A gorilla in their midst

Teacher John Galvin contacted the film company to ask to borrow a model of King Kong to help support a special project at the school.

When the 6ft fibreglass model arrived the children were amazed, although some were a little frightened at first.

John explained: "We decided to do a King Kong themed project across the curriculum to make learning more exciting and engaging for the children.

"I wanted something that would inspire them and encourage their imaginations and this model is perfect.

"We've been using it for art for the children to draw and as an inspiration for their creative writing which has been excellent.

"We couldn't show all of the latest Kong film to the children as it's a certificate 12 but with the parents' permission we showed clips of it and some photos of the original movie.

"The children thought was hilarious that people used to find the black and white film scary.

"I am really grateful to Universal Studios for letting us borrow the model and hope to be able to use other resources they have in the future."

Cashing in on Kong's popularity among pupils, enterprising children in year 5 have arranged for their fellow pupils to pay 50p to have their photo taken with the model.

All the proceeds will go the DebRA charity for people suffering from the genetic skin blistering condition Epidermolysis Bullosa.