PUPILS at a primary school swapped their uniforms for smart office wear as they became members of staff for the day.

Fortunately, the youngsters at Beaumont Primary had the blessing of the teachers.

The “takeover” formed part of children’s learning, preparing them for life in the world of work.

The young people had to apply for the different jobs, including head teacher - and even underwent a formal interview.

And once in their roles there was no cancellation of lessons. Instead the young teachers took their roles seriously, drawing up lesson plans, taking classes, marking books, giving feedback and helping those who may have struggled with a concept.

Hevval Ak, aged 11, who was head teacher for the day, said: “It was very challenging but in the end I wrote a successful application that got me the position of head teacher. ‘

“The interview had some hard questions but I answered them as fully as I could using examples from my own experiences.

“I think the day went very well and it was a successful experience for all of Year Six.

“It wasn’t easy being the head teacher and it takes a lot of effort to do the job well.”

Saadia Shama, aged 11, who was a class teacher, added: “I thought takeover day was an amazing experience that helped us to understand the importance of being role models as well as teaching us the skills to work in the real world.

“It was difficult at times — when some children didn’t listen.

“But in the end we used our practice lessons earlier this week to help us to know how to keep everybody on task.

“Being a teacher is definitely not easy, with the huge list of things you have to do — and that’s just for half a day!

“Takeover day has really made us appreciate all the hard work our teachers do for us.”

Fellow “colleague” Olivia Burley, aged 11, added: “Takeover day has been a hard yet enjoyable experience — it was lots of fun but also made us realise how hard the teachers work for us each day.”

And the new members of staff even wrote a report on science in the school which will be presented to governors.

Fortunately for staff, the children were happy to return to their roles as pupils because they were certainly a hard act to follow.

Year Six teacher Nikesh Gandhi said: “The children did really well. They were so confident taking the lessons.

“The idea was to show children what the real world is like.

“We had spoken about writing applications and supporting information in English lessons and they then put it into practice.”