Young journalists have been investigating a possible alien invasion at their school.

Children at Lady Royd Preparatory, part of Bradford Girls’ Grammar School in Squire Lane, came into school yesterday to find a UFO had crash-landed in the grounds.

An ‘alientologist’ was busy taking samples at the scene, which had been taped off, but could be seen by the pupils as they arrived at the school.

Near the downed craft was the figure of what looked like an alien.

Throughout the day, there were other strange goings-on elsewhere in the school.

Six-fingered handprints were found on the walls and blood-curdling screams were apparently heard by teachers.

Pupils in years four and five took notes and interviewed witnesses, with some children being tasked to write a newspaper, another team reporting for the television and a third team writing news for the web.

They also got to don gloves and inspect some glowing ooze they had found, with what appeared to be baby aliens inside.

The unusual stunt was the culmination of a five-week literacy programme teaching the children about newsgathering.

Teacher Amanda Leary said: “It’s been about giving them a stimulus, to get them writing.

“They have had a fantastic morning and it’s one of those things where it’s a fine line – you get children saying, ‘Is it real?’ “Through the course of the week they will generate this story as a front page and we will continue it with ‘follow-ups’ if there are any other strange happenings.”

Miss Leary said it was important for the children to be taught that the news takes a number of forms, from traditional newspapers to websites with videos.

A reporter and photographer from the Telegraph & Argus also visited the school to talk about how the paper is put together each day and what it’s like to work as a journalist.