Pupils in the Nurture Group in Years 7 and 8 at West Hatch High School, Chigwell, visited nearby St Paul's Church, Woodford Bridge.

The trip was to support their topic for this term - Christianity: worship, festivals and beliefs.

Pupils had to complete a work pack about special items in the church that form part of celebration and worship.

The Rev'd Ola Franklin welcomed pupils and spoke to them about the special items.

She also labelled all of the artefacts to make them easier to identify.

The school's Special Educational Needs co-ordinator, Chloe Moon, said: “The pupils were astounded to find out that the purpose of church bells, years ago, were to help parishioners tell the time as watches were only available for the wealthy.

"It made pupils reflect on how fortunate they are to have the basic items in their life.

"Pupils asked some really interesting questions and presented Ola with a box of biscuits for the parishioners’ coffee morning as a thank you token."