Children at a Stanmore primary wrote stories together with their families as part of Book Week.

More than 40 families joined in the St John’s Church of England Primary School, in Stanmore Hill, event to encourage writing and get parents and grandparents involved in writing activities.

Sally Newing, assistant headteacher, said: "It was amazing. We had over 40 families represented during the morning, with everything from older siblings to aunts and grandparents there.

"We are going to make a book of the stories written and photos from the day, then put all of the writing up on display.

"I cannot thank everyone enough for the effort and support shown this morning. The children were superb, the parents were amazing and I was really impressed with the way the families worked together."

The family groups were given a theme of pirates along with step by step guidance on word building games and a story sequences or story mountains which were provided.

The session also included pirate music, videos and artefacts.

They then had to get on with writing their story and some groups also did illustrations to accompany their tales.

Jo Hester, headteacher, said: "We are over the moon with the response from our school community.

"We did this for many reasons, but two of the main ones are to raise the profile of writing and to provide opportunities for our children and families to spend time together writing."

Feedback given to the school by parents indicated that they had enjoyed working with their children in a school environment, that the session was very educative, fun and fired up their imagination as much as the school's pupils.