Pupils at St Paul’s School in Chippenham took part in their own scrapheap challenge last Saturday, building and racing home-made tanks powered only by an elastic band.

Thirty-one families took part in the day, organised by family learning project the Learning Tree, which encourages parents to work with their children on practical ways to make learning fun.

The scrap-tanks were raced towards a bulls-eye, with seven-year-old Alfie’s invention with added spikes getting closest to the target right at the end of the event.

Sue Smith from the Learning Tree said: “It was a really fantastic day and everyone had a lot of fun. We have run Scrapheap Challenge in many schools across Wiltshire but it was really noticeable that at St Paul’s, unlike other schools, the whole family is playing a part in their children’s learning.

“Dads found the challenge element of the event irresistible.”