERYTHING was shipshape at a village primary school on Monday when the youngsters went aboard the Rascal's Revenge.

The young pirates from St Nicholas primary, Bromham, got in the mood for the term's new topic of Arrr Pirates thanks to the ship made by the Stiles family for the village carnival.

It was also brought alive by James Smith or Cap'n Jim as he was introduced to the children. Head teacher Hilary MacMeekin said: "We always try to start our term with a event or activity that inspires the children’s learning back in class.

"This term we asked James Smith, as a retired headteacher and amazing storyteller, to come and kick off the term with his historical tales of piracy and where the legends we know about today come from.

"Then when we saw the Stiles family carnival entry we persuaded them not to take it apart and burn it for bonfire night, as they had planned to, but to keep it for long enough that we could have it on the playground to start our topic.

"So, as the children arrived they walked past the pirate ship and got their first glimpse at their new topic."

All 80 pupils then went on board for a photograph.

Year six pupils Abi and Emily were inspired to do a report about the visit. They wrote: "The children all learnt sword fighting moves and how long pirates would have had to practice each day to be the best swordsmen they could be.

"They learnt that captains had longer swords that the crew because crew men’s swords would get caught up in the rigging if they had long ones like the captains. They learnt about Blackbeard – who was only captain for two years but we all remember him. His motto not to kill people if you don’t have to, he used smoke and intimidation to scare people into giving up their cargo.

"We are all really looking forward to an exciting term learning about Pirates."