Children returning to school after the summer holidays were left stunned this week after a hot air balloon crash landed in their playground.

%image(14878828, type="article-full", alt="Students from Richard Alibon Primary School with the "crashed" hot air balloon in their playground.")

At least that’s what they were told.

In fact, the ‘crash landing’ at Richard Alibon Primary School in Dagenham turned out to be an elaborate ploy by teachers to get them fired up for the year ahead.

“They were bemused – they weren’t quite sure what was going on,” admitted year six teacher Kerry Hughes, after shocked parents and teachers turned up to see the balloon on Tuesday morning.

The exercise is aimed at getting children to write about what happened as police investigators and newspaper reporters.

“The children were really intrigued. We told them the police need their help, and we’ve given them clues.

“It’s to get children really excited at the beginning of the year,” she added.

The balloon was provided to the school, in Alibon Road, by Gloucestershire-based company Flying Enterprises.