Pupils at Southbroom Infants School in Devizes were astonished to turn up at school to find police had cordoned off their classrooms.

They were even more amazed when they were told an alien spacecraft had crashed there and officers needed their help to trace the captain of the extraterrestrial ship.

Of course, it was all an exercise to teach the youngsters how to be observant and learn how to carry out an investigation.

Ed O’Reilly, teacher of one of the reception classes, said: “After careful reassurance of parents, the police then informed the children there had been an alien landing in their outdoor classroom.

“Captain Dat Dat had crash landed overnight and the children were instructed to look out for any alien notes written on orange paper.

“The police later removed the main body (of the ship) for forensic tests and warned the children not to touch the scorching hot remaining parts.

“PCSO Kelly Watts returned the following day to see what alien notes the children had discovered and what questions they had written to Captain Dat Dat in return.”

PC Adam Hall, manager of the Devizes neighbourhood policing team, said this was an example of the kind of school liaison exercise Wiltshire Police had been carrying out for some years. He said: “Our PCSOs do this kind of thing from time to time.

“It helps to create a positive image of the emergency services with young children and to show them that people in uniform are there to help them and not to be afraid of.”