Purbrook's pint-sized palaeontologists' joy as '˜dinosaur' visits their school

But that was exactly the chance these pint-sized palaeontologists had – more or less – when a robot dinosaur visited their school.

Excited pupils at Purbrook Infant School had spent the day as explorers, delving into the history of the prehistoric beasts.

Youngsters from the Aldermoor Road school were visited by the Travelling Natural History Museum’s Dino Pete.

Year 1 pupils were taught about a range of dinosaurs from well-known predators like the Tyrannosaurus Rex to lesser-known species.

And the youngsters even had a chance to handle some real-life fossils and conduct a mock archeological dig before creating their own dinosaur skeletons.

But the highlight of the day was meeting Reggae Rex, who is billed as the country’s most accurate animatronic dinosaur, and having their photo taken with the Jurassic guest.

The event was hailed a ‘roaring success’ by staff at Purbrook.

Paul Stray, assistant headteacher and Year 1 leader, organised the visit. He said: ‘The aim of the day was to get the children really excited and hooked into their learning. We wanted them to gain experiences they will never forget.’

He also paid tribute to the staff, governors and parents who contributed to this experience, adding: ‘Our whole school community is really committed to life-long learning.’

Dinosaurs first appeared between 247m and 240 million years ago.

They ruled the Earth for about 175 million years until an extinction event 65.5 million years ago wiped out all of them. It’s widely believed a meteor impact was the cause of the mass extinction.