Shock and excitement spread through a school this morning when pupils arrived to find a crash-landed UFO in their playground.

Children at Daiglen School in Palmerston Road, Buckhurst Hill, were greeted by the sight of the silver flying saucer and spots of fluorescent green slime roped off with police tape when they arrived for classes.

Eyewitness Beatrice Straker told them: “It came across the roofs and went quite low, but it was difficult to tell how low.

“First of all, I saw a flash above my head, so I looked up and it came across.

“Suddenly, I lost sight of it and then I saw it and it seemed to dive down.”

A forensic scientist and a policeman were on hand to take reports from the children of what they had seen.

The Guardian was told that the mystery craft was in fact constructed from a silver spray-painted sun umbrella and placed in the playground as part of the school’s writing and literary week.

But the sight prompted reports from pupils of strange objects flying over Buckhurst Hill last night and what appeared to be bright green footprints were seen leading from the scene.

See a video here: