Epiphany a la Francais at St Mary Magdalene's

School Secretary Stephanie Thompson explained how it came about.

She said: "The school is very fortunate to have on our staff a native French speaker, Deputy Head Teacher Veronica Vanderschelden, who is now teaching French from year one to year six. It was her idea to bring a real French experience to the children by sharing the tradition of Epiphany pies."

Known in France as 'galettes des rois', the pies were brought over to the school, fresh from France, and each class was given the opportunity to sample them and to join in the game of 'tirer les rois.'

Veronica said the French tradition of galettes des rois, which are made of puff pastry and contain a filling of either apple sauce or an almond franzipan, dates back hundreds of years.

She said: " The pies traditionally contain a small china object and the game of 'tier les rois' involves the youngest children cutting and offering pieces of the pie to see who will be the King and Queen for the day."

Veronica said all the pupils enjoyed taking part in the celebratory experience and Year four pupil Riley said: "The pie was nice, whoever gets the character from the pie gets to be King for the day."