A Carlisle school has put on a pantomime with a difference, as the school staff took the leads instead of the pupils.

After the enforced cancellation of the ever-popular Sands Centre pantomime due to presence of 'Raac' - the controversial crumbly concrete - the staff at Kingmoor Junior School decided to put on their own panto to make sure their pupils didn’t miss out.

Their play, inspired by the classic fairytale ‘Cinderella’, was directed by deputy head, Jane Jones.

“A lot of the kids usually go to the Sands Centre so we just kind of took it upon ourselves to give it a go,” said Ms Jones.

“We've not done something like this before and we've just been kind of sneaking practices whenever we can which is really hard at this time of year.

“There's actually only one evening after school that we don't have a club on after school so that's the only evening we had a chance to practice.

“As of Tuesday morning, most days in the practice, I've had to be one of the characters if somebody's not been in school, but everybody came in, so I was able to stay at the side of the stage, which was good!”

The staff were able to keep it a secret from the pupils, who filed into the school hall expecting a normal school assembly rather than a full production complete with members of the staff playing fairies, Cinderella and two ugly sisters.

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“The kids all really enjoyed it,” said Ms Jones.

“We've had a lot of positive comments on our social media and a lot of parents have called or emailed and spoken at the gates about how busy we are, but they appreciated the fact that we went to that effort for the kids.

“It's something they'll remember for a long time and its gone down so well apparently it's going to be an annual thing now, so watch this space.”